Dakota County Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2025 - Road ways

Road construction can be inconvenient, but a safe and efficient transportation system is part of what makes Dakota County a great place to live and work.

Maintaining, replacing and building new county roadways helps keep motorists, pedestrians and others safe. You might use them daily to get to work or school without even realizing they are county roads. Businesses rely on them to transport goods, and commuters use them to access transit.

Dakota County maintains 415 miles of county roads. They pass through neighborhoods. They serve as primary access routes in townships and other rural areas of the county. And, some function like highways in our growing suburbs.

The county manages and repairs existing county roads and plans for expanded roadways. Expanded roadways often serve new communities or business areas. To handle traffic and population growth, we enhance existing roads and build new segments.

Dakota County is the state's third-largest county, with nearly 450,000 people and continued growth.

Prioritizing projects

Like homeowners who plan future house projects, the county plans and schedules its own projects. These include road construction, building improvements, park upgrades and more.

We track these projects in our capital improvement program. The county’s current plan is for 2025-2029. Planning five years at a time helps to prioritize and budget for projects. We want to take care of current roads, improve them when necessary and make the most of limited funding.

Each December, the Dakota County Board of Commissioners approves the annual county budget as well as the next year of spending in the capital improvement plan.

All road projects must align with the county’s 2040 Transportation Plan. That guiding document includes current road conditions, traffic volumes and projections, and more. It includes more than $1.6 billion in county road construction that’s needed over a 20-year period. We have six goals when planning transportation projects:

• Develop the best system for safety and efficient use with limited resources.

• Maintain existing roadways to reduce unnecessary or premature spending on replacement.

• Manage the system to increase efficiency, improve safety and get the most out of current roadways.

• Replace and modernize roads as they become obsolete.

• Develop and support transit services that meet the county’s transit needs.

• Expand roads after we’ve exhausted maintenance and replacement methods.

Safety is the leading factor in how we rank and schedule our projects. We also record traffic volumes and track road conditions. That way, we know when to plan repairs or expansion.

In 2025, transportation projects make up nearly $80 million of the capital improvement plan. There is about $534 million proposed over the five-year plan. Our projects fall into different categories:

• Preservation, such as repaving roadways and trails.

• Safety and management, including traffic signals, safety improvements, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

• Replacement and modernization, like replacing roads and bridges.

• Transit, which could include partnering with other agencies on a transit project.

• Expansion, such as adding more lanes to an existing road or creating a new road.

Getting your input

While we monitor roads for repair or improvement, public input is important. Residents and motorists can help shape the design and construction. Planning, design and construction for a road project is generally a 3- to 4-year process.

We host a public meeting before we even start design. We want to hear about safety and access concerns from residents and businesses. We also want to know how a project could affect users.

If a project moves forward, we hold more public meetings to get feedback on design features. Depending on the project, we might get input on the number of lanes, ways to reduce vehicle speeds, whether a roundabout would help with traffic flow, the location of trails and more.

We use data from public meetings and other feedback — phone calls, emails and survey responses — to strengthen the plan. Road projects are designed either by county engineering staff or contracted engineering firms — it depends on the project location and complexity. The county designs most rural road projects.

Projects often have a final public meeting before construction. We’ll discuss the schedule and provide any detour information or other details to prepare residents for construction.

Residents can learn about specific projects and get weekly updates during construction. Go to www.dakotacounty.us, search current construction. Select a project and look for “Get email updates” on the project webpage.

The county also gets public feedback through the Dakota County Residential Survey every three years. In the last survey in 2022, 75 percent of survey respondents rated the condition of county roads as good or excellent. That rating has generally increased steadily since 2008. We will get new ratings in the next Residential Survey this spring.

Bidding the work

Like many large county projects, we award road construction contracts in a competitive bid process. The county outlines the work that’s needed, posts the request for public review and seeks bids.

