Union Times
By Joni Astrup
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, visited Otsego and Elk River last week to hear more about local infrastructure and economic development priorities and to discuss federal funding recently approved for two key local projects. Otsego is getting $3.4 million for a drinking water treatment project and Sherburne County will receive $7 million to help fund construction of a proposed $48 million interchange project in Zimmerman. Klobuchar helped secure funding for both projects.
Sherburne County Board Chair Lisa Fobbe said they are “thrilled” about a new $7 million federal appropriation for the Highway 169-County Road 4 interchange in Zimmerman.
Fobbe made her comments during a Thursday, Jan. 5, meeting with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, held at the Sherburne County Government Center in Elk River.
The Zimmerman interchange project is estimated to cost $48 million. In addition to the new $7 million in federal money for the project, Sherburne County also has $5 million allocated in local option sales tax for the interchange. Officials will seek $36 million from either or both state and federal sources for the balance of the project.
“This is just a great start and we appreciate it so much,” Fobbe told Klobuchar.
During the meeting with the senator, Sherburne County Public Works Director Andrew Witter outlined the need for an interchange in Zimmerman, noting that the Highway 169-County Road 4 intersection is ranked by the Minnesota Department of Transportation as the second most unsafe intersection in central Minnesota. There were 101 crashes there in a five-year period between 2015 and 2019.
There are all sorts of safety issues, he said, including long traffic backups, people driving on the shoulder and intermingling of pedestrians with traffic moving at highway speeds.
It also will be the last signalized intersection in a 75-mile stretch between Interstate 94 in Rogers and Mille Lacs Lake once the project currently underway in Elk River to turn Highway 169 into a freeway is finished.
Klobuchar told them that they have a strong argument based on safety and the number of crashes.
County officials, meanwhile, also touched on a number of other topics with Klobuchar, including Interstate 94 and Highway 10 connectivity, a new 430-acre county park near Big Elk Lake, the need for broadband infrastructure, a Google data center proposal, and the Sherco power plant in Becker.
Besides Fobbe and Witter, those attending the meeting included Sherburne County Commissioner Raeanne Danielowski, Zimmerman Mayor Nick Stay, Zimmerman City Administrator Randy Piasecki, Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt and members of Klobuchar’s staff.
Klobuchar holding a series of meetings
Klobuchar helped secure funding for the projects in Zimmerman and Otsego through the Congressionally Directed Spending, or CDS, process.
According to the senator’s office, she has been actively involved in securing federal funding commitments to enable projects benefiting communities across the state through the CDS process. She considered project proposals and advocated for funding in close coordination with leaders from across the state.
The meetings she held last week with Otsego and Sherburne County officials were part of a series of meetings Klobuchar has been holding to hear more from communities about their infrastructure and economic development priorities.
