After the devastating flood and the havoc it caused to our roads and streets, it is clear to me and my friends that St. Louis County is not investing enough to build a 21st-century transportation network. What are other regions in America doing to build up their transportation networks?
In 2008, Los Angeles County, Calif., voters approved a half-cent sales tax that during the next three decades is expected to collect $40 billion for highways and public transit.
Imagine if voters of St. Louis County passed a similar measure? Our county could employ currently unemployed Minnesota construction workers to work building our future Northern Lights Express and rebuild our flood-damaged roads and streets without waiting for state and federal money while also building needed transportation projects that are oft-proposed but never built.
We need that extra money to rebuild Skyline Parkway's Mission Creek segment, providing the residents of Duluth's Fond du Lac neighborhood with a third access. We need that extra money to build a modern trolley line from the Duluth Armory south on Superior Street and Grand Avenue to the proposed Spirit Mountain Grand Avenue chalet. We need that extra money to extend Interstate 35 north from the northern terminus at 26th Avenue East to the Highway 61 expressway. How can any rational person believe St. Louis County taxpayers can't afford a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for improving our transportation network?
This November, the voters of St. Louis County must elect city, state and federal representatives who will invest in building a 21st-century transportation network to support a 21st-century economy.
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James Patrick Buchanan
Duluth
