In 1985 the 74th Minnesota Legislature began a process through which jurisdictional decisions could be made. The legislation directed the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to develop a set of guidelines that would assist the regional development commissions or multi-county organizations in conducting a series of highway jurisdictional studies.
The Department would then use these studies to develop a State-wide jurisdictional plan. This directive would continue the cooperation between all levels of government to determine what was best for the State as a whole.
The seven counties of Region I (Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau) offer a representative example of a rural road system. This system has been studied extensively by the Transportation Advisory Committee (T.A.C.) of the Northwest Regional Development Commission (N.W.R.D.C.).
