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March 19, 2009

H14-CR41 plan advances

By Mark Fischenich

NORTH MANKATO — North Mankato may still have a long road ahead when it comes to accumulating nearly $30 million to construct a new interchange on Highway 14, along with related road work.

But city officials are sensing some momentum in the multi-year effort to build the infrastructure they say they need for economic and residential growth.

“I think there’s a meeting of the minds that we’re ready to move forward on this project,” said City Administrator Wendell Sande.

The minds meeting last week included those of Sande, Mayor Gary Zellmer, Nicollet County representatives and officials from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. MnDOT is looking to finish up environmental studies related to the proposed interchange of County Road 41 and Highway 14 in the next few months, Sande said.

And there was preliminary discussion of the interchange design, Sande said. Getting environmental and design work finished could make the project more attractive as a target for additional federal funding — either from a future economic stimulus package or from the upcoming federal transportation bill.

Congressman Tim Walz is expecting a five-year transportation bill of somewhere around $500 billion. Although the bill is to be completed by Oct. 1, Congress often misses its deadline on large multi-year funding bills — sometimes by as much as a year.

Walz said the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Minnesotan Jim Oberstar, is hoping to avoid a long delay in getting a bill passed.

“It won’t take a year,” said Walz, who serves on the committee. “Oberstar assures us of that.”

With the interchange itself projected to cost $23 million, supporting road construction totaling $6.3 million, and the project left out of MnDOT construction plan for the next 20 years, supporters of the project will probably need to rely on a substantial federal contribution to get the interchange in place in the foreseeable future. But even as they await congressional action, money is beginning to accumulate from a variety of sources.

Nearly $660,000 in federal funding acquired for the project by Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar — and matched by a 20 percent local share from the city and county — will be spent in coming months to acquire 40 to 50 acres of land for right of way at the site of the proposed interchange.

Another 80 to 90 acres are needed for the entire proposed project, which includes extending the four-lane portion of Highway 14 westward to County Road 6.

The city will eventually contribute $1.5 million in local funding to be financed by a new half-percent sales tax.

The Area Transportation Partnership, which divvies up federal transportation funding for area projects, had previously committed $460,000 to the city for the project. And Nicollet County has $100,000 for 2010 and another $100,000 for 2011.

Last week, the Area Transportation Partnership allocated another $576,000 to the city in 2013 for portions of the project, which also includes extending Carlson Drive and County Road 41 in preparation for the interchange.

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