According to the infrastructurereportcard.org site, “driving on roads in need of repair costs Minnesota motorists $1.2 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs — that $396.25 per motorist.”

So, the Minnesota GOP thinks paying you not quite enough to fix your vehicle for 1 year is better than improving roads so you don’t have to be out of pocket that $396.25 a year driving on bad roads each year after 2015.

Doesn’t sound like fiscal responsibility to us.  How about you? Remember what your parents told you:  if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  And, this plan is definitely “smoke and mirrors.”

bad roads · crumbling infrastructure · Minnesota roads · potholes

A majority of Minnesota’s roads are more than 50 years old, and in the next three years 1 in 5 will pass its useful life. Forty percent of our bridges are 40 years old or older and in the next 10 years, most will be past their useful life.

Gov. Mark Dayton has a plan to fix Minnesota’s deteriorating roads and bridges. This is great news for drivers tired of dodging pot holes and feeling bridges shake beneath their cars and businesses that lose money when their shipments are stuck in traffic and products are late to market.

Gov. Dayton’s plan is good news for Eden Prairie. The governor’s proposal includes funding to upgrade the following bridges: Prairie Center Drive over 494; Highway 212 over Purgatory Creek; and Valley View Road over 494. The proposal also funds much-needed roadwork on Highway 7.

In contrast, the Republican majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives has floated a funding proposal that would fix approximately one bridge in the state, nowhere near the true need of repairs that need to be done.

I hope Sen. David Hann will support our communities and support Gov. Dayton’s plan.

Norbert Gernes
Eden Prairie
Eden Prairie News, March 6, 2015

crumbling infrastructure · David Hann · Gov. Dayton · Mark Dayton · Sen. Hann

crumbling infrastructure · infrastructure · John Oliver · Last Week Tonight

On February 17, 2015, Gov. Mark Dayton and Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle today released a detailed list of more than 600 road and bridge improvements that would be completed if the Legislature passes the Governor’s proposed investments in transportation. The comprehensive list, sorted by county, details the more than 2,200 miles of state roadways and 330 bridges that would be repaired, replaced, or expanded over the next ten years under the Governor’s proposal.

bridge repair · Charlie Zelle · crumbling infrastructure · Gov. Dayton · Mark Dayton · road repair · Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle