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Freight Investment Plan and Implementation

Funding for freight projects originates from federal and state government sources and are both formulaic and discretionary. Each funding program, including the National Highway Freight Program (NHFP), has requirements for funding eligibility. Projects selected for investment for federal funding must meet specified criteria established in the IIJA.

There are several federal discretionary programs by which all states compete for limited funding. Minnesota must submit grant applications specified timeframes, which articulate the business case and substantiated need for each project. The process by which projects are identified, selected and prioritized for funding investment in Minnesota are discussed in this chapter.

Overview

The Freight Investment Plan identifies public freight investments in Minnesota funded through the National Highway Freight Program (NHFP) and other capital programs that will support MnDOT’s Minnesota GO Vision, the goals of the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan (SMTP), the goals of the Minnesota State Freight Plan and work towards implementing the Freight Action Agenda. The purpose of the Freight Investment Plan is to provide an overview of these investments; describe MnDOT’s approach to identifying projects to invest in; and coordinate federal, state and local investments on the freight network over the next ten years. This Freight Investment Plan builds on existing statewide policy and was developed to provide a consistent programmatic approach for the Minnesota Highway Freight Program (MHFP).

The MHFP was developed to allocate federal formula funds appropriated to the state through the NHFP. The NHFP was first created by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and was continued in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In accordance with federal law (49 U.S.C. 70202), the Freight Investment Plan is required for the state to obligate funds from the NHFP to projects identified for funding by the state. The plan complies with federal law by listing projects funded with federal money for five state fiscal years under the FAST Act (state fiscal years 2016-2020) and eight state fiscal years under the IIJA (state fiscal years 2021-2028). Table 7-1 shows how much NHFP funding was, and is, available under the MHFP.

MnDOT is investing in freight improvements outside of the MHFP through the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and the 10-year Capital Highway Investment Plan (CHIP). The Minnesota State highway Investment Plan has specifically targeted $600 million for freight over the next 20 years. Additionally, MnDOT and local partners often pursue state or federal grants through programs such as the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) program, and the Metropolitan Council’s Regional Solicitation.

Table 7-1: 2023-2024 National Highway Freight Program Funds in Millions each state fiscal year

2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030
$14.6	$22.2	$22.2	$21.6	$21.6	$21.6	$22.6	$22.6

Motor vehicles driving on the highway

Statewide Freight System Needs

Following the adoption of the 2018 Minnesota State Freight Plan, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) began the task of completing district-level freight plans for each of the eight MnDOT districts. The overall process for each of the district plans is summarized in Figure 7-1. Potential freight needs were identified through a review of safety, mobility and condition issues, as well as through the use of detailed stakeholder interviews and feedback. The needs were ranked to determine the most critical freight system investments prior to making final recommendations. These recommendations were reviewed with MnDOT OFCVO and District staff prior to making final plan recommendations and advancing the top scoring freight system investments.

Manufacturers’ Perspectives Studies

Each of the District Freight Plans relied on previous local and regional studies to identify issues and needs identified by freight stakeholders. The predominant source of these stakeholder-identified issues was the Manufacturers’ Perspectives Studies. These district-based studies were started in 2014 with the express goal of better understanding the needs and issues of local manufacturers and to forge strong, ongoing relationships between MnDOT and local business communities. District 8 was the first district to complete one of the studies. The project team conducted 125 one-on-one interviews with manufacturers in District 8 using a standard questionnaire and interview process. The results of these interviews were geospatially coded and included descriptions of various needs and issues identified by the businesses.

All of the District Freight Plans were scheduled such that the Manufacturers’ Perspectives Studies has been recently completed prior to the start of the plan development. This timing ensured that each plan could rely on a solid framework of stakeholder engagement and issue identification to compare and contrast to the data-driven assessments noted previously.

Figure 7-1: District Freight Planning Process

A five-step planning process

Freight Need Scoring Process

Freight needs in each district were identified using the three categories of safety, mobility and condition as well as through stakeholder outreach. A combined score was then calculated to account for any overlap between these issues. Finally, a truck volume score was applied to calculate the final adjusted score and apply a need rank. An example of the process from District 2 is shown in Table 7-3 below. The top ranked issue is based purely on a high safety score bolstered by an equally high truck volume score. Other highly ranked projects (D17, D3, S1) include scores for both safety and mobility. Note that while each district was allowed some degree of leeway in determining scoring thresholds and other factors that would influence the overall need scores and rankings, all districts largely following the overall scoring approach using scoring categories of safety, mobility, condition, truck volume and stakeholder identification.

