ST. PAUL – A pair of bills being chief-authored by State Representative Bjorn Olson (R-Elmore) that will help rural towns with their road and bridge needs over the next two years are making progress in Minnesota House committees.
This week, Olson’s funding proposals for small city street and rural bridge repair were debated in the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.
“There is a dire need to repair rural city streets, and the fact is small cities are not currently receiving any state funds to help them with road funding,” Olson said. “These bills would secure needed road and bridge improvement funding in Greater Minnesota.”
Olson’s first bill would appropriate $15 million in each of the next two years to continue the popular Small Cities Assistance Program, which provides a revenue stream for towns to make street repairs.
His second bill would dedicate $4 million annually to townships to be used on road or bridge repair.
Olson said both of his initiatives were held over for possible inclusion in a comprehensive transportation funding proposal that will be unveiled in the coming weeks.