For roads, must travel
Rep. Collin Peterson, DFL-Minn., gave that advice to a group of civic and government representatives who met with him Monday morning to discuss transportation issues.
Better roads, including a four-lane access, are needed to ensure the county and area’s economic growth and stability, said Steve Strautz, a member of a local transportation committee.
“You need to do what Willmar did,” Peterson said of a Willmar transportation coalition. The Willmar coalition has traveled to Washington each year the past several years to lobby on local and regional transportation issues.
“You can’t go once and assume that’s enough and everyone will remember what you want,” Peterson said. “You need to go at least once a year, maybe twice.
“You guys have been neglected out here. We need to change that,” Peterson said.
His staff and the offices of Rep. Jim Oberstar, DFL-Minn., and Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., would also be willing to help a group from Marshall and Lyon County present its transportation needs in Washington, D.C., Peterson said.
Oberstar and Walz are on the transportation committee.
“We’re certainly ready to help,” Peterson said.
Southwest Minnesota needs the federal help, Strautz said.
State money for a four-lane project and for projects to address safety concerns on the Minnesota Highway 23 bypass and others is in short supply, Strautz said.
If the region could access more federal money, it should free up state money for the area and more projects could be completed, Strautz said.
“If you get transportation right, it makes a huge difference in development,” Peterson said.
Peterson liked David Sturrock’s idea to tie some of the group’s priorities to renewable energy since the region has so many ethanol plants.
While Peterson vowed the help of his office and assured the group that Oberstar and Walz would also be willing, he also encouraged the group to remain persistent with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
“Let (MnDOT) know you are not going to give up,” Peterson said.
Many times, MnDOT will just wear out folks seeking a transportation project but “you need a strong group to keep bugging them and wear them out,” Peterson said.
Strautz said there are several main issues Marshall and the county would bring before MnDOT and federal officials.
A four-lane highway and other improvements are important to the area’s economic growth and role as regional hub, Strautz said.
“In order to do that (grow and thrive) we got have roads to get people in and out,” Strautz said.
Strautz said three main routes must be considered: U.S. Highway 59 from the Iowa border, U.S. Highway 212 from Granite Falls to the Twin Cities and Minnesota Highway 23 from southwest Minnesota to the northeast portion of the state.
Is there a priority or “however we do it?” Peterson asked.
Strautz said the group wants to be flexible and would take a four-lane project on any of the three major routes.
Strautz also briefly outlined projects needed to address safety issues near Marshall, such as an overpass at the Saratoga Street and Minnesota Highway 23 intersection and an interchange with proper ramps at the intersection of Highway 23 and Lyon County Road 7 and others.
While meeting with federal officials and traveling to Washington, D.C. has been discussed the past several years, Strautz said the timing is better now to pursue that.
The focus of the Chamber group in the past few years has been on state transportation issues such as the increase in the gas tax and the dedication of the Minnesota motor vehicle tax to transportation, Strautz said.
The motor vehicle tax was successful but Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill that included a 5-cent gas tax increase.
Although he encouraged the group to get more aggressive with MnDOT, Peterson also said it shouldn’t wait for state money to increase in order to access federal money.
Oberstar is not happy with the state and will seek to provide federal money for various projects in Minnesota in hopes that the state will respond with increased transportation dollars, Peterson said.
It will be important for the Marshall and Lyon County group to get to Washington, D.C. this fall and meet with his staff and the staffs of Oberstar and Walz, Peterson said.
