Mark Dayton: “this week brought the disturbing news that the Senate, the House, and the White House might not be able to agree on a…”

“this week brought the disturbing news that the Senate, the House, and the White House might not be able to agree on a new transportation funding bill, that we would have to set it aside then until next year to be acted upon. That would be disastrous for my home State of Minnesota, and I suspect for many of the States my colleagues represent. Traffic congestion in our main metropolitan areas in Minnesota has worsened at alarming rates during the past decade. The deterioration of our roads, highways, and bridges throughout greater Minnesota, more rural areas of our State, has also reached crisis levels. More and more of our highways have become unsafe due to this deterioration and congestion. More motorists are dying, being injured or maimed as a result. Business owners and farmers find that transporting their goods and products to market takes longer and is more costly. Some of the seasonal national weight restrictions force major employers such as Polaris, Artic Cat, and Marvin Windows, which are located in northwestern Minnesota, to have to reroute their trucks, adding time, expense, and unreliability that become major drawbacks to operating a business in Minnesota. Businesses executives, their employees and their families, have to take longer to drive to and from work, school, and weekend cabins, and they are less safe in doing so. Every day and night, many thousands of Minnesotans endure these delays and disruptions.”