2023 TED Solicitation

MnDOT, in partnership with the Minnesota Department Employment and Economic Development, selected six state highway projects that will receive a total of $15.55 million in TED Program funding. The projects help support growing industry and businesses, leverage private funding and improve the transportation system for all users.

The following infrastructure projects were selected for the December 2023 round of TED Program funding:

Twin Cities Metro Area

City of Waconia: $5 million

Assist with completion of the Highway 5 Phase 2 Reconstruction Project. The project will upgrade 1.4 miles of two-lane road to a four-lane divided road with multiple intersections through the eastern end of the city limits, close a .8-mile gap in the regional trail system, improve mobility and safety, and connect more residents to more employment centers including the nearby Ridgeview Medical Campus. Companies along the corridor may add 40 new jobs by 2028.

Dakota County: $2.4 million

Improve the existing Highway 52/County Road 42 interchange in Rosemount, including new traffic signals and improving turn lane capacity from Highway 52 onto County Road 42. The project will improve safety in an area seeing increased truck traffic serving local companies. Businesses along the corridor may add 1,340 new jobs by 2028.

City of Hastings: $2.73 million

Reconstruct Highway 61 through Hastings. The project includes a new road system from 21st Street to 25th Street that will reduce traffic on local neighborhood roads and provide a local road system for industry and commercial access, and improves trail system access that safely connects bike and pedestrian traffic to businesses in the area. The project may help create as many as 75 new jobs by 2028.

Carver County: $3.2 million

Construct a new roundabout to improve safety and mobility at the Highway 5/County Road 11 intersection in Victoria. It is anticipated that 45 new jobs will be created within the next five years.

Greater Minnesota

Mahnomen County: $125,000

Install new right-turn lane from Highway 59 into the new Benson & Turner Food plant bringing economic development to an underserved area within the White Earth tribal community. The turning lane is necessary to safely accommodate semi trucks and other vehicles turning from a high-traffic road into the business. All matching funds for this project are being provided by Benson and Turner foods.

Aitkin County: $2.1 million

Construct a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 65/Highway 210/County Road 8 in McGregor to improve safety and access to businesses and industries near the intersection, including numerous retail and hospitality, manufacturing, mining and trucking businesses. The project could create up to 130 jobs by 2028.

Total

A total of $20 million was available for projects in this round of the TED Program. An additional TED funding solicitation will open in May/June 2024, with an additional $4.4 million in TED funds available for projects exclusively in Greater Minnesota.

Project selection scoring

MnDOT Applications from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area received 10 applications for TED funding during the 2023 solicitation. are scored and prioritized separately from projects in Greater Minnesota. The criteria and scoring process is similar for each, but the methods and weights vary for some criteria. Scores are not directly comparable between Greater Minnesota projects and Metro Area projects even though both use a 100-point scale.

Twin Cities Metro Area applications

Total score (max 100)	Applicant	Project description	Request	Funding recommendation
74	Dakota County	Interchange Improvements, Hwy 52 and CSAH 42	$2.4 million	$2.4 million
69	City of Hastings	Hwy 61 Improvements	$2.7 million	$2.7 million
54	City of Waconia	Hwy 5 Phase II Reconstruction Project	$5 million	$5 million
53	Carver County	Hwy 5 at County Road 11 Intersection Improvements Project	$3.2 million	$3.2 million
53	City of Victoria	TH 5 at Commercial Improvements Project	$5 million	$0
46	City of New Prague	TH21 / 6th Street NW / 7th Street NW Roundabout and Pedestrian Improvements	$1.55 million	$0

Greater Minnesota applications

Total score (max 100)	Applicant	Project description	Request	Funding recommendation
63	Waubun	US Highway 59 Benson + Turner Foods, Inc. Turning Lane	$93,347	Up to $125,000
59	Aitkin County	TH 65/TH 210/Aitkin CSAH 8 Intersection	$2.1 million	$2.1 million
49	Litchfield	TH 12 and CSAH 34 Intersection Improvements Project	$2,380,000	$0
40	Little Falls	Trunk Highway 27 and 18th Street East Roundabout Project	$ 2,538,550	$0

Scoring criteria

TED applications from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area (7 counties) will be scored using the following criteria.

