The fact that we've been falling in our transportation funding is not not or some partisan conspiracy. Several studies by non-partisan groups and MnDot's own record show that in out years there is gap between transportation needs and transportation funds. This is due to the growth and the increase in the numbers of drivers on the road, not waste or transit.

Every ten years the number drivers has been increasing by over 33%. The materials used to construct roads like steel,concrete and asphalt (much of which come from overseas) as doubled.That means that the costs of maintaining the sytem that you have and a modestly increasing road capacity are going up far faster then the revenues available to fund them.

It is not rocket science,just simple math. Even if you used every dollar that goes to transit for roads you would still have this problem. Passage of the MVST constitutional ammendment(most of which goes to roads $600 million) helps but does not solve the problem.

Minnesota has done much in the last few years to bridge the transportation spending gap but more could still be done. While we must always be careful in regards to government spending,the one thing we do know is that investment in infrastructure (roads,ports,dams,facories,etc.) resault in economic growth. In the last 15 years the Chinese have built the equivilent of our interstate and airport system which took us over 50 years to do. In the same time they went from having trade deficits to trade surpluses with the US.Clearing if we need to cut back, transportation and other infrastucture is not the place

Historically, MVST revenue has gone to both transportation and the general fund. Voters in 2006 approved a constitutional amendment that gradually dedicates all MVST revenue to transportation purposes. The amendment specifies that 63.75 percent must be dedicated to transportation in fiscal year 2008, growing by 10
percent per year until reaching 100 percent in fiscal year 2012. It also requires that “no more than 60 percent” of the revenue go to highways and “not less than 40 percent” go to public transit assistance. Minn. Const. art. XIV, § 13.

What this means is that transit is guaranteed funding under the Constitional dedication of MVST but roads are not.

I did not say we do not need to invest in roads in fact I think we need to invest more. But we need to be smarter and have a plan rather than point fingers and make this about raising more taxes or fees. Minnesota2020 is nothing more than a front for Entenzza to mouth off and have somebody elese criticize and come up with criticism for what he was also a part of during his term in the Legislator and now as a candidate for governor.

The $600 million mentioned was not from MVST as that is only about $200 million per year according to non-partisan House Research and Fiscal Analysis.

There is a lot of waste in transportation funding as much of the federal gas tax never comes back as road funding, much that is spent on road funding is wasted.... when we have engineers doing book work and not engineering work?

My point is that any bureacracy and special interest will state they don't have enough and we are not going to re-do every road and bridge in Minnesota over night and that is what you are led to believe by headlines that don't realize that taxpayers dollars are limited and that government, think tanks and politicians must recognize this! We have allowed to many other factors go into building a road drive the costs..... Is it any wonder how we can build a fallen bridge in record time, have bridge and interchannges like those in Lakeville on 35W get built quickly while others drag on for years ..............????

Really does not take anything to predict projects will stall.... the 3rd lane for the 494/694 loop was planned and discussed going back to the 1970's!

What really needs to happen is MNDOT and the Legislature explore methods to reduce needs or improve efficiency without changing the level of state funding. Simply stated, you can not just through more and more money at a problem and expect different results.

Businesses continually expand their capabilities through new technologies and solutions for addressing issues, government should be no different. The legislature can contribute in a variety of ways, such as by providing strategic direction and promoting maximization of innovation, efficiency, and effective management of state programs. Improved practices can help offset financial constraints.

All I have said with my comments was that the only solution should not be just looking at more tax and fees (revenue) as the only solution and that is often what is proposed.