Wright County board authorizes BUILD grant application for I‑94–U.S. 10 Mississippi River crossing

Wright County commissioners voted unanimously on Feb. 17 to authorize staff to submit a BUILD grant application for the I‑94 to U.S. 10 regional Mississippi River Crossing Project and to sign accompanying letters of support.

County staff said Wright County will serve as the primary applicant and would be responsible for covering any cost overruns. Chad, who presented the item to the board, said the application is time‑sensitive: “applications due on the 20 fourth,” and described the project funding picture: “we'll cover in addition to Sherburne County's deed grant that they got for 1000000 dollars, so it would give us 3,000,000 of non local funds to continue the the work.”

Why it matters: the crossing project includes work that will require an expensive Tier‑1 environmental review and years of phased funding and design. County officials said partnership with Sherburne County — which has provided a $1,000,000 deed grant — improves the application’s competitiveness; the BUILD request would add non‑local federal funds to the project budget. An official who recently met with federal partners also told the board the county had secured $3,700,000 for a separate Highway 24/County Road 6 project.

The board did not debate alternative funding strategies in detail at the meeting; staff flagged that federal and state review timelines are long and that proceeding as primary applicant creates an administrative responsibility for Wright County. The board directed staff to submit the application and execute required letters of support.

Next steps: staff will file the BUILD grant application and return with updates to the board; federal review and funding decisions for large infrastructure projects can take multiple years.