Rethinking I-94 Open Letter

Dear Governor Walz and MnDOT Commissioner Daubenberger:

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Re: the “Rethinking 94” process planning the future of I-94 in the heart of the Twin Cities

We, the undersigned community members and organizations, urge you to reinstate the “at-grade options”—such as the Twin Cities Boulevard proposal—and to give these options a thorough review that includes environmental, equity, and public health goals. We specifically urge you to analyze all options, including the at-grade options, with respect to statewide goals to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

The Rethinking I-94 process was meant to represent a different mode of transportation planning for Minnesota, reflecting former Commissioner of Transportation Charlie Zelle’s apology for the way its construction harmed communities: “We would never, we could never, build that kind of atrocity today.” Yet MnDOT is now planning to rebuild that “atrocity” for the next 70 years. Minnesota deserves a real consideration of the alternatives.

MnDOT should not eliminate the at-grade A and B options because:

1. The At-Grade (boulevard) options have substantial and growing support from impacted communities. The at-grade A & B options were ranked most favorably in MnDOT’s own 2023 Rethinking I-94 public survey. Communities deserve the opportunity to continue to learn about and shape these options.
2. MnDOT’s traffic modeling is outdated and inaccurate. These shortcomings were documented in a recent study. A more robust and sophisticated traffic analysis that considers more realistic traffic flows (e.g., including induced demand, changes in land use, and the potential for qualitatively greater expansions of public transit) should be undertaken and include these options.
3. MnDOT is not accounting for significant potential for economic benefits and reparations from the at-grade options. By knitting communities back together and repurposing land currently occupied by the highway trench for new businesses, homes, parks, and other community uses, the at-grade options create the potential to equitably reinvest in historically marginalized communities. One report calculated that an at-grade boulevard conversion could create up to 2,450 permanent jobs, 2,230 new homes, and create millions of dollars in additional local tax base.
4. MnDOT’s environmental review process ignores the serious health impacts of I-94. The highway already has a major impact on surrounding neighborhoods. Air pollution levels closest to I-94 are significantly higher than elsewhere, contributing to steep disparities in health issues as diverse as asthma, cancer, older-age dementia and children’s brain development, heart attacks and strokes, depression and anxiety, and early death. These health impacts disproportionately burden communities of color and particularly affect children who live or attend schools along the freeway corridor. MnDOT’s process is based on questionable assumptions, like that the total volume of car trips barely changes when infrastructure does, and on notably limited accounting of pollution sources. Those assumptions generate conclusions that merit more scrutiny—like that an expanded freeway is less polluting than a nonexistent freeway. In contrast, highway conversion projects elsewhere have been followed by significant reductions in pollution.
5. Climate change demands we consider the best ways to update our infrastructure for a sustainable future. The warming planet requires us to reduce vehicle miles traveled, as reflected in the agency’s own goals. Minnesota is likely to become a state that people flock to from elsewhere in the United States. Our infrastructure should be planned to work for a growing population that will only be accommodated by prioritizing walkable communities and substantially increasing access to mass transit. MnDOT should be planning for the future, not the past.

We therefore ask that you revise your draft recommendations and continue to study the at-grade A & B project alternatives during the next phase of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process.

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Organizational Signers

• BikeMN
• BrittFit50 Indigenous Health
• Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association
• East Phillips Health Team
• East Phillips Neighborhood Institute
• Elliot Park Neighborhood Inc.
• Fyra Labs
• Green Party of Minnesota (GPMN)
• Hamline Midway Coalition
• Hennepin for People
• Heritage Park Neighborhood Association
• Longfellow Community Council
• Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA)
• Metro Blooms
• Midtown Greenway Coalition
• Minnesota Urban Studies Student Association
• Mixed Blood Theater
• MN Environmental Justice Table
• Neighbors for More Neighbors
• Reviving Islamic Sisterhood (RISE)
• St. Anthony Park Community Council (SAPCC)
• Seward Neighborhood Group
• Sierra Club North Star Chapter
• Stevens Square Community Organization
• Sunrise Twin Cities
• Sustain Saint Paul 
• The ARC MN
• Transition Town - All Saint Anthony Park (Transition Town ASAP)
• Twin Cities DSA
• UMN Students for Climate Justice
• Union Park District Council
• Whittier Alliance

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Individual Signers 2907 signatures

All affiliations listed are for identification only.

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Recent Signers

• Benjamin Altman
  Minneapolis
• Daniel Weber
  SAINT PAUL
• Amanda Eldridge
  Mendota Heights

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Optional: Sign up to stay in touch with some of the organizations supporting the fight to keep freeway removal on the table!

Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association
Hennepin for People
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA)
Our Streets
St. Anthony Park Community Council (SAPCC)
St. Cloud Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
Stevens Square Community Organization
Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (TC-DSA)
Whittier Alliance

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