In This Issue:
TAB Recommends 2022-2025 TIP Approval
Metropolitan Council staff presented the 2022-2025 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) during their meeting on Wednesday, August 18th. The presentation covered high-level information on the TIP including the source of funds and the breakdown of funding by transportation mode. Total funding is around $5 billion with $2.6 billion going toward transit and $2.1 billion for highways and roads.
Staff also summarized the public comment report. Many of the comments captured in the report relate to climate change and the desire to prioritize and expand public transit. Other common themes include support for bike and pedestrian projects, as well as electric vehicle charging infrastructure. TAB members debated whether public comments are adequately incorporated into the TIP after staff said there were no substantive changes made to the plan based on the generated comments. Click HERE to view the Public Comment Report.
Click HERE to view the full text of the 2022-2025 Transportation Improvement Program which includes information on each of the included projects. In a separate item on the TAB’s agenda, members debated several regional solicitation applications and scoring criteria for future solicitations. Those conversations are ongoing and no official action has been taken by the TAB to change the application at this time.
Next steps for the TIP include:
- Consideration in the Transportation Committee on September 13, 2021.
- Metropolitan Council approval on September 22, 2021.
- MnDOT inclusion into State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) in September or October 2021.
- Federal approvals in November or December 2021.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
August Legislative Policy Committees Meet Next Week
Metro Cities’ legislative policy committees will have second meetings next week, the week of August 23rd. If you are interested in participating, but have not yet signed up, please contact Jennifer Dorn at [email protected] or see our website at https://www.metrocitiesmn.org/policy-committees. Policy committees will host speakers from the Metropolitan Council, suburban transit providers, Office of MN Management and Budget, National League of Cities, MN Housing, and the MN Department of Revenue. Policy committees will discuss current policies, as well as suggestions for new policies or modifications to existing language. All meetings are being held remotely.