Below is my written testimony in support of HF 3728.
Chair Tabke, Rep. Koegel, and Members,
My name is Joe Harrington, and I am the Policy Manager at Our Streets. Our organization aims to build a safe and sustainable transportation system that promotes vibrant communities across Minnesota.
First, thank you to Chair Koegel for championing this bill, and to everyone who worked with us over the past year to develop this language and shape this conversation about the future of transportation in Minnesota. Her work to make a transportation system that works for everyone is greatly appreciated.
This conversation is critical, and it comes at a critical moment.
We face a convergence of fiscal pressures that demand a very thoughtful approach to how we spend public dollars and manage our trunk highway system:
We see a tight state budget with shifting transportation needs and growing demands for a transportation system for the future, for all modes of transportation
We see deep uncertainty about federal funding, with very real potential cuts to federal dollars to Minnesota. Work has stalled in Congress on a replacement bill to the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and proposals on the table will cut significant funding from federal formula and discretionary grants to Minnesota.
And we see a massive (and growing) maintenance backlog for roads and especially for bridges. MnDOT estimates $36.7 billion in available revenue over the next 20 years against $52–57 billion in identified needs — a shortfall of $15–20 billion.
This problem is driven by the already staggering size of our state’s road system and the ways we invest in it.
Minnesota has the fourth-largest road system in the country by total lane miles, despite ranking 12th in geographic area and 22nd in population. The only states ahead of us are Texas, California, and Illinois, all of which have significantly larger populations and economies, and in the case of Texas and California, are far larger geographically.
Essentially, this means Minnesotans are footing the bill for two states’ worth of roads. That’s unsustainable.
Failing to address this problem and prioritize fiscal responsibility means our maintenance backlog grows, costs and wasteful spending escalate, and Minnesotans pay the price — in higher taxes and household costs, worse quality and less safe roads, fewer affordable multi-modal options, and eroded trust in how the state manages its money.
The Bill
This bill, House File 3728, advances a “Fix-it-First” approach by promoting long-term thinking and long-term planning to create a resilient system, because not maintaining what we have and not building things to last creates wasteful spending that hurts the people of Minnesota.
It uses the state’s own Transportation Asset Management Plan as a fiscal guardrail: if maintenance standards aren’t being met by clearing our maintenance backlog, new capacity expansion can’t be added to project funding plans until we meet existing needs.
In other words: fix what’s already built first, and deliver smart maintenance projects in all corners of the state.
The bill creates a major highway project maintenance plan, documenting that we can pay for what we build and shifting us toward preventive maintenance, preservation, and rehabilitation — maintaining asset condition while minimizing life-cycle costs.
The bill also cleans up planning and reporting requirements and performance standards across existing code and a fiscal transparency portal.
The Impact
The fiscal case for this approach is strong.
According to MN SHIP, $1.2 billion is currently planned for highway capacity expansion in the next 20 years.
That $1.2 billion has been framed as modest— but MnDOT’s own research shows every deferred maintenance dollar costs $6–10 down the line when we put off overdue work, and other roads crumble.
With limited resources, that means this choice to expand could leave taxpayers on the hook for $7.2–$12 billion in additional costs as that money fails to address infrastructures that are deteriorating elsewhere.
Beyond our state’s bottom line, these impacts hit kitchen tables as Minnesotans across the state face the outcomes of these fiscally irresponsible decisions. MnDOT research found that poorly maintained roads could cost Minnesota drivers an estimated average of $480 per year in extra auto repairs, a hidden tax on Minnesotans. Not having more affordable transportation choices for 1 in 3 people who don’t drive further hits household bottom lines.
It’s also important to acknowledge what this bill doesn’t do.
This bill would not stop important work towards improving the safety of our transportation system.
We share the goal of improving safety — that’s exactly why this bill matters. Poorly maintained roads are themselves a safety crisis. MnDOT’s own research shows that good pavement condition reduces fatal and serious injury crashes, preventing families from being ripped apart by preventable tragedies. Every dollar we direct towards expansion over maintenance is a safety risk we’re choosing to accept.
Safety is often used as a justification to expand capacity, and it’s important to note that expansion doesn’t always equal safety– maintenance and deliberate safety projects do.
This bill is good for workers and long-term maintenance planning moves us toward projects that address roadways down to the foundation — more complex, more consistent work that supports those good jobs.
We look forward to continuing this conversation to ensure our system works for everyone, including the laborers, operators, and others who build and maintain our infrastructure system across the state.
We hope this bill will be the start of a broader conversation on responsibly investing in transportation to build a transportation system for the future and to keep transportation governance accountable to the people of Minnesota. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this bill and its principles with each of you soon.
Thank you for your consideration.
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