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Crookston officials seek $2.7 million in trunk highway funding to finish Highway 2 corridor project
Summary
City officials told the Transportation Finance and Policy Committee that cost increases and utility relocations raised Crookston’s Highway 2 corridor project estimate and left a local shortfall. The author asked the committee to lay House File 1801 over for possible inclusion.
Representative Cagle introduced House File 1801 on behalf of the City of Crookston and moved that the bill be laid over for possible inclusion. The bill requests $2,700,000 in trunk-highway funds to complete the Highway 2 corridor reconstruction through downtown Crookston.
Carrie Kirschbaum, Crookston’s community development director, and council member Christie Jertie described safety and economic reasons for the project. Jertie said the corridor runs through the downtown, is heavily used by commercial trucks, and has had multiple pedestrian incidents — one fatality and other serious crashes: “This is a place that we have school… My children go to this school and there's no way at this point that I would ever allow them to be in the downtown because of the major safety issues that we have,” she said. The reconstruction would address ADA deficiencies, failing sidewalks, dangerous intersections and sidewalk access for elderly residents, Jertie said.
Kirschbaum told the committee the project’s original total estimate was $7.67 million with the city’s share about $2.25 million; design changes, inflation and unanticipated utility relocations increased the total project cost to $14.5 million, with Crookston’s share rising to roughly $6.0 million. Kirschbaum said Crookston reallocated $1.0 million from its local transportation projects, bringing local funds to about $3.3 million but leaving a funding gap. The city requested the $2.7 million state contribution to avoid delaying a project that is scheduled to bid in 2026 with construction in 2027.
Committee members discussed precedent for single-project trunk-highway requests and cautioned about opening a pathway for many similar asks. Representative Olsen warned about creating a precedent of earmarking state highway funds for local match obligations; other members noted the urgency of projects where local match shortfalls could derail safety work. Representative Cagle said she aims to help projects that “need a little bit of funding to get them over the finish line.”
Outcome: Representative Cagle renewed her motion and the committee laid House File 1801 over for possible inclusion.
Why it matters: Crookston’s testimony framed the request as a safety and economic-development measure affecting downtown businesses, pedestrians and schoolchildren, and said inflation and utility relocation costs — including changes tied to ADA compliance — materially increased the local match obligation since the project was designed.
