Gov.Tim Walz visited Nicollet Friday, to announce a funding plan to complete Highway 14 from Nicollet to New Ulm.

NICOLLET — Gov. Tim Walz visited Nicollet, and a dozen bipartisan legislators and community leaders met at the Nicollet Fire Department, to announce a funding plan to complete the final expansion of Highway 14 from Nicollet to New Ulm, Friday.

The last segment is a 12-mile stretch that is currently two lanes. Its completion would create a four-lane highway from Rochester to New Ulm. For many of the legislators and community leaders, this announcement was decades in the making.

Walz said Highway 14 has impacted many in the region, and these types of expansion projects were at the heart of what legislators do.

The governor said he met many of the people in the room through efforts to complete Highway 14. Shortly after starting his speech, the Nicollet Fire Department and first responders received an emergency call.

After the first responders departed, Walz said: “Unfortunately, a lot of these calls we get are accidents on Highway 14.”

He said the issue goes beyond economics or transportation. It is a deep and personal issue for anyone who lost loved ones on this dangerous stretch of road.

The funding plan for the road calls for a combination of federal loans and federal grants.

Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher said the federal government created the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program that allows loan applications for projects at a low-interest rate.

Kelliher said Minnesota is going to apply for a loan of $36 million. The interest rate on this program is 1.2%.

“We cannot do better anywhere else in the State of Minnesota,” Kelliher said.

Kelliher was confident the loan application would be approved. There was already some funding available in the project, and the Federal Highway Administration and the Build America Bureau gave strong indication the loan would be accepted.

MnDOT is also applying to a federal Infrastructure for the Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant, which provides infrastructure grants to road projects.

Kelliher said if the INFRA is not approved, the difference will be found in the MnDOT budget.

To repay the loan, Minnesota will need to pass new legislation. State Sen. Nick Frentz (DFL–North Mankato) will introduce the legislation on Monday, March 2, allowing for Minnesota Management and Budget to approve the proposed federal funding program.

Frentz said it was too late to prevent accidents on Highway 14, but it is in time to usher in a new era of safety and prosperity on behalf of everyone who lives on Highway 14.

Rep. Paul Torkelson said he was planning for this for 12 years, but others were working on this for decades.

“This is going to get us to New Ulm,” he said, “but remember, Highway 14 goes all the way to South Dakota.”

Nicollet Mayor Fred Froehlich said for years he and others advocated for Highway 14 expansion.

“The first construction on Highway 14 expansion began in 1959,” he said.

Since then, it has expanded along more than 100 miles, “but in those 61 years that have passed, 150 people have lost their lives.”

Froehlich said the stretch of road near Nicollet was once considered the most dangerous, but since the expansion began, serious accidents have decreased.

Walz called the Highway 14 expansion a non-partisan issue and thanked legislators on both sides for working for solutions.

“This is the way democracy is supposed to work,” he said.

Walz said he was optimistic this would get done, but agreed with Torkelson that Highway 14 does continue further west and this would need to be considered further.

Asked how officials respond to people still skeptical the project would be completed, Kelliher said she understood the skepticism. She said the federal grant program should bring additional money and MnDOT will pick up the difference.

“They have every right to be skeptical,” Walz said. “This has been far too long. I think it underscores the greater need for a dedicated funding stream. Highway 14 is the one that is near and dear, but there are these stories across the state.”

The TIFIA loan application process is starting now. Kelliher said this should allow project bidding to begin in fall 2021 with construction starting in the summer of 2022.

The plans for this project are complete. Some right-of-way work purchasing is necessary, but Kelliher said the project is shovel-ready.