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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br /> <br />NORTH METRO MAYORS <br />ASSOCIATION <br /> <br />August 17, 2005 <br /> <br />Mr. Paul Czech, Principle Planner <br />Mn/DOT Metro Division <br />1500 West County Road B-2 <br />Roseville, MN 55113 <br /> <br />Subject: Transportation System Plan Comments <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Czech: <br /> <br />Following are comments on behalf of the member cities in the North Metro <br />Mayors Association on the Draft Transportation System Plan in response to <br />Patrick Hughes' invitation dated June 30, 2005, The NMMA is a Joint Powers <br />Organization that includes 21 member Cities, The NMMA was formed eighteen <br />years ago to give the members a more effective means of advocating for the <br />interests of the northern suburbs, One of our principle areas of advocacy is <br />transportation policy and financing, Accordingly we have maintained a close <br />working relationship with businesses, legislators and Mn/DOT over the years, <br /> <br />Because of our interest and involvement in transportation funding debates, we <br />are acutely aware of Mn/DOTs shortage of funds needed to meet the needs of <br />the State and our communities, We understand that the Metro District TSP <br />contains only a small part of the many projects that should be implemented due <br />to a variety of choices that have been made in the past We are on record in <br />support of substantially increased funding for transportation in Minnesota, We <br />believe that the economic vitality of our State and our communities is being <br />adversely affected by the absence of key transportation investments. <br /> <br />We have concerns about funding schedules for many highways in our area such <br />as TH 65, the Northwest River Crossing @ Ramsey/Dayton etcetera. However, <br />we will focus our comments on three major investment needs: <br />. Completion of TH 610 <br />. Expansion of 1-35W north of TH 36, and, <br />. Upgrading of the TH 10 Corridor between TH 610 and St Cloud <br /> <br />TH 610 <br />The draft TSP lists TH 610 completion in the 2015-2023 era (Policy 6, p 70, <br />eta!.), Recent experience tells us that there is a high probability that this <br />