Freight Safety

MnDOT’s approach to freight safety is guided by Minnesota Toward Zero Death (TZD), the state’s cornerstone traffic safety program. This program’s goals are to prioritize traffic safety and implement effective safety initiatives through evidence-based approaches and engagement with partners.

In 2022, the 4,797 truck-involved crashes accounted for 6.8% of Minnesota’s total of 70,266 crashes. The total number of truck crashes has varied from year to year but has averaged approximately 4,600 crashes per year (Figure 7-2) over the past decade. Due to their size and weight, truck-involved crashes are more likely to result in fatalities. In 2022, 1.4% of truck-involved crashes resulted in a fatality compared to 0.6% for all crashes.

MnDOT’s focus on rail safety is primarily focused on the interaction between trains and highway traffic at highway-rail grade crossings. The recent Minnesota Rail Crossing Safety Action Plan evaluated the 166 crashes at Minnesota’s more than 4,000 public grade crossings in the state and recommended various crossing improvement strategies. Air cargo and maritime cargo operations are typically regarded as the safest freight modes.

Figure 7-2: Annual Minnesota Truck Crashes

A bar chart showing the changing crash counts from 2013 through 2022, all of which fall between 3,817 in 2020 and 5,514 in 2019.

Estimating Total Statewide Freight Needs

An estimate of the total value of freight needs in the state was developed using a combination of the freight needs identified during the District Freight Plans and average unit costs for construction of the improvement identified to address those needs. Table 7-2 provides a summary of the assumptions and the basic calculations used to develop the final estimate. After carrying through these calculations, the total estimated costs of implementing the needs are $255 million. It is assumed that these needs represent a snapshot in time that estimates the potential freight needs over a five-year outlook period. Therefore, to expand these costs to a 20-year forecast total, the estimated costs were multiplied by four to achieve a 20-year forecast freight needs estimate. Some of the key assumptions that are inherent in this estimate are:

No consideration for inflation or other time discounts of money.
The assumption that additional freight needs will develop over time based on normal wear and tear on the roadways and greater need to handle expanded freight traffic.

Table 7-2: Final Freight Need Cost Estimate Summary (5-year outlook)

Need Type	Total Statewide Needs	Point Count or Segment Miles	Percent Assumed for Implementation	Unit Cost	Total Cost
Safety: Point	393	393	8.4%1	$705k (Lump Sum)	$23,273,460
Safety: Segment	254	1,399	7.9%1	$439k (Per Mile)	$48,518,719
Mobility: Point	148	148	6.1%1	$10.9M (Lump Sum)	$98,405,200
Mobility: Segment	302	1,422	5.0%2	$562k (Per Mile)	$39,958,200
Condition: Point	109	109	5.0%2	$6.4M (Lump Sum)	$34,880,000
Condition: Segment	61	274	5.0%2	$0.7M (Per Mile)	$9,590,000
TOTAL (5-Year)	1,267	-	-	-	$254,625,579
TOTAL (20-year)					$1,018,502,316

¹ - Based on proportions selected for concept development

² - Based on minimum assumed proportion

Table 7-3: Example Scoring Result, District 2 Freight Plan

Issue	Truck Volume		Safety		Mobility		Condition		Total		Adjusted Total
ID	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank
D12	100%	1	100%	1	NA	NA	NA	NA	100%	1	100%	1
D14	90%	2	100%	2	NA	NA	NA	NA	93%	2	93%	2
D17	80%	3	100%	7	40%	59	NA	NA	75%	3	75%	3
D3	60%	9	100%	6	60%	44	NA	NA	70%	4	70%	4
S1	50%	14	20%	51	80%	22	NA	NA	50%	21	67%	5

Figure 7-3: Identified Statewide Freight Needs

A map of Minnesota with needs related to condition, mobility and safety identified across the state.

Minnesota Highway Freight Program Development

The FAST Act and the NHFP provide flexibility to the states in determining how each state will spend NHFP funding. MnDOT developed a centralized competitive solicitation, the MHFP, to solicit projects from a wide variety of state and local partners.

