ST. PAUL – A bill Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington, drafted to study upgrades for State Highway 371 advanced through its first House committee hearing Wednesday, with the author amending the bill along the way.
Bliss amended the bill to make economic and environmental impacts featured components of the study, which would determine the feasibility of improving the Paul Bunyan Expressway from Jenkins to Cass Lake. Bliss said the options for upgrades could include creating bypass lanes on the existing two-lane road, widening the expressway to four lanes, or other to-be-determined methods of clearing congestion.
“The purpose of this bill is to learn more about our options and part of that involves taking a closer look at some issues local citizens have raised,” Bliss said. “The fact people from the district came down to the Capitol and shared their thoughts on the bill during the hearing shows how valuable a study would be in providing a baseline of information to consider. People have passionate opinions and my goal is to find a solution we all can agree on before we even think about putting a shovel in the ground.”
Bliss said he is working to amend the price tag for the study, from $4 million provided in the bill to something in the lower $1 million range. He said MnDOT officials have indicated to him the cost shown in the bill is excessive, partially due to the fact a stretch of the road already has been studied during previous construction.
The bill (H.F. 1437) was approved by the House Transportation and Regional Governance Policy Committee and referred to the House Transportation Finance Committee.
“Time is going to be tight as far as meeting House deadlines with this bill,” Bliss said. “We only have until March 10 to get the pieces in place and get a hearing scheduled on the finance side, but we’ll keep working and see what happens. The main thing is we are starting this discussion so we can do what is right by the folks in our region.”
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