With just little more than three weeks left in the legislative session, it’s time for legislators to get serious about negotiations on transportation. However, it appears little has been done thus far to address U.S. Highway 14, Corridors of Commerce or any of the other numerous roads, bridges and transit concerns facing our state.

This week, the Mankato Free Press published two columns stressing the need for a transportation bill this year. In the first piece, titled “Transportation: We all lose with gridlock on road-transit bill”, the newspaper’s editorial board highlights many of the Mankato-area transportation needs and expresses frustration over the seeming lack of compromise among legislators.

Addressing this frustration, Rep. Clark Johnson (DFL-Mankato) wrote a column published in the MFP today titled “Compromise needed on long-term road funding.” In it, Rep. Johnson acknowledges that in order to get a bill passed, legislators must be willing to accept that “with compromise none of us will ‘get our way’ completely.” He goes on to note that he is willing to compromise to get a bill passed, and expresses hope that other legislators will compromise as well.