St. Paul, MN - Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Transportation Budget Bill following a bipartisan compromise reached with the Senate. The legislation invests in all modes of transportation across the state by funding improvements for pedestrian and bike infrastructure, transit development and services, road safety improvements, bridge replacements, as well as freight and passenger rail projects. State Representative Gene Pelowski (DFL - Winona) voted for the legislation, noting the inclusion of a second daily passenger train through Winona.
“Rail has always been important to Winona for commerce and passenger service,” said Rep. Pelowski. “The inclusion of a second daily passenger train through Winona provides more flexibility to our local commuters who are looking for other ways to travel to the Twin Cities, or even all the way to Chicago. This compromise fulfills Minnesota’s end of the bargain in funding this train, and also provides other local and statewide benefits for improving transportation.”
The bill invests $10 million for Minnesota’s full share for a second daily Amtrak route between the Twin Cities and Chicago, including Winona. These funds will leverage more than $30 million additional non-state funds for project work in Minnesota. Minnesota is currently the only entity whose funds remain outstanding for this project.
The compromise transportation budget notably invests $57.5 million in arterial Bus Rapid Transit, reopens driver’s exam locations closed due to COVID-19, ends driver’s license suspensions for non-public safety offenses, and delivers funds for needed road and bridge repairs and safety improvements statewide. The transportation budget also prioritizes student safety by investing in safe routes to school to assist cities, counties, and towns statewide with local infrastructure projects to help ensure that students can safely walk or bike to school. The budget also contains grants to install cameras on school bus stop arms to help catch and enforce stop arm violations.
A spreadsheet of the investments contained within the legislation is available here. Video of the House Floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.