State of Shutdown: Impact on MnDOT, Taxpayers

The impact of the Minnesota state government shutdown on the Minnesota Department of Transportation is major, but MnDOT Spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the department is working to ensure public safety.

If a road buckles in the heat, or a similar emergency road maintenance issue arises, there are still crews available to make the repair, Gutknecht said.

“If there’s something that happens on a roadway system that impedes traffic and is a safety issue, we’re going to get to it as quickly as we can, but we won’t be doing things like mowing; we won’t be doing things like guard rail repair,” he said.

Still, it’ll be a small crew handling those needs. Currently, somewhere between 225 to 250 people out of the agency’s total of 5,000 is working, he said.

Local Impact

According to , the MnDOT shutdown will have a major impact on the citizens of Minnetonka—and potentially their wallets.

That’s because MnDOT has put the brakes on the . It’s one of approximately 100 active road construction projects in the state, which has been suspended for the duration of the state shutdown, Gutknecht said.

“In the event of a shutdown, there will be no MnDOT personnel to carry out MnDOT’s duties…under state and federal law, and therefore, work on the project must stop for the duration of a shutdown,” Transportation Commissioner Thomas Sorel wrote in a letter to Gunyou last week.

The delay to this project, Gunyou predicts, could cost Minnetonka taxpayers an additional $2.75 to $3.10 million dollars—a 20 percent increase on the project, and almost one-third of the city’s annual budget for roads.

“For MnDOT, it’s no skin off their nose,” Gunyou said in the week before the shutdown. “If this costs another $3 million, it’s our taxpayers who will have to foot that bill.”

It’s a delay that the city vigorously fought in the weeks leading up the government shutdown. After MnDOT sent a notice to municipalities across the state, including Minnetonka, warning that projects involving state funding would be suspended in the event of a state shutdown, Gunyou argued that this project should be an exception.

He said because the state’s share of the funding for the $15 million project had already been appropriated and paid, and because the city of Minnetonka, not MnDOT, was fully administering the construction, the government shutdown should not shut down this project. In the end, Minnetonka lost the battle and the project came to a screeching halt just days before the Bren Road bridge was set to be demolished.

“We continue to believe there are no real financial, engineering or administrative reasons why this important project should not proceed, with or without a state shutdown,” Gunyou said in a statement once the decision to stop work became final.

Local legislators from both parties echoed Gunyou’s frustration with the project’s delay.

Rep. Kirk Stensrud (R-Minnetonka/Eden Prairie), who represents the neighborhood that surrounds the Highway 169/Bren Road interchange, said: “It’s crazy to consider shutting it down.”

Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) agreed.

“I’m disappointed,” she told Patch.

“This project is not state funded…they should allow us to move forward on it," Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) said. 

Gunyou also warned that the MnDOT move could translate into a one-year delay of  “1,400 permanent [and] critical jobs."  

On Tuesday, Gunyou was chosen to sit on a bipartisan committee tasked with devising a solution to the state’s $1.7 billion budget gap and ending the state shutdown. The committee, created by former Minnesota politicians Vice President Walter Mondale, Gov. Arne Carlson and U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, is expected to make recommendations as early as Friday. 

The , almost five years in the works, is designed to relieve current congestion and accommodate the next 20 years of development in the Opus Park business area. Since April, crews have been working towards the replacement of the Bren Road Bridge that spans Highway 169, while also adding through lanes and turn lanes and upgrading new trails and sidewalks around the interchange. The project was scheduled to wrap up by November 2011.

Early Friday morning the signal system at Smetana Drive will be removed in order to alleviate traffic congestion during construction and the shutdown. 

With the project at a standstill, city officials warn that the longer the state government shutdown goes on, the more money the delay of this project could cost Minnetonka taxpayers.

Other Impacts Statewide

One uncertainty that MnDOT is facing is the question of just how much the shutdown will cost the agency, specifically because of the de-mobilization and re-mobilization of crews, Gutknecht said.

“(A shutdown will) certainly slow down schedules, it certainly affects the employees of the contractors who are not doing work, it certainly affects state employees who are going to be laid off,” he said.

Gutknecht said there are “concentric rings of organizations and people,” that are affected in a shutdown from providers of construction materials to construction project subcontractors to the gas stations where construction workers usually stop and fuel up on their way to work.

Gutknecht said he wasn’t sure yet whether a shutdown might result in lawsuits from companies that contract with the state or businesses in the vicinity of suspended road construction projects.

“We’re going to have to wait and see,” he said.

Freeway Incident Response, Safety Team crews, the program that clears debris, accidents and assists stalled motorists, also isn’t operating during a shutdown, he said.

The state’s road research facility, MnROAD, is also shut down. Research director Marjorie Jensen said the state’s one-of-a-kind highway research site was to undergo a major facelift in July, but that also won’t happen. 

“We won’t be able to collect some very valuable data sets, at least for the next month, on the various cells on that strip of road,” Jensen said.

A major conference, with a five-year release of the MnROAD project’s findings, is set for August.

Because the Regional Transportation Management center is closed, traffic cameras and ramp meters aren’t working either.

“Traffic will have a different complexion,” during the shutdown, Gutknecht said.

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More information:

• Work on all MnDOT construction projects is suspended
• Contractors closed down projects in a way that best protects the safety of the traveling public.
• 511mn.org, traffic cameras and other traveler information services are not in operation and project websites will not be updated.
• public meetings regarding future projects are postponed. Websites related to future projects will not be updated during the shutdown.
• Rest areas on Minnesota state highways are closed.
• FIRST trucks are not be operating.
• Call 911 to report a road emergency. There is a small maintenance crew on call to handle emergency road repairs.

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Follow the latest shutdown developments on Minnetonka Patch:

July 6: Day 6: Government Shutdown 

July 5: Minnetonka City Manager Tapped to Solve Stalemate, End Shutdown

July 5: 

July 5: 

July 1: State of Shutdown: Replay of Final Hours

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on City of Minnetonka

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Locals

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Minnetonka Nonprofits

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Minnetonka Schools

June 30: Countdown to Shutdown

June 30: Teen Clinics Await Their Fate During Shutdown

June 30: Does Shutdown Impact You?

June 29: Judge Rules on Essential Services

June 29: MnDOT to City: 'Work Must Stop for Shutdown'

June 24: Local Nonprofits, Hospitals Brace for Shutdown

June 23: 169 Project, Taxpayers: Political Pawns as Shutdown Looms?

June 23: State Shutdown Would Freeze DNR, Close State Parks

June 23: Hennepin County Battens Down Hatches for Shutdown

Share your shutdown photos or stories with Minnetonka Editor Katelynn Metz.

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