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Question 3: To what extent do you intend to support investment in maintaining Minnesota’s highway system and expanding its mass transit system given the age of the state’s highway system, population and business growth, and the mass transit needs of an aging and dispersed population? DAYTON Response to Question 3 The transportation legacy of the current Republican administration:
It’s the IR 4H program! The Legislative Auditor reported that in 1996 state spending for highway construction was 20 % less than in 1988 (in real dollars). As a result, state highways and bridges are deteriorating (in some places disintegrating), vital highway expansion projects have been postponed, and traffic congestion has worsened. It’s so bad that even a significant increase in the gasoline tax would not be enough to improve and expand our state highway system. Our goal should be to triple highway construction projects statewide and to maintain that increase for 10 years. To reach this goal, Minnesota should follow 39 other states and issue Highway Construction Bonds. We also need to greatly improve our mass transit system statewide. According to a recent national study, the Twin Cities ranked second-to-last in public transportation investment per resident among the nation’s 20 largest cities. We should consider mass transit an essential public service. It must be efficient, flexible, convenient, and affordable. Our urgent mass transit imperative is to make our only existing system, busses, the best in the country. We should certainly consider other possibilities, such as light rail transit. If we had a dollar for every word of lip service given LRT in the last 20 years, our system would be financed and built! Now, as my teenage sons say, we must "get real." Region-wide LRT is a hugely expensive project. What will it cost? Who will pay? How long until it’s operational? What about neighborhood opposition, lawsuits, further delays? We need good answers to these questions before responsible decisions can be made.
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