Criteria	Points Available
Economic Benefits	35
Transportation Benefits	40
% Non-MnDOT Funding	5
Project Risk Assessment	20

Additional points may be awarded for project applications that include contributions from non-public sources or that advance the geographic distribution objectives in Minnesota State Statute 174.12. However, the total score may not exceed 100 points.

A project must receive at least 50 points to be eligible for funding.

Economic Benefits

For Twin Cities Metro Area applications, a total of 35 points are available for economic benefits based on the following factors.

Criteria	Points Available	Basis
Job creation/retention per $1 million of project cost	20	Based on the difference between the 5 year job estimate with the project and the 5 year job estimate without the project divided by the cost of the project in millions
Income creation/ retention	15	Based on the difference between the 5 year estimate of wage income with the project and the 5 year estimate wage income without the project

Impact to targeted labor/industry

Provided the total economic benefit score does not exceed 35 points, the selection committee may assign up to 5 points if the jobs created/retained are likely to benefit a low-income community, tribal community, community of color or people with disabilities.

There has to be a reasonable logic as to how the jobs would benefit those communities – pure proximity is insufficient unless the types of jobs created are matched to the skills/abilities of that community or there are established/planned job training programs to connect nearby residents to these new jobs.

Selection committee adjustments

The selection committee may adjust scores for overly speculative claims or overly conservative estimates.

Transportation Benefits

For Twin Cities Metro Area applications, a total of 40 points are available for transportation benefits based on the following factors.

Criteria	Points Available	Basis
Benefit-cost ratio	10	Transportation benefit-cost analysis based on information supplied by the applicant as well as MnDOT staff analysis following MnDOT’s standard procedure.
Plan consistency and need	30	Based on the need for the project, plan consistency and improvements for freight and multimodal transportation (see factors below)

Factors considered in assigning points for “plan consistency and need:”

Addresses a sustained crash location and/or a safety issue identified in a district or county safety plan
77Interchange/grade separation or at-grade intersection improvements consistent with the Metro Principal Arterial Intersection Conversion Study
Improves access to a port, airport or intermodal facility
Project in on a Metro tier 1 or tier 2 truck route
Removes a geometric barrier or avoids future load restrictions on an Oversize/Overweight route
Addresses a flood risk
Addresses a pavement or bridge condition need (conversely, points may be lowered for projects that proposed work on assets with significant remaining service life)
Includes improvements for pedestrians/Priority Areas for Walking Score (PAWS)
Addresses ADA issues identified in MnDOT ADA transition plan
Development includes complete and interconnected pedestrian network
Includes improvements for bicycling / RBTN / Bicycle barriers
Improves access to transit
% change in number of jobs accessible within 30 minutes by auto and transit
% of benefiting businesses with a transportation management plan (or commitment to develop one)
# of existing and planned EV chargers at benefiting businesses
Infill development

Projects do not need to address all of the factors listed to receive full points.

% Non-MnDOT Funding

Up to 5 points are available for projects that are not fully funded by MnDOT. Percentage will be based on estimated total transportation project cost, not just trunk highway eligible costs.

Project Risk Assessment

For Twin Cites Metro Area projects, up to 20 points are available based on potential risks to the deliverability of the project within the timeframe of the program.

Risk Category	Points Available	Basis
Environmental Documentation	2	Based on the status of the environmental document
Right of Way	5	Based on whether right of way acquisition in needed and the status of the acquisition
Railroad Involvement	3	Based on whether the project requires a railroad right of way agreement and the status of that negotiation
Funding	10	Based on the level and status of funding for the project

Bonus Points

Provided a project's total score does not exceed 100 points, Twin Cities Metro Area applications may receive additional points for the following.

Non-public funding or in-kind assistance

Based on Minnesota Statutes 174.12 Subd. 5 (3), the selection committee may award up to 5 bonus points if any of the project costs are covered by private contributions or right of way donations.

