MN-DOT this morning announced its 2018 “Corridors of Commerce” highway plan, consisting of four projects:
- Interstate 94 from St. Michael to Albertville, Highway 241 to Albertville Road, County Road 37; the project is to add an auxiliary lane on both sides of the highway
- Highway 169 in Elk River from Highway 101 to 197th Avenue, this will be converted to a freeway by building the freeway interchanges at all at-grade crossings
- I-494 from Highway 77 to westbound Interstate 34; the project will add a MNPass lane on both sides of the freeway
- I-494 at its intersection with 35W; this will add a ramp from northbound 35W to westbound 494
MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle says the four projects–with a price tag of around $417 million–represent a roughly 51-49% funding split between Greater Minnesota and the metro area. The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, however, say the projects don’t do enough for Greater Minnesota–and call it a “massive failure” on the part of MnDOT.