State aid

The objectives of this study were to assure that through critical reassessment of elements affecting width standards that the standards are indeed an up-to-date reflection of the best of available technical knowledge past and present; and to furnish the engineer facing the public a documentation of sound reasons for the standards he is called upon to observe and defend. The study involved a multi-dimensional approach including a study of present professional practice, a historical review, and an evaluation of the safety, operational environmental and cost aspects of width elements. Variables considered include human factors responses, basic driver-vehicle-road relationships, system or network considerations, costs of construction and maintenance, and environmental impacts. The project included the collection and synthesis of data, studies, information, unit values, etc. which describe each of the important variables and where necessary reflect the sensitivities of Minnesota conditions. This synthesis process enabled formal evaluation of all pertinent width elements resulting in a series of statements and recommendations concerning optimal values for input to Minnesota state aid design standards. A rational process for considering exceptional cases is suggested.

This section presents a listing of all segments identified as misaligned through this project process. The segments indicated with an asterisk (*) are potentially misaligned but require a detailed study before their misalignment can be confirmed.

Phase 1 of the Jurisdictional Realignment Project established guiding principles, evaluated the history and prior studies, developed an approach for identifying misalignments, piloted the approach, and defined an agreed-upon process for applying the approach. The end result of the first phase is this report.

The purpose of this document is to guide jurisdictions in Minnesota—the state, counties, cities, and townships—in identifying segments that may be misaligned. This guide is an output of the Minnesota Jurisdictional Realignment (JR) Project, a two year project which looked at current jurisdiction alignment within the State of Minnesota and developed a standard and consistent approach to identifying misaligned segments. The guide covers the entire spectrum of the segment identification process, from defining what constitutes a misaligned segment to preparing a list of misaligned segments. The misalignment list can then be used as a starting point for discussing transfers between jurisdictions.

This document presents the final report of the Minnesota jurisdictional realignment project, divided into an executive summary and a detailed report. The overall objective for this project was to ensure that Minnesota roads are owned and operated at the right jurisdictional level. This project developed and applied a methodology to identify roadway segments that are not owned by the right level of government (referred to as misaligned). This project also provides additional information that can be used as a basis from which a jurisdictional transfer process and program can be established to remedy the misalignments.

The 1999 legislature requested the Commissioner of Transportation to conduct a study of the "State Bridge Grant Program" in order to assess the effect of implementing a proposed expansion of the current eligibility criteria that is applied to all local requests for state bond funds for bridge replacement and rehabilitation. Specifically, the law required a study assessing the impact on the demand for state bridge grants that would likely result from expanding the eligibility criteria of the existing program to include the following: 1. Allowing grants to be used for the costs of flood-related erosion protection; 2. Allowing grants to be used for construction of water-retention projects where such a project is more cost efficient than replacement of an existing bridge; 3. Allowing grants to be made for bridges that are functionally obsolete; and 4. Allowing grants to be used for construction of bridges on new alignments. The purpose of this study is to estimate the extent to which the demand for state bond funds will increase for each of the distinct eligibility criteria under consideration. This is achieved by first examining the demand for local bridge bond funds under the current eligibility criteria, and then by projecting additional needs that would likely result in the current biennium and the next biennium if the program were expanded to include the criteria listed above.

This report on Minnesota's highway needs led to the passage of Minnesota Constitutional Amendment #2 in 1956. That amendment created the first state aid standards and regulations, and the basis for State Aid for Local Transportation (SALT) in Minnesota.

This report shows how State Aid construction standards, rules, and regulations evolved from the beginnings of the program in the 1950s to 1976.

Study of the need for establishing a Local Road Improvement Program for distributing appropriations made for local road improvements, as required by the state legislature, Minnesota Laws of 2001, 1st Special Session, Chapter 8, Art 1, Sec 2, Sub 6 (c).

This booklet is published with the intent of providing state and local officials with a brief history of the development of the Municipal State-Aid Street System and the details of the distribution procedure of the Municipal State-Aid Street Fund. Interest in the source of funds, means of distribution, and expenditure of the State-Aid Fund for construction and maintenance of the integrated Municipal State-Aid Street System has prompted this detailed explanation.