The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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November 15, 2007

Kato projects fare well in House bill

Bush promises veto, citing excessive spending

Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — The outcome of negotiations between the U.S. House and Senate over a proposed transportation spending bill was mostly favorable for a trio of Mankato-area road projects. The outcome when the bill reaches the White House is expected to be the opposite.

A planned Highway 14 interchange on Mankato’s east side, which was shut out of the House transportation bill but was approved for $2 million in the Senate bill, would receive just over $1.3 million under the compromise approved by the House-Senate conference committee.

The bill also provides $850,000 for future stages of the Highway 14 expansion to four lanes — $500,000 for work between Waseca and Owatonna and $350,000 for the stretch between North Mankato and New Ulm. That’s $150,000 more than the House bill had for those projects.

President Bush has promised to veto the $105.6 billion transportation and housing bill, blaming excessive spending. Bush’s transportation and housing proposals totaled about $100.1 billion.

Nevertheless, the bill quickly passed the full House Wednesday on a 270-147 vote — well short of the two-thirds majority required to override a veto.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Congressman Tim Walz, both Democrats, touted the Minnesota projects funded in the legislation. Klobuchar and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman sponsored the funding for the new Mankato interchange, with Walz joining them as sponsor of the Highway 14 funding.

While the federal dollars would be welcome for local advocates of the projects, they are far short of the total price tag of each.

The $20 million to $25 million interchange project, which would be about midway between Mankato’s eastern city limits and Eagle Lake, would include an extension of County Road 12. The project has been in area transportation plans for years as a way to reduce congestion on Highway 22, allow for more economic development on the east side and provide direct access to the Mankato Airport.

The need for the project intensified when Wal-Mart decided to build a massive distribution center at the site of the proposed interchange.

The expansion of Highway 14 to four lanes between Waseca and Owatonna is a $130 million project and the New Ulm portion is still in the early design phase and could be decades away from construction.

The federal funds, if they ultimately survive, would be used for construction on the Waseca to Owatonna section and for design costs on the North Mankato to New Ulm segment.

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