MnDOT had submitted project to the federal gov’t

Albert Lea leaders found out this week the city will not receive $10.72 million in grant funding through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program — also known as TIGER II — for a downtown streetscape project.

The Albert Lea project was one of six that had been submitted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation for federal funding.

“I think we’re all disappointed that we did not receive the grant,” said 1st Ward Albert Lea City Councilor Vern Rasmussen upon hearing the news.

However, he added, city leaders will keep working to find other grant opportunities for the project.

The Albert Lea project proposed a major reconstruction of North Broadway Avenue, along with building a parking ramp east of the Freeborn National Bank Building. The grant would have made a proposal with the Albert Lea Medical Center in the downtown more feasible as it works on a public-private partnership with ALMC for renovation of the Freeborn National Bank, Jacobson Apartments and Stadheim buildings for office space.

The city had hired an advocate out of Minneapolis to lobby the U.S. Department of Transportation for the application.

According to a list of grant recipients, only one capital project in Minnesota — for the Staples north/south corridor project — was awarded a TIGER II grant. A planning grant for $250,000 was also approved for a St. Paul complete streets plan.

A U.S. Department of Transportation news release issued Wednesday about the grants stated nearly 1,000 construction applications were submitted from all 50 states requesting more than $19 billion in funding.

In the end, 42 capital construction projects and 33 planning projects across 40 states were chosen to share in $600 million in grants.

Roughly 29 percent of TIGER II money will go for road projects, 26 percent for transit, 20 percent for rail projects, 16 percent for ports, 4 percent for bicycle and pedestrian projects and 5 percent for planning projects, the release continued.

The release stated the Department of Transportation gave priority to projects that were expected to create and preserve jobs quickly and stimulate rapid increases in economic activity.

First District U.S. Rep. Tim Walz said though he was disappointed in the TIGER II grant results, he has not been deterred from the Albert Lea project.

“These are visionary leaders saying, ‘How do we rehabilitate a downtown in a community?’” Walz said.

He noted he’s excited about the project’s collaborative approach, and he will support the project in other funding opportunities.