State Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) this morning participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the grand opening of the new highway 14 route between Dodge Center and Owatonna. The legislature delivered funding for the project in 2018, twenty-five years after its first Environmental Impact Study was completed in 1993 and twelve years after the Minnesota Department of Transportation held its first official public meeting on the project in 2006.

Watch Senator Nelson’s comments here.

Transcript:

“Hello, State Senator Carla Nelson here with some exciting news. A long project finally coming to completion today, and that is the expansion of Highway 14 to the west of Rochester. I am so excited about this; we have been working on this well before I was even in the legislature, working with the Chamber of Commerce trying to get MnDOT to get this on its 10- or 20-year plan. Well, folks, it’s done, the traffic will be moving on to the expansion lanes later today. I am excited to be there for the celebration this morning.”