As Minnesota's 2021 legislative session came to a tense finish, the $52 billion budget, tax policy and executive powers made headlines. But amidst the ups and downs of the session was one funding approval some have sought for decades.
"(U.S. Highway) 212 is in the bill," said Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. "It's funded and it's going to get done."
Newman and Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, have echoed local sentiment espoused by county commissioners, business owners and county department heads for the past several years — calling for a continuous four lanes from the metro and into McLeod County. Both legislators frequently placed the project at the top of the priority list, touting the benefit it would have for local manufacturers, agricultural shipping and a large population of commuters in McLeod County.
Former Carver County Commissioner Randy Maluchnik summarized the project's impact in a letter to the editor this week praising the inclusion of U.S. Highway 212 funding in the Omnibus Transportation Budget bill.
"The one remaining 5-mile, two-lane bottleneck between Cologne and Norwood Young America needs to be expanded to improve safety and provide a continuous four-lane highway," he wrote. "This critical U.S. highway serves 22,000 square miles of rural Minnesota and South Dakota and is the primary connector for 65 major freight generators, serving travelers from 74 of 87 counties."
That final 5-mile section is estimated at $59.4 million. Local, state and federal funding covered more than half the cost, leaving $25 million to be earmarked in the transportation bill.
The only continuous four-lane highway stretching west from the metropolitan area is Interstate 94.
Gruenhagen, who called the 212 funding "the one bright spot that really brings me joy" following the legislative session, quipped it had been part of the state's 10-year transportation plan since 1959. His frustration echoed a sentiment from McLeod County Commissioner Doug Krueger, who in May 2018 had just returned from lobbying lawmakers in Washington, D.C., for 212 funding.
He recalled knowing advocates for the project as far back as the 1970s when he was in trucking.
“How many years is that, ’72 to now? Almost 50 years,” he said. “People (advocating) are dying off it’s been so long.”
Improvements to the road have come in pieces over the years as advocates from the metro to Granite Falls pushed for funding. Eden Prairie to Carver grew to four lanes more than 10 years ago. This summer work began on the 4.5 miles of road from Cologne to Carver. One of the most critical steps in recent memory came when the road was named a Corridor of Commerce, making it eligible for matching federal funds.
"I'm all about taking turns," Gruenhagen said. "But it's our turn. This will help our farmers, our businesses and everyone else."
Construction on the first phase of the Highway 212 four-lane expansion project from Carver to Cologne is expected to be completed in 2023, while work on the second phase from Cologne to Norwood Young America is expected to begin in 2024.