The MHFP was developed at the recommendation of local stakeholders on the Statewide Freight Investment Committee and through input received from other groups, such as the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee, Minnesota-based Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Regional Development Organizations (RDOs). MnDOT, with input from these stakeholders, designed the application evaluation process to prioritize investments that align with the Minnesota GO Vision, the SMTP, the goals and objectives of the State Freight Plan and its Freight Action Agenda.

Applications are evaluated according to scoring criteria. MnDOT and freight stakeholders worked to develop criteria that support the Minnesota GO Vision, the objectives of the SMTP, the goals and objectives of the Minnesota State Freight Plan and work towards implementing the Freight Action Agenda. Mobility is a key theme across these plans— moving goods and services to people effectively and efficiently is key to the success of the state across economic, social and environmental dimensions.

MHFP criteria score projects based on mobility through performance measures such as Heavy Commercial Average Annual Daily Traffic (HCAADT) counts, Truck Travel Time Reliability and if the project removes a barrier or upgrades a roadway to 10-ton standards. Safety is also a necessary theme to the success of the state freight and state transportation systems. MHFP criteria score project safety by looking at crash rate reductions, addressing sustained crash locations and addressing safety issues identified in safety plans. Unique to the MHFP, MnDOT also evaluates proposed projects on environmental justice impacts. Within the most recent round of the MHFP solicitation, MnDOT added a new Sustainability and Emissions scoring criterion and increased available points for the Environmental Justice criterion. An increased importance on these criteria contributes to the State Freight Plan’s goal of protecting the environment and communities and aligns with the Minnesota GO Vision and SMTP. MnDOT’s Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations (OFCVO), which facilitates the solicitation, coordinated with MnDOT’s Office of Sustainability and Public Health (OSPH) and MnDOT leadership to develop questions for those criteria and how answers should be scored.

Since 2017 there have been three formal MHFP solicitation rounds. This Freight Investment Plan discusses development of the third MHFP solicitation (state fiscal years 2026-2028) and its resulting investments.

MnDOT developed a centralized competitive solicitation, the MHFP, to solicit projects from a wide variety of state and local partners.

Environmental Justice Integration in the Minnesota Highway Freight Program

MnDOT integrated environmental justice in the Minnesota Highway Freight Program in 2021. In addition, MnDOT also added a separate scoring criterion for equity in 2023. These changes are unique in that many states do not evaluate on a quantitative basis these scoring criteria in the project scoring, ranking and selection process for their freight projects.

In the most recent round of the MHFP solicitation, several specific questions were added on the MHFP application that ask project applicants to describe how their project has considered and incorporated both environmental justice and equity in project development. These questions were developed and scored in collaboration with MnDOT Office of Equity and Diversity staff. Project applicants were asked to:

Describe potential impacts to underserved communities.

Explain how those communities’ feedback has been incorporated into the project development.

Provide specific steps to mitigate disproportionate impacts.

Identify and provide a detailed explanation of benefits to underserved and/or overburdened communities.

A separate sub-committee of MnDOT reviewers with experience and training in environmental justice and equity was created with staff from the Office of Equity and Diversity and the Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations to score and rank projects for this scoring criteria. The resulting score from the environmental justice and equity criterion contributed to the overall project score. Inclusion of this criterion in the MHFP ensures that the freight projects MnDOT invests in prioritize environmental justice and equity, aligning with the Minnesota GO Vision and SMTP.

Statewide Freight Investment Committee

The MHFP was designed via recommendations from the Statewide Freight Investment Committee. The Statewide Freight Investment Committee acts as a review and oversight body; represents a wide array of interests; discusses freight investment strategies, policies and program operation; and recommends decisions to MnDOT leadership for approval. These investment recommendations include investments funded through the MHFP. The Committee’s membership includes MnDOT planning, programming, policy, state aid and functional area staff, as well as representatives from Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Regional Development Organizations (RDOs), counties, cities, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Chair of the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee (MFAC). The variety of organizations represented by the Committee is reflective of the breadth of goals and objectives of the State Freight Plan.

For the third round of the MHFP, MnDOT met with the Freight Investment Committee six times, as well as internal MnDOT committees, to develop this round’s solicitation and recommend selected draft awards.

