Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Corridors of Commerce

Corridors of Commerce | About

About the Corridors of Commerce program

The Corridors of Commerce program was created in 2013 when the Minnesota Legislature passed Minnesota Statue 161.088.  The goal of the program was to focus additional transportation investments in state highway projects that directly and indirectly foster economic growth for the State through the provisioning of construction jobs, enabling of goods to be transported through a commerce friendly network of corridors, and providing additional mobility to its citizens. The program is not part of MnDOT’s regular State Road Construction program and has specific requirements regarding eligibility, scoring, and prioritization of the projects that are contained within the Statute.

Since 2013, the Corridors of Commerce has funded more than $1.5 billion in trunk highway improvements across the state. Find more details on historical funding and approved projects.

Project classification

  • Capacity Development projects are on a segment of trunk highway where the segment:
    • is not a divided highway, and that highway is an expressway or freeway beyond the project limits;
    • contains a highway terminus that lacks an intersection or interchange with another trunk highway;
    • contains fewer lanes of travel compared to that highway beyond the project limits; or
    • contains a location that is proposed as a new interchange or to be reconstructed from an intersection to an interchange.
  • Freight Improvement projects are for an asset preservation or replacement project that can result in:
    • removing or reducing barriers to commerce;
    • easing or preserving freight movement;
    • support emerging industries; or
    • providing connections between the trunk highway system and other transportation modes for the movement of freight.

Beginning February 1, 2025, Minnesota Statutes 161.178 now requires capacity expansion projects to complete a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) impact assessment and conform with the State’s GHG and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) reduction targets prior to inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) or a metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). What this means for Corridors of Commerce, specifically readiness advancement activities, is that an initial impact assessment must be completed as part of awards made under this program.

Regional balance

To ensure regional balance throughout the state, Minnesota Statutes 161.088 requires that all available program funds be distributed according to the following regional allocations:

  • Metro Projects: at least 25% and no more than 27.5% of the funds are for projects that are located within, on, or directly adjacent to an area bounded by marked Interstate Highways 494 and 694;
  • Metro Connector Projects: at least 35% and no more than 37.5% of the funds are for projects that are located wholly or primarily within a greater metropolitan county and outside of the Metro Project boundary identified above.
  • Regional Center Projects: at least 35% and no more than 40% of the funds are for projects that are outside of the two boundaries identified above.

Percentages will be calculated using total funds under the program over the current and prior two consecutive project selection rounds. The calculations include awards for readiness advancement activities.

Scoring criteria

The Corridors of Commerce law includes eight criteria that MnDOT must use to score and rank projects for the program with no additional criteria added. All projects will be evaluated using the following criteria that is legislatively mandated with each being worth 100 points with a total of 800 possible points:

  • Return on Investment
  • Economic Impact
  • Freight Efficiency
  • Safety Improvements
  • Regional Connections
  • Policy Objectives
  • Community Consensus
  • Project Readiness

Eligibility

Projects must meet the eligibility requirements identified in law to receive Corridors of Commerce funding. The eligibility requirements within the law are as follows:

  • Projects must be consistent with the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan (SMTP).
  • Projects must be able to begin within four years of award of funding.
  • Projects must be on the National Highway System (NHS) in Greater Minnesota or any state highway in the eight-county MnDOT Metropolitan District.
  • Projects must either develop additional system capacity or demonstrate improvement for freight movement (reduce bottlenecks).
  • The amount of Corridors of Commerce funding needed to construct the project (including construction cost, right-of-way, engineering) cannot exceed the amount of funding available.
  • A proposed project already listed in MnDOT’s STIP is not eligible, unless the project was listed in the STIP as a result of receiving previous Corridors of Commerce funding.
  • The future project may be, but is not required to be, identified in the 20-year state highway investment plan.