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Local Officials Thank Senator Klobuchar for Federal Transportation Stimulus

Minnesota Receives $600 Million in New Federal Funding for Transportation

April 24, 2009

BROOKLYN PARK, MN – Meeting with local officials in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar highlighted the importance of federal stimulus funding for transportation projects in Minnesota.

Klobuchar serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction for America’s transportation infrastructure.

As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Klobuchar explained, Minnesota is receiving more than $500 million in new federal funding for highways, roads and bridges.  About two-thirds of that total is allocated to Greater Minnesota.  The state is also receiving $94 million for mass transit. 

Overall, Minnesota is expected to gain more than $9 billion in benefits from the federal legislation, including funding for education, health care, housing, weatherization and law enforcement, as well as middle-class tax cuts. 

Klobuchar met today with the local officials at the site of what will be the largest Minnesota transportation project made possible by stimulus funds.

This project is the long-planned westward extension of Highway 610, which will be built with $86 million in federal stimulus funds.  The project will extend the four-lane, controlled-access freeway approximately three miles through Brooklyn Park and Maple Grove to County Road 81.

A second phase will extend Highway 610 an additional three miles from County Road 81 to I-94.  To begin design work for the second phase, Klobuchar is seeking $5 million in the new transportation appropriations bill.  She is also seeking authorization for $177 million in future federal funding to complete the project.

Klobuchar explained that the Highway 610 extension is exactly the kind of “shovel-ready” project that the federal stimulus was designed for. 

“In the short-term, it will create hundreds of jobs for the Minnesotans who work on the project,” said Klobuchar.  “In the long term, it will modernize our transportation infrastructure, reduce congestion for both commuters and businesses, improve traffic safety and open up new economic development opportunities.”

Klobuchar said the Highway 610 extension will also complement the Highway 169 interchange currently under construction at County Road 81 and 85th Avenue, known as the “Devil’s Triangle” because it is among the state’s most congested and dangerous intersections.

Standing at the spot where Highway 610 currently ends, Klobuchar said: “I look forward to returning here in the years ahead to see what a positive difference this transportation project makes.”

Among the local officials who met with Klobuchar today were:

- Hennepin County Board Chair Mike Opat
- Brooklyn Park Mayor Steve Lampi
- Maple Grove Mayor Mark Steffenson
- Osseo Mayor John Hall
- North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce President Jill Johnson

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