Approach Prior to the Third Round Of MHFP

The FAST Act was signed into law in December 2015, making the NHFP funding immediately available to Minnesota for state fiscal years 2016 through 2020. Since December 2015 was already halfway through state fiscal year 2016, MnDOT chose to initially allocate some of the funding quickly, applying it to known high priority freight-specific projects. During this time OFCVO convened groups of stakeholders including re-creating the Freight Investment Committee to provide input into how the NHFP funds should be invested as shown in Table 7-4. Based on local stakeholder input a desire to provide flexible funds across the state and provide opportunities for investment on local networks was the desired outcome. From this sequential approach the Minnesota Highway Freight Program was created.

In 2017, MnDOT then held the first round of MHFP solicitation for projects in state fiscal years 2019- 2022. In 2020, MnDOT held the second round of MHFP solicitation for projects in state fiscal years 2022-2025.

Table 7-4: Membership of the Statewide Freight Investment Committee

Name	Organization	Representing
Aaron Tag	MnDOT Metro District	Twin Cities MnDOT District
Ashley Jacobson	MnDOT Bridge Office	Bridge Program Planning
Andy Hubley	Arrowhead Regional Development Commission	RDOs
Brad Utecht	MnDOT Office of Transportation System Management (OTSM)	Statewide Investment Planning
Brian Gage	MnDOT OTSM	Statewide Capital Programming
Brian Sorenson	MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering (OTE), Safety and Technology (OTST)	Traffic Engineering
Brianne Nelsen	Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission	RDOs
Bryan Anderson	MnDOT District 1	Greater MN MnDOT District Planners
David Burns	Metropolitan Council	Twin Cities MPO
Deb Deluca	Duluth Port Authority	Chair of the MFAC
Derek Leuer	MnDOT OTSTOTE	Traffic Engineering
Jason Craig	MFAC	Vice Chair of the MFAC
Jennifer Wiltgen	MnDOT Metro District Office of Advancing Equity	Twin Cities MnDOT District
Jon Huseby	MnDOT District 8 Engineer	Greater MN MnDOT Districts
Jon Solberg	MnDOT Sustainability, Planning and Program Management (SPPM) Division	Division and Agency Leadership
Kenneth Johnson	MnDOT OTSTOTE	Traffic Engineering
Lisa Freese	Scott County	Twin Cities Counties
Mike Wenholz	Arrowhead Regional Development Commission	RDOs
Nick Klisch	Cottonwood County	Greater Minnesota Counties
Nicki Bartelt	MnDOT Bridge Office	Bridge Program Planning
Paige Melius	ARDC	RDOs
Patrick Wiedemann	MnDOT OTSM	Statewide Capital Programming
Peter Dahlberg	MnDOT OFCVO	MnDOT Freight Office
Philip Schaffner	MnDOT OTSM	MnDOT OTSM Leadership
Ron Chicka	Duluth-Superior Metro Interstate Council	Greater Minnesota MPO
Scott Mareck	Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)	Technical Services Team Leader, FHWA Minnesota Division
Shaker Rabban	MnDOT OTSM	Statewide Asset Management Planning
Shelly Meyer	MnDOT OFCVO	Freight Office Leadership
Shiloh Wahl	MnDOT District 4 Engineer	Greater MN MnDOT Districts
Siri Simons	MnDOT Office of Sustainability and Public Health (OSPH)	Sustainability and Emissions
Steve Bot	City of St. Michael	Minnesota Cities and City Engineers
Steve Elmer	Metropolitan Council	Twin Cities MPO
Steve Peterson	Metropolitan Council	Twin Cities MPO
Susan Wimberly	FHWA	Deputy Division Administrator, FHWA Minnesota Division
Tad Erickson	Region Five Development Commission	RDOs
Ted Schoenecker	MnDOT State Aid	State Aid Leadership
Tim Sexton	MnDOT SSPM Division	Division and Agency Leadership
Torey Hunkus	MnDOT OFCVO	MnDOT Freight Office

Third Round of the MHFP Solicitation

In 2023, MnDOT held the third round of MHFP solicitation for projects in state fiscal years 2026- 2028. Awards were announced in early 2024. About $63 million was available in this solicitation. MnDOT planned approximately $21.6 million per state fiscal year, plus $5 million per year from matching state funds. The minimum project cost threshold was $500,000 and the maximum award to a project was one half the total amount available in any one fiscal year.