We collect bids and review them to make sure they meet project requirements. The county selects the lowest bid among qualified contractors, which is required by state law and a good process for taxpayers. The county board approves road construction contracts. Bid documents are public.

Selected project bids often are close to our estimate or less than the estimated project cost. Having good estimates helps as we budget for many projects. Lots of factors affect the cost of roadwork, including the scope, cost of materials and other economic factors.

Paying for projects

Many county road projects have partners, such as the state or cities. We make agreements with cities on how to pay for projects. The county often covers 85 percent of project costs while a partner city pays the remaining 15 percent. Sometimes, it’s a 75 percent and 25 percent split, or a different split depending on the project.

The county does not assess property owners along a roadway to pay for construction, but sometimes cities do.

There are many factors that determine how the county funds its part of project costs. It can depend on the type of road, whether it’s new construction or an improvement, and details of the project.

The county has several sources of transportation funding. In Dakota County and across the state, transportation needs far exceed the money available to pay for them. Dakota County leaders advocate for fair funding at the state and federal level to meet local transportation needs.

A statewide gasoline tax and other fees are a large source of transportation funds to counties. A formula determines how much each county receives.

The county is responsible for much of the funding in our projects. It comes from a few main sources:

• A transportation sales and use tax in Dakota County and an excise tax of $20 on vehicle purchases.

• A wheelage tax of $10 on motor vehicle registration and tab renewals.

• A gravel tax on rock material produced through mining or imported into the county.

The county also receives transportation funding from a sales tax collected in the metro area. That tax funds regional transit, bike and pedestrian projects, and transportation projects in seven Twin Cities counties, including Dakota.

Dakota County also applies for federal and state grants on a competitive basis. No county property tax dollars are used for transportation projects.

The county can collect property tax dollars for railroad projects, such as a rail crossing improvements, through the county’s Regional Rail Authority. The county has funding for planned projects. It does not currently levy funds.

Another source for road project funding is state borrowing, also called bonding. We seek state bonding through the Legislature for road needs that lack funding. Projects that receive state bonding usually have matching local funds.

This year, the county is seeking state bonding for improvements at County Road 50 and Interstate 35 in Lakeville. That interchange needs safety, mobility and access improvements.

Since 2020, we have received nearly $9 million in state bonding and another $3.9 million in general state funds for six projects:

• Diffley Road in Eagan ($4 million)

• 117th Street in Inver Grove Heights ($5 million)

• Studies and design for state highway projects in Dakota County ($3.9 million)

• Highway 55 in Hastings and Rosemount

• Cedar Avenue in Apple Valley and Eagan

• County Road 50 and I-35 in Lakeville

• Highway 3 in Eagan, Inver Grove Heights and Rosemount

Making repairs

Dakota County monitors the condition and safety of county roads, but commuters may notice issues first. If you have a concern about a county road, call Dakota County Transportation at 952-891-7000 or email hwy@co.dakota.mn.us.

Sometimes, the solution is an immediate fix — repairing a pothole, trimming trees or replacing a damaged road sign.

Other issues need study. When we hear about road concerns, we’ll look at the situation, review vehicle crash numbers, check other safety factors and then decide if a more involved improvement is needed.

Adding trails for safety

Installing trails along roadways makes getting around safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. We add paved trails along both sides of a new county road in urban and suburban areas. If there are space constraints, a trail might only be on one side of the road.

In rural areas, where there are fewer pedestrians and less traffic, we generally provide highway shoulders.

Dakota County also is building a system of greenways. These paved surfaces connect our communities through natural, preserved areas. We have 57 miles of greenways already. There is a plan for more than 200 miles total.

Greenways are part of our park system, but they are also used as transportation routes for commuters, students and others.

The county transportation system connects to city streets, township roads, state highways and freeways. We’ll continue providing a system that safely and efficiently best serves motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users.

To find out more about the Dakota County transportation system, go to www.dakotacounty.us, search 2040 transportation plan.