Woodbury park-and-ride funding proposed

Talk about it

State lawmakers included a new Woodbury park-and-ride facility in their public works proposals, but funding for the project is far from certain.

Minnesota House and Senate bonding bills, as the public construction packages are known, propose $1.5 million for land acquisition and construction of a commuter bus stop along Interstate 94 near Manning Avenue.

Democrats, who control the Legislature, unveiled their nearly $1 billion public works packages Thursday, the opening day of the 2010 legislative session.

The bills are on a fast track. Final House and Senate votes are expected in the coming weeks, but Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has warned they spend too much and could be vetoed.

The park-and-ride project is included as a line item in the House bill. In the Senate, lawmakers propose spending $30 million on a host of Twin Cities transit improvements, and the I-94 project could be eligible.

It was by design that the I-94 project was not specified as a Senate line item, said Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury. That way, it cannot be stricken from the package if Gov. Tim Pawlenty uses his line-item veto authority to reject specific projects.

But Pawlenty proposes a $685 million public works package, which does not include the I-94 park-and-ride, and has threatened to veto an entire bill if it is too large.

"We'll be trying to work with the governor," Saltzman said.

The I-94 project is sponsored by Saltzman and Rep. Julie Bunn, DFL-Lake Elmo. Local officials, including Woodbury Mayor Bill Hargis and Washington County Commissioner Gary Kriesel, have testified at the Capitol in support of the park-and-ride facility in recent weeks.

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