Geographic distribution

Based on Minnesota Statutes 174.12 Subd. 5 (6), up to 5 bonus points will be assigned to project based on the following methodology:

Location (municipality) has not received funding in the last 2 rounds of TED - 1 point

Location (municipality) has never received funding from TED – 1 additional point

County has not received funding in the last round of TED – 1 point

... in the last 2 rounds – 1 additional point
... in the last 3 rounds – 1 additional point

These points are based on the geographic location of the project, not the applicant.

TED applications from Greater Minnesota were scored using the following criteria.

Criteria	Points Available
Economic Benefits	40
Transportation Benefits	35
% non-MnDOT Funding	5
Project Risk Assessment	20

Projects must receive at least 50 points to be eligible for funding.

Economic Benefits

For Greater Minnesota applications, a total of 40 points are available for economic benefits based on the following factors.

Criteria	Points Available	Basis
Job creation/retention per $1 million of project cost	20	Based on the difference between the 5 year job estimate with the project and the 5 year job estimate without the project divided by the cost of the project in millions
Income creation/ retention	20	Based on the difference between the 5 year estimate of wage income with the project and the 5 year estimate wage income without the project

Impact to targeted labor/industry

Provided the total economic benefit score does not exceed 40 points, the selection committee may assign up to 5 points if the jobs created/retained are likely to benefit a low-income community, tribal community, community of color or people with disabilities.

Selection committee adjustments

The selection committee may adjust scores for overly speculative claims or overly conservative estimates.

Transportation Benefits

For Greater Minnesota applications, a total of 35 points are available for transportation benefits.

Transportation scoring criteria

Criteria	Points Available	Basis
Benefit-cost ratio	10	Transportation benefit-cost analysis based on crash information supplied by the applicant as well as MnDOT staff analysis following MnDOT’s standard procedure.
Plan consistency and need	25	Based on the need for the project, plan consistency and improvements for freight and multimodal transportation (see factors below)

Factors considered in assigning points for “plan consistency and need:”

Addresses a sustained crash location and/or a safety issue identified in a district or county safety plan
Score from the Greater Minnesota Mobility Study
Addresses a pavement or bridge condition need (conversely, points may be lowered for projects that proposed work on assets with significant remaining service life)
Improves access to a port, airport or intermodal facility
Heavy commercial truck traffic
Removes a geometric barrier or avoids future load restrictions on an Oversize/Overweight route
Addresses a flood risk
Includes improvements for pedestrians/Priority Areas for Walking Score (PAWS)
Addresses ADA issues identified in MnDOT ADA transition plan
Development includes complete and interconnected pedestrian network
Includes improvements for bicycling
Improves access to transit
% change in number of jobs accessible within 30 minutes
% of benefiting businesses with a transportation management plan (or commitment to develop one)
# of existing and planned EV chargers at benefiting businesses
Infill development
Project includes expanding fiberoptic coverage

Projects do not need to address all of the factors listed to receive full points.

% Non-MnDOT Funding

Up to 5 points are available for projects that are not fully funded by MnDOT. Percentage will be based on estimated total transportation project cost, not just trunk highway eligible costs.

Project Risk Assessment

Up to 20 points are available based on potential risks to the deliverability of the project within the timeframe of the program.

Risk Category	Points Available	Basis
Environmental Documentation	2	Based on the status of the environmental document
Right of Way	5	Based on whether right of way acquisition in needed and the status of the acquisition
Railroad Involvement	3	Based on whether the project requires a railroad right of way agreement and the status of that negotiation
Funding	10	Based on the level and status of funding for the project

Bonus Points

Provided a project’s total score does not exceed 100 points, Greater Minnesota applications may receive additional points for the following.

Non-public funding or in-kind assistance

Based on Minnesota Statutes 174.12 Subd. 5 (3), the selection committee may award up to 5 bonus points if any of the project costs are covered by private contributions or right of way donations.

Geographic distribution

Based on Minnesota Statutes 174.12 Subd. 5 (6), up to 5 bonus points will be assigned to project based on the following methodology:

Location (municipality) has not received funding in the last 2 rounds of TED - 1 point

Location (municipality) has never received funding from TED – 1 additional point

Region (based on Regional Development Organization boundaries) has not received funding in the last round of TED – 1 point

... in the last 2 rounds – 1 additional point
... in the last 3 rounds – 1 additional point