Table 3 identifies a number of areas where freight is referenced in the Minnesota Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan. This is noteworthy because freight, while not specifically referenced, is impacted by many of the objectives, strategies, and performance measures that are included in the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan. Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan (MnSHIP) The Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan (MnSHIP) is currently being developed. As a result, this analysis is based on draft text that has been assembled as of March 2013. As mentioned previously, MnSHIP is one of MnDOT’s many transportation investment plans, alongside plans for other modes including the State Aviation System Plan, Greater Minnesota Transit Investment Plan, and the Minnesota Statewide Freight Plan. However, MnSHIP is prominent among these as it is responsible for directing a large portion of the agency’s expenditures. Based on MAP-21, risk management strategies, and recent MnSHIP scenario planning exercises, some revisions to MnDOT’s planning processes have been made: New emphasis has been placed on solutions that ensure a high – solutions that extend across modes and demand a broader view of MnDOT’s role in supporting local and regional economic competitiveness, public health, and energy independence. The agency recognizes the need to continue improving its project selection process, to better ensure that investments more fully align with both statewide and local priorities. The importance of establishing multimodal strategies – the integration of different modes and adherence to objectives and strategies that apply across modes – have been incorporated into MnSHIP and will influence how Minnesota’s roads are built and managed in the future. MnSHIP assumes $18 billion of statewide highway investment over the next 20 years. It also notes that $30 billion is needed to implement the vision established in Minnesota GO. This leaves a $12 billion gap between the anticipated level of funding and what is needed over the 20-year period. The deepening imbalance between highway revenues and costs has shaped how MnDOT approaches highway investment over the 20-year planning period. This imbalance is the result of a widening gap between revenues collected from primary highway funding sources and the growing costs of preserving and building upon the state highway system. Sources such as gas taxes (at the federal and state level), vehicle sales taxes, and vehicle registration taxes will have to stretch further in order to address Minnesota’s needs. The effects of inflation, meanwhile, are expected to erode the state’s buying power as costs
Table 3 identifies a number of areas where freight is referenced in the Minnesota Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan. This is noteworthy because freight, while not specifically referenced, is impacted by many of the objectives, strategies, and performance measures that are included in the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan. Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan (MnSHIP) The Minnesota State Highway Investment Plan (MnSHIP) is currently being developed. As a result, this analysis is based on draft text that has been assembled as of March 2013. As mentioned previously, MnSHIP is one of MnDOT’s many transportation investment plans, alongside plans for other modes including the State Aviation System Plan, Greater Minnesota Transit Investment Plan, and the Minnesota Statewide Freight Plan. However, MnSHIP is prominent among these as it is responsible for directing a large portion of the agency’s expenditures. Based on MAP-21, risk management strategies, and recent MnSHIP scenario planning exercises, some revisions to MnDOT’s planning processes have been made: New emphasis has been placed on solutions that ensure a high – solutions that extend across modes and demand a broader view of MnDOT’s role in supporting local and regional economic competitiveness, public health, and energy independence. The agency recognizes the need to continue improving its project selection process, to better ensure that investments more fully align with both statewide and local priorities. The importance of establishing multimodal strategies – the integration of different modes and adherence to objectives and strategies that apply across modes – have been incorporated into MnSHIP and will influence how Minnesota’s roads are built and managed in the future. MnSHIP assumes $18 billion of statewide highway investment over the next 20 years. It also notes that $30 billion is needed to implement the vision established in Minnesota GO. This leaves a $12 billion gap between the anticipated level of funding and what is needed over the 20-year period. The deepening imbalance between highway revenues and costs has shaped how MnDOT approaches highway investment over the 20-year planning period. This imbalance is the result of a widening gap between revenues collected from primary highway funding sources and the growing costs of preserving and building upon the state highway system. Sources such as gas taxes (at the federal and state level), vehicle sales taxes, and vehicle registration taxes will have to stretch further in order to address Minnesota’s needs. The effects of inflation, meanwhile, are expected to erode the state’s buying power as costs