Oberstar Praises Minnesota Transportation Bill

Dare we hope that our beautiful but dangerous highway by the lake will be repaired and made safe? Or that light rail will allow us to travel from Duluth to the Cities in a few years? Or that the no-brainer, i.e., paying people money and giving them jobs to fix our failing infrastructure, so disdained by Pawlenty and his ilk, may actually come to pass? Oh, ya you betcha. Just go ahead and hope.
True

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Washington DC – Congressman Jim Oberstar says the transportation plan unveiled by Minnesota legislators on Tuesday is one of the best he has ever seen. “It’s a realistic, futuristic, investment plan that binds greater Minnesota with the metro area,” said Oberstar.

As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Oberstar has been critical of the Pawlenty Administration’s lack of investment in the state’s transportation system. “There’s been an ideological mindset in the Governor’s office and with our Commissioner of Transportation that somehow these road needs will be simply be met on their own, by some deus ex machina coming in to solve the problem. Well that’s not happened.”

Oberstar calls the legislation unveiled by state lawmakers a “bold initiative” that recognizes that maintaining and upgrading transportation infrastructure need constant attention and a dedicated source of revenue. Minnesota has not increased the highway user fee for road maintenance and construction since 1988. Since that time, the cost of road construction materials and labor has increased by 47 percent.

“State Senator Steve Murphy and Representative Bernie Lieder have crafted a bill that makes the resources available to address our most critical concerns immediately. They are also ensuring the revenue stream keeps up with inflation,” said Oberstar.

Oberstar says the Minnesota state transportation bill will stimulate the economy and is a good investment for taxpayers. “It’s a sustainable investment program that will create 33,000 jobs a year in the construction sector that will stay at home; they are home grown, Minnesota jobs, using Minnesota materials,” said Oberstar.

A 2007 study found that traffic congestion costs Minnesota’s economy $1.1 billion a year. In effect, Oberstar says those costs are a congestion tax paid by everyone in the state in the form of lost jobs and higher cost goods and services. He adds that there are clear consequences for the state if a comprehensive transportation investment plan is not passed. “Greater Minnesota will be disadvantaged, travel and tourism will be hurt, our state economy will suffer; there is a cost to failing to invest,” said Oberstar.

###