Capital investment committee hears funding requests for roads, water, lift stations and a campus for adults with autism

The House Capital Investment Committee on April 10 heard a slate of local infrastructure funding requests, with presenters asking state lawmakers to fund road safety projects, sewer and water system upgrades, utility and lift‑station replacements, and a permanent campus for a nonprofit serving adults with autism.

The hearing mattered because several projects—Cottage Grove’s arterial realignment and Wabasha’s highway realignment among them—rely on matching federal funds or are time‑sensitive; committee members and sponsors repeatedly emphasized the need to secure state money now so local governments do not lose federal grants already awarded.

Benton County asked for $21,000,000 for the Mayhew Lake Road Safety and Improvement Project. Jared Gapinski, Benton County Commissioner, said, “Today we are seeking $21,000,000 for the Mayhew Lake Road Safety and Improvement Project.” He said the corridor is a “high speed rural roadway with limited trail facilities” and that a 2022 corridor access and safety study recommended roundabouts at multiple intersections. Commissioner Steve Heine added that voters in the Sauk Rapids‑Rice School District recently approved a bond for a new early‑childhood center adjacent to the corridor and that the county has applied multiple times for a federal RAISE grant; “we have applied 3 times for the RAISE grant and we've never been accepted yet,” Heine told the committee. County officials said the $21 million figure is scalable and that a phased first construction phase would cost roughly $8,750,000 and focus on the section in front of the new school.

Several smaller cities described…