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ramp for northbound I-35W to westbound I-494 traffic. The proposed project is intended to <br />improve interstate capacity and reduce crashes. Project submitted by Karl Keel, City of <br />Bloomington public works director. <br /> Highway 94, St. Michael to Albertville (Greater Minnesota) – estimate up to $56 million <br />This project will expand I-94 from four to six lanes between Highway 241 in St. Michael and <br />County Road 19 in Albertville. The proposed project is intended to improve the capacity of the <br />interstate by adding a third lane in each direction and make interchange improvements at <br />Highway 241 and at county roads 37 and 19 in Albertville. Project submitted by several people <br />including Steve Bot (St. Michael city engineer), Adam Flaherty (Otsego city administrator), and <br />Adam Nafstad (Albertville city administrator). <br />In January, MnDOT solicited project recommendations from the public, including local units of <br />government, transportation advocates and interested citizens. It also conducted significant public <br />outreach when developing the scoring criteria. MnDOT received a total of 299 project <br />recommendations. After duplicate work and ineligible projects were removed, the agency had 172 <br />project recommendations valued at $5.5 billion. <br />With the assistance of a consultant engineering firm, the agency scored and ranked the recommended <br />projects using a set of eligibility and selection criteria which were passed by the Minnesota Legislature <br />and required under state law. Criteria included the proposed project’s return on investment, economic <br />impact, freight efficiency, safety improvement, regional connections, policy objectives and community <br />consensus. The final key requirement was that 50 percent of the funding be spent in Greater Minnesota, <br />or those MnDOT areas that are not in the MnDOT Metro District, and 50 percent be spent in the Metro <br />District, which is the seven-county metro area plus Chisago County. <br />“It is important to note that we followed direction set by the Minnesota Legislature regarding the <br />solicitation, scoring criteria and geographic distribution of funding,” Zelle said. “We brought the scoring <br />criteria to the public to get input prior to the solicitation. And, MnDOT did not put any projects in that <br />solicitation.” <br />Governor Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature created the Corridors of Commerce program in 2013 to <br />invest in projects that support commerce in the state, but that are not already considered in the state’s <br />transportation investment plan. Since that time, the program has provided more than $330 million to <br />dozens of projects across the state. For more information about the program, and to view the submitted <br />project recommendations, visit www.mndot.gov/corridorsofcommerce. <br />### <br />www.mndot.gov <br />