Virtually every state in the USA gets the majority of its money for interstate and U.S. highways, as well as bridges for such roads, from the federal government. The federal government is also the biggest fund source for all transportation projects. The majority of the money for light rail projects, such as the one completed recently in Minneapolis, come from the federal government. The federal DOT also specifies the safety and construction specifications which must be used for any projects which receive federal dollars. Despite that, the blame doesn't lie with the federal government. On-going maintenance and inspection responsibility generally lies with each state, even if reconstruction projects obtain federal dollars.
In Minnesota, the responsibility for maintenance of the 35W bridge lies with MnDOT, the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Of course, MnDOT's direction and funding come from elected and appointed politicians. MnDOT has been headed by Lt. Governor Carol Molnau, who was appointed to the position by Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2003.
The Pawlenty/Molnau administration (coming up on 2 terms now) have been in favor of tax cuts, and have strangled Minnesota's widely-praised high investments and pay-offs in infrastructure and education. Now the state's infrastructure -- highways, airports, railways, etc. -- and education system are suffering.
According to
this story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
On her watch, MnDOT staff has been reduced 15 percent to 4,587. Last year, the department's professional engineering staff was down to 420, a 9 percent drop during her administration.
The union representing MnDOT's blue-collar workers contends she has cut muscle and bone, even down to short-staffing the state's snowplowing needs.
"Morale in that department is at an all-time low," said Bob Hilliker, state field director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5.
Last year, highway contractors rebelled when MnDOT asked its construction companies to front the state up to $96 million to help finance the I-35W-Crosstown project when federal payments were delayed. The private financing plan flopped, forcing postponement of the $250 million project for a year.
The harshest criticism of Molnau, by both Republicans and Democrats, is that she has failed to advocate for the funding required to meet the state's transportation needs. By MnDOT's own estimates, there's a $1 billion-a-year gap between its anticipated revenues and needs from now to 2030 - and a $2.4 billion annual shortfall for the next six years.
She opposed increasing gas taxes to plug that gap, arguing instead for more borrowing and moving the state toward a tax based on how many miles people drive instead of how much gasoline they use - a system she acknowledges will take several years to develop. Pawlenty shared that view and vetoed gas tax increases passed by the Legislature in 2005 and earlier this year.
"I don't think she has had any vision of transportation, and she did not advocate for the department, and I think that she should," said Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, who has long supported a gas tax hike.
ANTI-TRANSIT REPUTATION
No fan of rail mass transit, Molnau hasn't shared Pawlenty's enthusiasm for the Northstar commuter rail line and light-rail lines in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"She is very hostile to transit and transit interests, actively so in my opinion, and hostile of any inquiries that are made of her on transit," said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who served with Molnau in the House and now chairs a Senate transit subcommittee.
Molnau has turned the MnDOT into a train wreck in progress. Good people are leaving and have left, because of the hostile environment promulgated from the top and because of butchered budgets.
Prior to being Lt. Governor, Molnau was the chair of the state legislative committee which made all the financing decisions for state transportation spending. She held that position for many, many years. She gradually choked all the money out of the system over those years, piling up huge amounts (billions) of deferred maintenance and upgrades. People who spend hours sitting in traffic jams, wasting time and gasoline, and generating pollution can thank Carol Molnau. In the late 1990s, Molnau was asked about the increasing traffic jams in the Minneapolis - St. Paul metro area. Her reply (paraphrased from the radio) was essentially: "What traffic jams? I commute every morning to the capitol from my home in Chaska and don't see any traffic jams." Molnau neglected to mention to the reporter that she typically commuted to the capitol at 5am, before most people were even awake, so of course, she didn't see any traffic.
But Molnau was not alone in this. At the same time she was in the legislature de-funding MnDOT, Tim Pawlenty was the house majority leader, whipping the rest of his Republican party members into voting against needed infrastructure funding. Now as
Governor No New Taxes, he has continued to cut into the quality of life Minnesota was famous for, a result of its earlier investment in infrastructure and education. He has twice vetoed small gasoline tax increases -- a tax which has fallen far behind inflation having not been increased in many years.
Molnau and Pawlenty are a new breed of Republican in Minnesota, cut from the same cloth as GW Bush, it seems. Past Republicans, like former Governor Arne Carlson, are in complete opposition to the wrong-headed methods practiced by the current administration. MnDOT is a sick, twisted version of its former self. Corruption oozes from the Pawlenty administration. It's no surprise that bridges like the one which collapsed are not getting the inspection, repair and replacement attention they need. The Federal government rated the collapsed bridge as "structurally deficient" in 2005. Nothing has been done to remedy that situation since. Pawlenty was elected in 2002.
Draw your own conclusions.