House panel considers bill to halt proposed Rondo land bridge

To hear proponents of the ReConnect Rondo project tell it, their vision is intended to help heal a wound their neighborhood suffered in the 1950s and ‘60s.

That’s when the development of Interstate 94 bisected St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, destroyed about 700 homes and the home equity that their owners had accrued, also driving out 300 businesses and 61% of Rondo’s predominantly African American residents.

The solution put forth by many in the community is to build a half-mile-long land bridge over I-94 and fill it with housing, businesses and green space.

In 2021, the Legislature appropriated $6.2 million for project development and grants related to ReConnect Rondo, which was followed by $2 million in federal funding as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities pilot grant program.

But Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine) believes that that’s enough.

He’s the sponsor of HF494, which would prohibit the Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Council from expending funds for study, project development or construction of the proposed land bridge.

It was the source of some heated debate at Monday’s meeting of the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, which — after amending the bill and amending it again — laid the bill over for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

“It’s not because it’s not a noble project,” West said. “But looking at our impending budget deficit, we have a fiscal responsibility to the state to limit excess spending where we can and prioritize what money we do have. … If you look at the price tag on the project, we’re looking at over $400 million. We could do quite a bit with $400 million.”

Keith Baker, executive director of ReConnect Rondo, took issue with West’s numbers.

Rasheda Jenkins, president of Growth Industries, speaks March 3 to the House transportation committee against HF494. Rep. Nolan West, right, sponsors the bill that would prohibit MnDOT and Metropolitan Council expenditures on the ReConnect Rondo project. (Photo by Michele Jokinen)

“When we talk about a cost split, it’s often an 80-20 available that can be applied,” Baker said. “This project, in order to create the structure, is $250 million. … With 80% being federal and 20% being state, the cost to the state would be $63 million.”

Among those writing to the committee recommending rejection of the bill were Betty McCollum, who represents the 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, St. Paul Chief Resilience Officer Russ Stark and Ramsey County Commissioner Rena Moran.

Baker offered a list of more expensive public-private partnerships that the state had funded in the past, and said, as someone who spent 18 years working for the Department of Transportation, “I’ve never witnessed such intentional targeting of a specific community.”

Erik Rudeen, MnDOT’s director of government affairs, clarified that the Rethinking I-94 project — which has narrowed potential redesigns of the freeway to six possible alternatives, with a final recommendation expected within a year — is a separate project, but that any of its six alternatives could accommodate a land bridge.