This article by reporter Trey Mewes was published in the Mankato Free Press on March 18.

MANKATO — Local officials are urging Minnesota leaders to create long term transportation funding this session, but area lawmakers say it’ll be a tough road to get a package done this session.

Lt. Gov. Tina Smith remains hopeful lawmakers can come to an agreement for comprehensive transportation funding this session, however.

“It is totally feasible that we can come up with a strategy to address our long term transportation needs,” she said after a meeting with local business and government officials Friday afternoon at Greater Mankato Growth.

Smith stopped in Mankato as part of a larger statewide tour to discuss transportation issues with Greater Minnesota communities.

Local officials pressed Smith and several lawmakers from around south central Minnesota to take action on transportation this session, especially hammering home how important projects like expanding Highway 14 to New Ulm are to the region.

As New Ulm Mayor Bob Beussman and North Mankato Mayor Mark Dehen pointed out, a Highway 14 expansion to a four-lane highway across southern Minnesota has been discussed for decades, with construction only coming after piecemeal funding for certain parts of the road.

Yet Highway 14 is only one of a number of projects that have gone partially funded or unfunded for years. Those projects can hamper economic and population growth for areas like Mankato, which has grown rapidly over the past few years.

As Mankato Mayor Eric Anderson pointed out, there are plenty of state and county roads which need to be maintained and in some cases expanded to accommodate future growth.

“There’s a lot to be said about those connections that are coming up, and so many people are coming from around the outside of the Mankato area proper,” he said. “That’s something that I think is a challenge.”

Several local officials called on legislators to support the DFL’s proposed gas tax, which could cost about 16 cents per gallon. Blue Earth County Commissioner Vance Stuehrenberg urged GOP lawmakers to consider the proposal as a means to make transportation funding a priority in the future.

“I’ve heard that the gas tax is nothing but a band-aid,” he said. “And I agree. But if you don’t put a band-aid on, you’re going to bleed out. And that’s what’s going to happen until the state Legislature can figure out a mileage tax or something else that we can really put our feet into.”

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, said he was “99.9 percent sure” the House GOP wouldn’t support a gas tax, however.

“I don’t think the Speaker or the GOP in the House are going to back off of that issue,” he said. “I think the governor will have to press it for a while, but then I think when he realizes it’s not going to happen, then we’ll go to the other funding sources.”

Rep. Clark Johnson, DFL-North Mankato, reiterated his support for a combined transportation bill that would take key elements from both parties — a general fund shift to use taxes from motor parts sales and a slightly smaller gas tax, combined with a metropolitan-area county sales tax to pay for transit needs in the Twin Cities.

“Transportation is one of those difficult issues that I think when you have divided government, responsibility is shared across the board,” he said. “Everybody has to take a hard vote. Why can’t we compromise in that way?”

Republicans have proposed a $7 billion package over the next 10 years that would fund road and bridge maintenance and expansion using the aforementioned general shift fund, along with some state budget surplus funding and cuts to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, among other things. Democrats and Gov. Mark Dayton are behind an $11 billion plan that would include funding for transportation, paid in part through the aforementioned gas tax.

Lawmakers started discussions on transportation funding in committee hearings this week.

Yet many worry the Legislature will fail to pass a transportation package this session, just as lawmakers did last year. State legislators spent much of 2014 touting the 2015 legislative session as the year for transportation.

Area business representatives told lawmakers transportation needs to be a continuous priority if the state hopes to continue growing.

“We’re behind,” said Aaron Lambrecht, vice president and chief operating officer of Shelter Products in New Ulm. “If we don’t start catching up, we’ll continue to be behind forever.”