Pawlenty unveils plan to improve transportation

In order to maintain and further expand our transportation infrastructure, Gov. Tim Pawlenty today proposed several measures to get Minnesotans where they need to go quickly, safely, and efficiently.

“Positioning Minnesota for future success means making strategic transportation investments to move people and goods around our state more safely and efficiently,” Pawlenty said. “The initiatives we’re announcing today can be undertaken right away – they don’t require any additional legislation. Moving forward, we’ll need to use innovative techniques like these to get the greatest possible value for our transportation dollar.”

Pawlenty announced the following transportation initiatives:

• Innovative Financing – Public-Private Partnerships (P3)
• Next Stage MnPASS Implementation Study
• I-94 Improvements between Minneapolis and Saint Paul
• Low Cost/High Benefit Congestion Project Acceleration
• Low Cost/High Benefit Traffic Safety Solutions in Greater Minnesota

Innovative Financing – Public-Private Partnerships (P3)

Pawlenty is directing Mn/DOT to increase the use of Public-Private Partnerships (P3) to expand capacity and use transportation dollars to encourage targeted economic development.

P3 partnerships will be used to accelerate expansion projects by leveraging public and private resources to bring planned projects online faster and create expansion opportunities where none were planned.

Moreover, P3 partnerships can be used on targeted projects designed to facilitate specific economic development objectives, as well as meet transportation goals.

Examples of P3 partnerships include:

• Reconstruction of the interchange at Highway 169 and Bren Road in Minnetonka. Partners in the project include Mn/DOT ($7 million), the Department of Employment & Economic Development ($1 million), the City of Minnetonka ($5 million), and UnitedHealth Group ($5 million). The project will accelerate needed improvements that will allow UnitedHealth Group to proceed with an expansion that will add more than 1,600 employees to their campus in Minnetonka. Construction of the expansion itself is expected to produce more than 1,400 jobs and $50 million in associated wages over the course of the project. The interchange project is expected to get underway in spring 2010.

• Construction of the new Highway 52 Elk Run Interchange in Pine Island just north of Rochester will aid the development of a new bioscience medical facility and supporting businesses. The 2,300-acre development will create numerous high-paying jobs and boost the state's economy. This project represents a partnership between Mn/DOT, DEED, Olmsted County, the City of Pine Island, the developer (Tower Investments) and a bio-business capital investing firm (Burrill & Co.). The total construction cost of the interchange project is estimated to be approximately $36 million. Tower Investments and Burrill & Co. donated an estimated $13 million in right-of-way for the project. The project will be a Design-Build Best-Value project and could be put out for contract as early as January 2010.

Next Stage MnPASS Implementation Study

Pawlenty is directing Mn/DOT to identify additional metro freeways that will benefit by the installation of a MnPASS congestion-pricing, high occupancy toll lane network. MnPASS lanes would be implemented in places where new capacity could be offered.

The study, which will be completed by September 2010, will look at the Twin Cities metro area highway system, evaluate traffic volumes, analyze travel patterns, identify geometric capabilities in various corridors, estimate construction and operating costs and determine revenue potential.

MnPASS has already been implemented on I-394 and last month on I-35W.