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Reform
Minnesota’s system of funding roads to provide greater
flexibility and more equitable distribution of revenues. |
- Replace
the language in the Minnesota Constitution that governs the
spending and allocation of gas tax revenues and license tab
fees with statutory language that is more equitable and can
be easily updated.
- Adopt
a “fix it first” law that identifies preservation
and maintenance as the highest funding priority for roads.
- Specify
in law that roadway corridors must accommodate safe and convenient
travel by bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users.
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Language in the Minnesota State Constitution from
the 1950’s determines state transportation spending. |
Minnesota’s system of funding roads is inflexible,
inequitable, and out-of-date. An amendment to Minnesota’s Constitution
from the 1950s — a very different era for transportation — still
determines how Minnesota spends about $1.1 billion collected annually
in state gas tax revenues and license tab fees. The Constitution limits
use of the state transportation dollars to “highway purposes” — a
term that has been narrowly interpreted to mean roads (6).
Minnesota’s transportation funding system
shortchanges local roads and bridges. |
The
Constitution specifies that the state Department of Transportation
(MnDOT) receives 62 percent of state road revenues; counties 29 percent;
and cities 9 percent. As a result, MnDOT has ongoing money for highway
expansion, while local roads and bridges deteriorate. This constitutional dedication insulates MnDOT from the ups and downs
of the state budget and from the level of scrutiny given to other
state agencies, the Metropolitan Council, and Metro Transit.
With
a more flexible funding system, improvements can be made for all users
in a corridor — bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders,
not just vehicle drivers. Road maintenance will be more consistent
across the state and fewer main streets will fall into disrepair. There
can
be an open public dialog about the best strategies for improving
transportation, rather than automatically funneling expansion dollars
into highway projects.
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The New Jersey Legislature passed
a law in 2000 that gave it a stronger watchdog role over transportation
spending. The
law set goals for fixing bridges and pavements, forbids the construction
of new highways without legislative approval, and required the
construction
of 1,000 miles of new bike lanes.
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