The many misconceptions about Minnesota's new buffer program

During a face-to-face dialogue Tuesday with local legislators, the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners left no doubt about their priorities: infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.

Read more in the West Central Tribune.

How a Decaying Infrastructure Hurts U.S. Manufacturing

Make or buy all that you want in the U.S., but if the transportation system doesn’t work, your business will suffer. That’s why the U.S. must address the huge problem of decaying infrastructure.

Manufacturing is physical—not virtual—regardless of the amount of digital technology used to organize, guide and control it. It is dependent on places and the transportation connections among them.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal.

Report: Average Minnesota Deficient Bridge Is 66 Years Old

If they were people, the average deficient bridge in Minnesota would qualify for Social Security. A new report, released by Transportation for America on Thursday, paints a troubling picture of our state's bridges. It found that there are 830 structurally deficient bridges in Minnesota -- in other words, bridges with some kind of major defect. Their average age is 66 years old.

Visit KSTP TV to view or read the story.

Our view: Fix roads, bridges before raising truck weights

Almost everyone agrees that Minnesota's roads and bridges are in disrepair, making transportation funding the top priority of nearly every member of the Minnesota Legislature. That makes the bills that would raise the weight limit on freight-hauling trucks Minnesota roads from 80,000 pounds such oddly timed legislation.

Read the opinion piece in the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Hike in load limits could extend life of roads, bridges

What if I told you that a simple change of state law could help our businesses compete on a level playing field with their counterparts from neighboring states? And that we could take thousands of trucks off our highways in the process? And we could reduce construction costs by as much as 5 percent for many road projects. And we could generate millions to inspect our bridges and ensure they’re maintained properly? And that the trucks on the road would be safer, with less impact to our roadways?

Read more in the St. Cloud Times.

Duluth officials oppose higher weight limits for trucks

The city of Duluth is lining up in opposition to prospective legislation that would boost the maximum permitted weight of trucks on state and local roads. Earlier this week, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution stating its legislative priorities, and went on record with its desire to block any higher weight limits for trucks.

Read more in the Duluth News Tribune.

Wide gap in plans to fix Minnesota's roads means bigger fight at Legislature

A wide gulf between how Republicans, Democrats and business groups want to tackle the state's multibillion-dollar backlog of road and bridge repairs all but guarantees that what's been billed as the biggest fight of the 2015 legislative session will live up to the hype.

These are the worst bridges in Minnesota

As the Minnesota legislature prepares to open its 2015 legislative session on Tuesday, lawmakers in both major parties agree that more needs to be done to repair the state’s aging transportation infrastructure. About 1,200 of Minnesota’s more than 20,000 bridges are classified as structurally deficient — they’re safe, but need to be monitored, maintained and ultimately replaced.

See a map of the worst bridges at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Repair costs for Minneapolis bridges could top $130 million

A hefty repair bill is coming due for a group of historic bridges that have spanned the Mississippi River in Minneapolis for about 90 years.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Sea changes afoot in Twin Cities public works departments

They say, “All politics is local.” If that’s true, then you’ll find most politics in your city’s public works department because in both Minneapolis and St. Paul those departments have the most budget money and the most employees. Their staffs manage everything from sewer maintenance to recycling to parking lots. But their biggest job is building, designing and maintaining the miles of roads, traffic lights and sidewalks running through all corners of the city.

Read more at MinnPost.

River infrastructure, a story too big to ignore

UMWA members and others who understand the vital economic role of river infrastructure have long hoped that it will not take a lengthy shutdown on the Mississippi to finally bring focused national attention to its acute needs. And there is evidence that the condition of the system’s locks and dams has become a story too big to ignore.

Read more in Waterways, a publication of the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association.

New St. Croix bridge project leader: "It's not overwhelming"

As the new director of the St. Croix River bridge project, Michael Beer could be first in line to drive over the new span between Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Read more in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Shipping infrastructure problems roiling the river

Autumn means rush hour on the Mississippi River, and this year looks to be even more frantic than most. . . . Some of the effects are being seen in supplies of cement and road salt, key commodities shipped upriver. Heading downriver, to which 60 to 70 percent of U.S. grain exports are shipped, silt has put a crimp on shipping capacity from Minnesota river ports.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Mandated Railroad Reports Highlight Farmers' Frustrations

In one week in October, 747 train cars operated by BNSF Railway were loaded with harvested grain and ready for shipment. Instead, they sat idle for more than five days.

See the KSTP story.

Cement Shortage Causes Construction Headaches

Less than a year after the state struggled through a severe propane shortage, another vital commodity is in short supply.

Watch or read these interview with ARM President Jerry Lang.

MnDOT's big bridge and road engineer Jon Chiglo leaves for the private sector

The name Jon Chiglo might not be well-known to Minnesota motorists, but the projects he's directed for the state Department of Transportation sure are. . . . Now, after 17 years with the state, Chiglo is leaving MnDOT to become vice president of transportation and structural engineering at WSB & Associates, a civil engineering and design firm based in Golden Valley.

Read more at MinnPost.

Dayton announces 13 road projects

FL Gov. Mark Dayton announced 13 highway improvement projects today that will get earlier attention through a special funding initiative. The projects represent $70 million from the Corridors of Commerce program, which is aimed at adding capacity for freight movement in key locations. Seven of projects are in rural Minnesota and six are in the Twin Cities.

Read more at Minnesota Public Radio.

St. Paul hit with questions over street-tending costs

Pastor Elizabeth Hernandez runs a small Baptist church on St. Paul's East Side. Though it pays no property taxes, her church received a bill from the city this year for $841 to cover snowplowing, tree trimming and other routine street maintenance.

Read more in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

City looks to condemn land for future St. Peter roundabout

City leaders want to move forward with plans for a roundabout on the north side of town, looking to condemn a strip of land its owners so far haven't been willing to sell.

Read more in the St. Peter Herald.

Lookout Drive to be shut down in 2015 to add roundabouts

Lookout Drive will get two new roundabouts and a much-needed replacement of its crumbling concrete surface as part of a $4.5 million project that will shut down the road for most of next summer.

Read more in the Mankato Free Press.