Report 'not pretty'; highways in decline

Minnesota's high-pitched debate over transportation funding got a push Tuesday from a new report that says the condition of the state's highways is declining and has been hurt by pressures to build new roads instead of fixing existing ones.

Legislative Auditor James Nobles released a 105-page critique of the state's transportation system that says that without new money, Minnesota will be able to do little more than maintain current roadways.

"The picture going forward is clear, and it's not pretty," said Nobles, who said that simply borrowing money for transportation is not enough.

MnDOT's bridge program received relatively high marks in the report. It has been a focus of concern since the August collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge that killed 13, injured more than a hundred and left the agency reeling as critics faulted MnDOT for the tragedy.

The report came two days before a DFL-sponsored transportation bill is scheduled for votes on the House and Senate floor. The bill would raise $7.8 billion over the next decade through a series of tax and fee increases.

DFL leaders immediately pounced on the report as evidence that the bill is needed.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has threatened to veto the legislation, has defended his policy of using the state's bonding authority to borrow money to pay for transportation projects. On Tuesday, Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung termed the DFL proposal "massive and overreaching."

Construction vs. preservation

The report, meanwhile, painted a sobering picture of Minnesota's roads.

The state had more miles of trunk highway in poor condition in 2007 than five years before, a period when the number of Minnesota Department of Transportation employees dropped 19 percent, the report said.

And though the agency had a policy of "preservation first" -- making repairs to existing roads the top priority -- the report showed that more than half of MnDOT's spending on trunk highways was spent on expansion projects in the past five years.

When adjusted for inflation, Nobles said, tax revenues for the trunk highway fund have decreased since 2003.

One result, he said, was that MnDOT is increasingly committing more money for road construction and less on operations, research and support.

"There are a few bright spots," Nobles said of the report. "Parts are downright grim."

State Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau, responding to the report Tuesday, welcomed the findings and said her agency has been "stemming the downward decline in the condition of pavements that began in 2000."

"We must do an even better job of aligning our investments, project-by-project, with our stated priorities -- and we will," said Molnau, speaking at a briefing with the state Legislative Audit Commission.

Molnau, however, dismissed the push to increase the state's gas tax for the first time since the 1980s -- a centerpiece of the DFL's legislation -- and said new revenue sources must be found. With gas tax receipts declining, said Molnau, "you start to wonder if we're going to be able to do things the way we've always done them."

Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, an assistant majority leader, said there was little else to turn to except a gas tax increase. "We need revenue right now," she said. "We can't wait."

Some Republicans cautioned that the report may not automatically translate into support for the DFL's transportation initiative. "The debate isn't so much, does MnDOT need more money?" said Rep. Chris DeLaForest, R-Fridley.

"The battle line here, rather, is drawn between where do you get the money? Are you going to go back to taxpayers and extract more, or are you going to seek to find more within government?" he said.

Better rapport urged

Nobles, whose office is non-partisan, urged both Republicans and DFLers to reach a funding compromise, and also said that legislators and the agency needed to show "some improvement in the rapport."

Not all of the report's findings were positive regarding MnDOT's bridge work and maintenance. While the report said MnDOT was completing "high-priority" bridge repairs, it added that the agency was falling behind on routine maintenance.

Nobles stressed that his report was not focused on the causes of the bridge collapse, but on larger transportation funding problems.

Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673