Don’t Accept Empty Promises, Push for Pause on the Rethinking I-94 Project

On August 26th, Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Daubenberger responded to a dozen elected officials in the state legislature asking for a Pause in the Rethinking I-94 project and the Highway 252/I-94 project. In this response, MnDOT “acknowledges” many of the harms residents and communities along I-94 are raising: historic displacement, reduced connectivity, health impacts, constrained economic opportunity, unsafe infrastructure, and disproportionate impacts on historically marginalized communities. Yet, MnDOT proceeds to use those harms as a reason to continue these projects rather than reconsider.

MnDOT is asking communities to trust that their concerns will be addressed in the forthcoming Scoping Decision Document and a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The agency is making more promises without providing the concrete guardrails for communities impacted or real commitment to meet community demands to restore community-aligned alternatives like the at-grade options. Pointing to an upcoming process as a measure for progress in the right direction is disingenuous and dismissive to residents, community members, and electeds.

There is no commitment to change the process. There is no guarantee that transformative alternatives will remain on the table. There is no meaningful process to give communities power over the outcomes.

The people living along the I-94 highway have experienced decades of promises that transportation investments would improve their communities. The original highway plan was presented as progress. Instead, its construction displaced predominantly Black residents and communities of color, caused decades of disparities, and severed neighborhoods. Now, other communities like Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, and North Minneapolis face the same reality with an expansion project that MnDOT is proposing for Highway 252/I-94.

MnDOT is telling us their process will address past and present harms through future environmental review, mitigation, engagement, and wellness initiatives. We should not have to wait until major decisions are made to find out whether those promises will be kept.

We are asking Governor Walz and Commissioner Daubenberger:

1. Immediately pause the Rethinking I-94 project before the final Scoping Decision Document.

2. Protect and restore transformative alternatives, including the multimodal at-grade boulevard options that were prematurely eliminated.

3. Re-evaluate the project’s goals and evaluation criteria around community-defined outcomes such as public health, racial equity, neighborhood reconnection, walkability, transit access, climate, and economic opportunity.

4. Ensure residents most affected by I-94 are meaningfully engaged and have agency in determining what comes next.

A pause is a strategic protection of our state's interests and our communities' vision. This is an opportunity to get the process right before decisions become difficult to change. It positions Minnesota to act when conditions allow us to actually deliver what our residents need, rather than what a hostile federal administration will permit.