The Highway 169 Range Gateway Coalition (RGC) submitted a letter to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) urging the agency to include an extension of the availability of Highway 169 project funding in the agency priorities for the 2027 legislative session.
In 2023, the Minnesota legislature appropriated $6 million to the Highway 169 expansion project. With the assistance of U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, the federal government followed suit in 2024 by appropriating an additional $4.9 million through a Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request. The combined state and federal support for the project means we have an unprecedented opportunity to move this project forward: we can advance construction of two miles of highway and significantly improve safety on the corridor. However, the $6 million in state funding for the project will expire in 2027 before construction can begin.
MnDOT and RGC must work together with the legislature in 2027 to extend the availability of state funding through June 30, 2030. Without this extension, we risk stalling the hard-fought progress we’ve made on the project so far and put the federal funding in jeopardy.