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Hwy. 371 project delayed Addition of lanes north of Nisswa pushed back to 2018-19 Associate Editor The much anticipated addition of lanes to Highway 371, north of Nisswa, has been delayed from 2015 to 2018-19.
Jim Povich, assistant district engineer for program delivery for MnDOT's District 3, said Thursday that last session's gas tax hike and transportation package is not enough to even maintain the current system adequately.
"In reality, transportation funding is just in terrible shape even with that bill," Povich said. "This new bill that was passed in February, all that money is just going into replacing bad bridges or very bad pavements. There's no money in there for any improvements or expansion projects."
MnDOT officials have recently delivered this message to elected city officials so their expectations are more realistic. The plan had been to make much of the Highway 371 stretch, north of Nisswa four lanes instead of two lanes.
A decade ago, Povich said, MnDOT officials were encouraged to work ahead on projects so that when state and federal funding was provided they would be ready to go. The result, Povich said, was about $700 million worth of four-lane expansion projects in Minnesota that were either through or almost through the environmental process. The assumption was, Povich said, that elected officials would take note of the highway crashes, fatalities and congestion and would provide appropriate funding, realizing that four-lane highways increase safety.
When the Highway 371 stretch from Little Falls to Brainerd was two-lane, Povich said, it was a pretty good road. It even had passing lanes added to provide safe places for vehicles to go around slow-moving traffic. Yet even with that the engineer said the stretch was averaging two fatalities a year. Since it became four-lane, he said, there have been no fatalities.
In a 2006 interview Povich said the state was averaging one fatality a year on the Highway 371 stretch between Nisswa and Pine River, although he said Thursday he didn't know if that trend had continued.
The scope of the widening of Highway 371 north of Nisswa, had not been precisely identified Povich said. For the Highway 371 corridor between Nisswa and Pine River, he estimated right-of-way and construction costs at $100 million. Currently for that area, he said, MnDOT is reserving about $30 million ($10 million for right-of-way and $20 million for construction).
"We can do really good things here if the money is provided," Povich said.
Noting that it took the Legislature 20 years to increase the gas tax, he said he's not optimistic that lawmakers will increase transportation spending enough to make improvements to the highway system.
"It was so little and so late that the money is just going to take care of the current system," he said. "I'm coming to the realization, I think we've got our funding answer."
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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