Minnesotans work hard, and they deserve a government that spends their money wisely. We haven’t seen much of that over the last two years, but we have an opportunity to reverse course. Recently, I joined several of my Senate colleagues to highlight areas where we can cut waste in state spending — particularly in transportation.
Projects like the Northstar rail and Southwest Light Rail have been costly failures. Northstar covers less than 3% of its costs with ticket sales, meaning taxpayers are paying nearly the entire bill. Ending Northstar alone could save Minnesotans $11 to $12 million every year.
Another example is the Northern Lights Express rail line, which is the passenger train to Duluth. We’ve set aside nearly $195 million for this project, yet less than 1% of that money has been spent. That’s $195 million that could go back to the general fund where it can be used for services people actually need.
By now you are likely familiar with the historic boondoggle of Southwest Light Rail. We can avoid another light rail mess by pausing the Blue Line light rail extension, which would save another $30 million.
Finally, we’ve spent millions on studies for projects like ReConnect Rondo and ReThink94. These efforts have wasted millions but produced few results and little public benefit.
In total, we can save roughly $250 million right now by cutting these wasteful transportation projects, and even more every year moving forward.
Minnesotans deserve common sense and accountability in government. We can start by ending projects that drain taxpayer dollars without delivering results.