BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Minnesota Department of Transportation has unveiled its freight transportation plan in District 2 and is asking for public comments. An interactive website is available through Oct. 9 for participants to learn more about the plan and provide feedback at www.district2freightplan.com/.
MnDOT District 2 serves 14 counties in northwestern Minnesota: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, Roseau, and parts of Cass, Koochiching and Mahnomen. The region relies heavily on freight-dependent industries as it retains more than half of the areas full-time, year round employment. It includes a quality freight transportation network that supports the safe and efficient movement of agricultural commodities, forestry products and manufactured goods. This extensive network includes Highway 2, Highway 59 and Highway 75, major rail lines owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, regional airports in Bemidji and Thief River Falls, and international border crossings in Baudette, Lancaster, Pinecreek, Roseau and Warroad.
MnDOT desires to provide a freight transportation system that attracts new businesses and enables others to maintain and grow their presence in northwest Minnesota. To do this, it is essential that MnDOT and its local transportation planning and economic development partners have at their disposal recent and relevant freight data and analysis tools. The District 2 Freight Plan has been developed to provide a clear understanding of the multimodal freight system, local industry use of the system and their needs and concerns. This plan will help guide MnDOT District 2 policy and programming decisions.
The final draft of the MnDOT District 2 Freight Plan has been published online and is ready for public comments. Please visit www.mndot.gov/ofrw/freight/districtfreightplan to view the document. You can send comments until Oct. 9 to District 2 Planning Director Jon Mason at jon.mason@state.mn.us or call 218-407-1917.
Last modified: 09/11/2020