MnDOT made some changes for the third round MHFP due to NHFP changes that resulted from IIJA being signed into law. States can now use up to 30% of NHFP funding on freight intermodal or freight rail projects (subject to certain restrictions). Additionally eligible for NHFP funding are projects for the modernization/rehabilitation of a lock and dam or a marine highway corridor, connector or crossing that are functionally connected to the National Highway Freight Network (NHFN) and likely to reduce on- road mobile source emissions.

Such eligible projects would fall under the intermodal category of the MHFP application. Lastly, IIJA allowed more miles to be designated as Critical Rural Freight Corridors (CRFCs) and Critical Urban Freight Corridors (CUFCs) (see Critical Urban and Rural Freight Corridors section).

Eligibility of Applicants

MHFP is open to applicants from MnDOT districts, cities, counties, Tribal governments, railroads, airports, ports and other federal aid eligible entities or partnerships. Applicants select a specific investment category for their project to compete in one of the following major categories:

Freight Safety
Freight Mobility
First/Last Mile Connections
Intermodal Connections
Planning

Icons identifying the five selection criteria

These categories were identified through feedback from the Statewide Freight Investment Committee, the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee and internal MnDOT committees.

Eligible projects include new construction and add-ons or up-scopes to existing projects, given the applying project provides a clear freight benefit. Specific to MnDOT’s implementation preliminary engineering and right of way costs (project planning, engineering design and related work preparatory to the advancement of a project to physical construction) are not eligible. Based on stakeholder’s recommendations, certain types of projects are also not eligible, (even though the law allowed for them) including acquisition of equipment, highway ramp metering and diesel retrofitting. The MHFP may provide funding up to 80% of the eligible project cost. Projects on the Interstate may receive up to 90% of the eligible project cost. . The Minnesota Highway Freight Program website has the most recent MHFP application, which includes more details on project eligibility for the third round of MHFP solicitation.

MnDOT has programmed some funding specifically for freight planning and freight data collection to ensure future updates of the State Freight Plan and other related efforts comply with federal requirements. These projects are included below in Table 7-5.

Table 7-5: MnDOT Freight Planning and Freight Data Collection Projects Funded Through MHFP

State Fiscal Year

Project

Amount

Project Category

2026

Statewide Trucking Parking Study Update

$300,000

Planning

2026

Statewide Truck Parking Information Management

Systems Replacement Project

$550,000

Safety

2027

State Freight Plan Update

$600,000

Planning

Investment Approach

For each round of the MHFP solicitation, MnDOT, with input from the Statewide Freight Investment Committee, adopts an investment direction with targets for the distribution of funding across project categories and geographic areas. The project categories are freight mobility, freight safety, first/ last mile connections, intermodal/freight rail and planning and data collection. These category targets ensure that freight investments funded through MHFP will contribute to the State Freight Plan goals that address freight needs in Minnesota. Projects in the intermodal and freight rail category were awarded first and the remaining funding was awarded to the remaining projects based on the categorical and geographical investment targets.

Figure 7-4: Proposed Project Category Investment Targets for the Third Round of MHFP

Chart showing targets for funding of MHFP project categories

Investment targets for projects located in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area or Greater Minnesota (Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities) were adopted to ensure geographic balance of funding and projects. This split is based on DEED data comparing the percentage of people employed and gross domestic product of the Twin Cities Metro region with Greater Minnesota.

The targets are soft targets and are not mandated. If enough projects are not submitted in one region the remaining funds will be used entirely in any one program year. These geographic targets will ensure freight investments funded through MHFP provide benefits throughout the state of Minnesota.

