Transportation bonding asks forwarded to House Capital Investment Committee

Big bucks through borrowing for roads, bridges, bus and rail lines were the focus of a barrage of bills heard Wednesday by the House Transportation Finance Committee.

The committee heard 58 bills proposing hundreds of millions of dollars in bonding proceeds be used on transportation-related projects in an hours-long afternoon hearing.

No formal action was taken on any of the proposed legislation. Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska), the committee chair, said a list of transportation borrowing proposals would be submitted to the House Capital Investment Committee for possible inclusion in a potential bonding bill.

Large bonding bills are typically reserved for the second year of a two-year biennium, with major budget bills dominating the time and efforts of lawmakers during the first. No capital investment bill was passed last year, however.

Among the bonding proposals heard during the hearing were:

• $183.2 million to reconstruct Highway 14 as a four-lane divided road through Dodge and Steele counties (HF265), and $117 million to reconstruct another stretch of Highway 14 between New Ulm and Nicollet (HF588);
• $85 million for improvements to the Interstate35W and Interstate 494 interchange in Bloomington (HF263);
• $50 million for a new I-35W interchange at 118th Street in Burnsville (HF412);
• $31.9 million to repair the 10th Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis (HF930);
• $23.5 million for construction of a new Interstate 694/Rice Street interchange in Ramsey County (HF125);
• $20 million for reconstruction of Highway 95 in Cambridge (HF1277);
• $9.75 million for improvements to the Mall of America light-rail station (HF436); and
• $3 million for improvements to the Falls International Airport in International Falls (HF288).