Commentary; Posted: 12/6/06
Oberstarís reelection a plus for state
By Don Heinzman
The reelection of Congressman Jim Oberstar in the Eighth District has major value for Minnesotaís transportation system. Minnesotans rank highway congestion and need for better highways and transit among their top three concerns in surveys.
By virtue of the Democratic Party taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Oberstar will become chair of the powerful House Transportation Committee. He had been the ranking minority member of the committee and his influence is huge in transportation funding.
He says that all the policies and funding are in place for the state to receive $4.3 billion in federal funds for components of the transportation system over a five-year period.
Oberstar intends to push Minnesota Department of Transportation to match the earmarks contained in the five-year Federal appropriation of $4.3 billion, which he says MnDot now is unable to do because it doesnít have the funds.
MnDot in fact is borrowing money against those future funds for highway improvements, which is legal. The time may come when that possibility will run out.
A spokesperson for MnDot says it will have the matching funds of $20 to every $100 of federal funds for the projects planned in the pipeline for the next four years. The problem comes when projects authorized by the Congress do not fit the timeline in MnDotís planning process.
Another challenge emerges when in order to match a federal earmark, money may have to be taken from another state project, which causes another set of problems. MnDot is not the only governmental entity in Minnesota that can seek federal earmarks for transportation funding.
To Congressman Oberstar, the solution to having the available federal funds is a no brainer: pass an increase in the gas tax. He says people understand that the gas tax is a user fee in exchange for better roads.
In light of the need for more funds, he called Gov. Tim Pawlentyís no-tax pledge and veto of the gas tax increase last session foolish.
As chair of the House Transportation Committee, Oberstar intends to get sides together to make better use of the federal funds.
He cites one example where Chisago County, on its own, matched federal funds by bonding to build a badly-needed interchange from CR-17 to I-35 in Lent Township. Oberstar says the county designed and built it right.
Because the state was unable to provide funds to rebuild TH-53, Oberstar said he was in a position to designate $50 million from the National Corridors fund. That road will be heavily used because of increased hauling of containers for the Canadian National Railroad.
Oberstar has other major items on his agenda for the Transportation Committee when it convenes with him as chair in January. Reauthorization of the future funding for the Federal Aeronautics Administration, which deals with runways and air control systems. This could mean $20 billion of authorizations for Minnesota.
Another is authorizing funding for the improvement of lakes and waterways dealing with harbor operations, lakes, locks and dams on the Mississippi river which could cut down hours of barge traffic from St. Paul to New Orleans, among other benefits.
With his many years of experience, Oberstar as chair of the Transportation Committee, will be in position to help Minnesota deal with its traffic congestion. A bigger question is: will Minnesota be ready to use all of the increase in funding already available.
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