Table 7-6: Proposed Geographic Targets for the Third Round of MHFP

Geographic Area	Funding Target	Percentage Target
Metro District	$48,900,000	60%
Greater Minnesota	$32,600,000	40%

Targets include state match targets provided by OTSM for MnDOT District projects

Project Selection and Awards

During the third round of the MHFP, MnDOT received 25 total project applications. Applications included one intermodal project, ten mobility projects, eight first/last mile connection projects and six safety projects. In total, applicants requested $158.1 million in funding. Split geographically, nine of the projects were located in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area, requesting $97.4 million in total and 16 of the projects were located in Greater Minnesota requesting $60.7 million in total. MHFP received applications covering a variety of project types:

7 Freight Road Mobility projects
6 Road Reconstruction/Realignments
3 Interchanges
2 Roundabouts
2 Truck Parking Improvement Projects
1 Highway Railway Grade Separation
1 Snow fence project
1 Intermodal Access Road
1 Bridge
1 Shoulder Widening

Based on the adopted investment direction, OFCVO first selected the intermodal project as a draft award. OFCVO then ranked the remaining projects based on score and assigned them to them into Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota projects. OFCVO then selected the top projects in each geographic category, selecting the appropriate number of projects in each geographic category to best meet the geographic balance funding targets.

In December 2023, MnDOT presented the draft MHFP awards to the Statewide Freight Investment Committee and requested and received its approval of the draft awards. The deliberation process with the Committee involved ensuring project selections were balanced across categories and geographically. The freight mobility category received the most applications and makes up the largest amount of draft funding awarded. The freight mobility category includes a wide range of project types and so MnDOT and the Statewide Freight Investment Committee were comfortable with expanding that category beyond the target. Additionally, only receiving one intermodal project increased the funding share available to other categories. Figure 7-5 compares the category investment targets to the draft award distribution and Table 7-7 compares the geographical investment targets to the draft award distribution.

In February 2024, following the Committee’s approval, OFCVO shared the draft awards with MnDOT’s Transportation Program Investment Committee, who approved them. OFCVO then requested and received approval from the Commissioner of MnDOT. Table 7-8 shows the list of draft awarded projects.

Figure 7-5: Comparison of Third Round Project Category Investment Targets and Draft Awards

Table 7-7: Comparison of Geographic Investment Targets and Results

Geographic Area	Funding Target	Funding Target Percentage	Funding Awarded	Funding Awarded Percentage
Metro District	$48,900,000	60%	$38,125,000	47%
Greater Minnesota	$32,600,000	40%	$43,375,000	53%

Targets include state match targets provided by OTSM for MnDOT District project

Table 7-8: Draft Awarded Projects for the Third Round of MHFP

State Fiscal Year	Project	Amount	Project Category
2026	Statewide Trucking Parking Study Update	$300,000	Planning
2026	Statewide Truck Parking Information Management Systems Replacement Project	$550,000	Safety
2026	MnDOT Rest Area Program – I-94 Enfield Rest Area Truck Parking Expansion	$2,700,000	Safety
2026	MnDOT District 4 – Snow Fence on I-94 near Rothsay	$2,250,000	Mobility
2026	MnDOT Rest Area Program - I-94 Big Spunk Lake Truck Parking Expansion	$3,400,000	Safety
2026	City of Cottage Grove - 100 St SW Arterial Roadway Project	$5,000,000	First/Last Mile
2026	Sherburne County - US169 and CR4 Rural Safety and Mobility Project	$10,800,000	Mobility
2027	State Freight Plan Update	$600,000	Planning
2027	Carver County - MN5 Arboretum Area Safety Project	$10,800,000	Safety
2027	Scott County - MN13 River, Rails and Highway Freight Improvement Project	$10,800,000	Mobility
2027	City of Coon Rapids - US610 East River Road Interchange	$10,800,000	First/Last Mile
2027	Bridgewater Township - Comus Industrial Park Intermodal Facility Access Road	$1,600,000	Intermodal
2028	MnDOT District 7 - US169 Mankato Area Revitalization Project	$10,800,000	Mobility
2028	City of Clearwater - I-94 and MN24 Improvements	$5,000,000	Mobility
2028	City of Mankato - Veterans Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation	$6,100,000	First/Last Mile
	Total:	$81,500,000

Note: Projects have been programmed with STBG and local federal aid funding until after the State Freight Plan is approved. These projects will be funded with NHFP funding once the State Freight Plan is approved.

Summary of MHFP Investments

Figure 7-6 below compares the distribution of investments across the different project categories over the three rounds of the MHFP. Project categories have received roughly similar proportions of MHFP funds each round, with the freight mobility category receiving the largest proportion of investment. The freight mobility category can include a range of project types, which contribute to decreasing congestion and increasing efficiency.

