This report is issued to comply with 2022 Minnesota Statutes 174.185.1 Changes to this section were made in the 2024 Legislative Session but do not become effective until July 1, 2025 (see Appendix D).
The statute requires a life-cycle cost analysis for every project in the reconditioning, resurfacing and road repair funding categories constructed after July 1, 2011. The LCCA is a comparison of life-cycle costs among competing paving materials using equal design lives and equal comparison periods. Documentation required by the statute includes:
• Lowest life-cycle cost
• Alternatives considered
• Chosen strategy
• Documented justification, if the chosen strategy is not the low-cost option
This report was completed to comply with Laws of Minnesota 2017, 1st Spec. Sess., Chap. 3, Art. 3, Sec. 135.
"By February 15, 2018, the commissioners of transportation and public safety, in consultation with the commissioner of management and budget, must jointly submit a report to the members and staff of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over transportation finance. The report must update the information required in the report under Laws 2015, chapter 75, article 2, section 56, including a detailed list of expenditures and transfers from the trunk highway fund and highway user tax distribution fund for fiscal years 2013 through 2017, and information on the purpose of each expenditure."
The "Construction Engineering Study Team was the outgrowth of a recognition by the Department of Highways that new developments in construction control procedures were offering an opportunity to improve construction quality and reduce engineering costs. While it was recognized that any changes would have to be brought about slowly and carefully tested before final adoption on a statewide scale, a decision was made to proceed with a study using a team of well-qualified engineers in pursuing the assignment. The problem statement which served as the basis for the project follows this section of the preliminary and condensed report.
This report identifies and analyzes the nature of discrepancies in highway construction costs and cost inflation estimates between Minnesota and other federal and national measures as described in the language in the Omnibus Transportation Finance Bill signed into law on May 30, 2017.
Methods of analysis included an evaluation and survey of the practices currently being used at the Minnesota Department of Transportation, a review of MnDOT’s Highway Construction Cost Index methodology and trends to evaluate if the HCCI is overinflating the true cost of construction as determined by the marketplace, and a comparison of MnDOT HCCI to the Federal Highway Administration’s recent HCCI (2.0) published in July 2017. Results of the data analyzed show that MnDOT’s current cost estimating practices and cost indexing is consistent with peer states and that of FHWA.
The report addresses the benchmarking analysis, but has some limitations. Impacts due to varying construction standards and requirements established in law between peer states were not directly researched as part of this study because of the extensive effort that would be needed to fully understand these impacts as they relate to costs differences between states. However, with the analysis of the construction cost indexes, the study draws the conclusion that peer states operate under similar construction standards and requirements in law since their HCCI trends over time are very similar to MnDOT
Since the 20-year Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan was last updated in 2017, the Minnesota Legislature provided additional funding for state highway construction projects. In the 2017 Legislative Session, MnDOT received $804 million for state road construction from additional Trunk Highway bonding authority and a transfer from the State’s General Fund to the Highway Use Tax Distribution Fund, from which MnDOT receives a portion for state road construction.
The Legislature also authorized Trunk Highway bonding and funds for the Corridors of Commerce program in both the 2017 and 2018 sessions.
MnDOT has revised the 20-year state highway funding projection in MnSHIP to account for this additional funding. In the near term, this new funding allows MnDOT to add additional construction projects and increase the scope of already programmed projects. Over the long term, however, repayment of the bonds will reduce the previously projected available trunk highway funds in future years.
This document provides an overview on the overall impact on the MnSHIP investment direction and implementation.
The Highway Improvement Programming Process Review, one of eight Commissioner's Destinations projects undertaken in the summer of 1993, involved the study of four aspects of the project development and program management processes. This project was undertaken with a goal of addressing the seemingly continual instances whereby project deferrals were necessary.
The Highway Improvement Programming Process Review, one of eight Commissioner's Destinations projects undertaken in the summer of 1993, involved the study of four aspects of the project development and program management processes. This project was undertaken with a goal of addressing the seemingly continual instances whereby project deferrals were necessary. These four aspects studied were:
1. Optimistic Revenue Forecasting as a Potential Cause of Deferrals;
2. The Relationship of Right of Way Costs and Project Deferrals;
3. The Effect of Supplemental Agreements and Overruns on Deferrals; and
4. The Effects of Under-Estimatmg Project Letting Amounts on Deferrals.
The interchange between I-35W and the Crosstown Highway (Highway 62) is one of the most heavily traveled and most congested points in the Twin Cities metropolitan roadway system. It is a critical element in the regional transportation system. The Crosstown Project proposed improvements include: reconstruction of the I-35W/Highway 62 Commons Area and addition of a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane between 46th Street in Minneapolis and I-494 in Richfield/Bloomington; the addition of a general purpose lane on I-35W between Highway 62 and 46th Street; and additional capacity on Highway 62 through the Commons Area. The project also includes a proposed new access ramp to westbound Highway 62 from Lyndale Avenue and closure of the existing access to westbound Highway 62 from Portland Avenue.
A contractor bid letting for the proposed project was held on June 16, 2006 with construction to start in late July or early August 2006. Completion of the project was originally anticipated by the fall 2009. However no contractor bids were received for this project, which resulted in a re-evaluation of the project funding, financial plan, etc.
Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) assigned PBS&J the task to review the current construction cost estimate and the proposed financing plan for the project and develop a probability range of estimated construction costs for the Crosstown Project. This document and the attached presentation summarize and report the results of this cost estimate review.
A careful examination of our State Trunk Highway System in 1972 revealed the following:
- Demands and requests for highway improvements throughout the state far exceeded our ability to finance them.
- Road improvements contained in the program surpassed available finances.
- Construction standards had been increased by the Federal Government for all projects involving federal funds resulting in sharply increased costs.
- Inflationary forces had reduced the amount of construction that could be obtained.
- Revenues had not been increased for state highway construction by the 1971 State Legislature.
Obviously, a financially realistic highway plan was needed.