Increasing freight mobility is a goal of the State Freight Plan and decreasing congestion and increasing efficiency also contribute to attaining various other State Freight Plan goals such as improving freight safety, supporting the economy and protecting Minnesota’s environment and communities.

Figure 7-6: Historical Project Category Investment Summary

Three pie charts detailing the various summary data points

Overall, MnDOT strives to be geographically balanced in its distribution of NHFP funds through the MHFP. This ensures that freight investments funded through MHFP provide benefit throughout the state of Minnesota.Table 7-9 below demonstrates the summation of all uses of NHFP funding balances close to proposed geographic balance targets of 60% for the Twin Cities Metro and 40% for Greater Minnesota.

Table 7-9: Historical Geographic Balance Investment Summary

Funding Round	Fiscal Years	Twin Cities Metro	Greater Minnesota	Total
Pre-MHFP	2016-2018	$25,300,000	$25,000,000	$50,300,000
Round 1	2019-2022	$82,000,000	$18,000,000	$100,000,000
Round 2	2023-2025	$44,325,900	$23,864,100	$68,190,000
Geographic Distribution of Funding Prior to Round 3	2016-2025	69%	31%	100%
Round 3	2026-2028	$38,125,000	$43,375,000	$81,500,000
Total Geographic Distribution of Funding	2016-2026	63%	37%	100%
Total	-	$189,750,900	$110,239,100	$299,990,000

Critical Urban and Rural Freight Corridors

The FAST Act required the FHWA to establish a National Highway Freight Network (NHFN). As part of this, NHFP funding must go to projects located on the NHFN. NHFN includes four subsystems, two of which are the Critical Urban Freight Corridors (CUFC) and Critical Rural Freight Corridors (CRFC). CUFCs and CRFCs are designated by states and MPOs (which meet population requirements). Each state is allotted a certain number of CUFCs and CRFC miles based on federal law.

MnDOT used a project-first approach to designate CUFCs and CRFCs from the third round of the MHFP (and has done so for prior rounds). This means that MnDOT designated the stretch of road projects are located on as either a CUFC or CRFC after it awarded projects. MnDOT then used remaining CUFC and CRFC mileage to connect projects from the third round that were located off of the existing NHFN in the state to the NHFN. MnDOT did not use a hierarchal approach to corridor designations. Corridors designated may be undesignated as projects are completed and mileage is needed to continue allocating NHFP funds on a flexible basis for future projects. MnDOT continues to connect these corridors in alignment with the National Multimodal Freight Network and the National Strategic Freight Plan. MnDOT discussed and received support from the Statewide Freight Investment Committee on this approach. These corridors are listed in Appendix A: Critical Urban and Rural Freight Corridors.

Investment Plan and Program Implementation

Moving forward into implementation, MnDOT will work with local partners to develop projects selected as part of the Minnesota Highway Freight Program and Intermodal Program.

MnDOT intends to continue the Minnesota Highway Freight Program competitive solicitation for additional freight investments in the future. This will appear as a two-year cycle on a revolving basis based on the availability of ongoing federal formula freight funds appropriated by Congress to the NHFP. Through regional District Freight Plans completed in each region of the state, freight needs will continue to be explored with local and regional stakeholders to help support a pipeline of high priority projects to future MHFP solicitations. OFCVO will continue to look for ways to better integrate freight into future construction projects, create further connections between freight related efforts and coordinate across different offices in MnDOT.

Future efforts will be focused on the incorporation of these improvements into statewide programming processes as well as linking to and carrying out the Freight Action Agenda, the goals and objectives of the State Freight Plan, the objectives of the SMTP and the Minnesota GO Vision. As noted in the prior chapter MnDOT has connected the State Freight Plan with the Minnesota Statewide Highway Investment Plan for the first time by identifying the universe of unmet freight needs. With this new resource, MnDOT has a clearer picture of how freight investments can be prioritized among all investment needs and asset categories.

MnDOT is supporting new practices that help align investments in areas of ongoing research such as freight in complete streets, freight and goods movement in urban areas, freight sustainability and zero emission investments, freight impacts to sensitive communities and environmental justice benefits of federal investments. MnDOT freight planning staff will continue to meet with the Statewide Freight Investment Committee, the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee, other government partners and freight industry stakeholders to address future freight needs, issues, investments, policies or concerns.