Walz’s record on transportation and planning: successes, but work to do

Minnesota remains largely auto-dependent, though Gov. Tim Walz and the DFL Legislature took steps to support transit during the 2023 budget session. Photo by H. Jiahong Pan/MInnesota Reformer.

Attention fellow planning and transportation nerds: Gov. Tim Walz’s new national prominence means he could have a big impact on federal transportation, housing and land use policies. We know he loves maps . But what’s his record on key transportation and planning issues?

A look at his record reveals progress, but critical gaps remain before we achieve sustainable and equitable transportation for Minnesotans.

Robust increase in transportation funding

Walz signed what Minnesota House transportation Chair Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneaepolis, called the “transportation bill of my dreams” in 2023. It included lots more money, including a metro sales tax increase to fund transit, walking and biking infrastructure. The fund will specifically support the build-out of a comprehensive bus rapid transit network and other transit improvements.

That 2023 transportation funding bill invested significantly in transportation projects around the state. A gas tax indexed to inflation accompanied the bill, another big win for transportation funding.

While most of this funding is directed at highways and car-oriented infrastructure, the sales tax ensured that active transportation and transit received funding increases. Of the $9 billion allocated to transportation, Twin Cities transit received:

• $230 million for general operations;
• Roughly $173 million to Metro Mobility to support senior/disability services;
• $50 million for planning along the Blue Line Extension Light Rail;
• $82 million for Bus Rapid Transit investments.

These are wins for transit and active transportation.

A light rail debacle

All that transit funding comes amid a lack of coherent strategy around light rail expansion, a major problem for the region’s most expensive and impactful projects.

The southwest Green Line expansion , which broke ground the year Walz was elected, is years behind and hundreds of millions over budget largely due to a costly tunnel and negligence from the Met Council. The project has eroded public support for the types of large-scale transit projects our region needs to stay prosperous and competitive, raising questions about our readiness to implement high-stakes projects altogether.

The Blue Line Extension project, which is still in the planning stages, has also been rocky, with several major route changes already altering the project. The result: some residents were displaced along Olson Memorial Highway amid ongoing debate about the project, which would provide valuable transit services to the Northside and some underserved, highly diverse suburban communities, but could also mean some residents would be priced out and forced to leave .

While Walz is not directly responsible for this failure, a consensus among elected officials and transit advocates has emerged that a better strategy to plan and implement these projects is needed. It’s one thing to fund transit build-outs, but it’s another altogether to execute them.

No substantial funding for anti-displacement on transit projects

Dedicated funding for anti-displacement policy was also absent from the 2023 transportation bill . That funding is critical to protecting existing residents and vulnerable communities from gentrification and displacement as a result of transit investment.

While a one-time allocation was made to the Blue Line Coalition to mitigate these effects, more work is needed to dedicate funding and policy approaches across the region as substantial transit investments take place.

Less, and more, enforcement

Transit fare evasion has been decriminalized in Minnesota. This allowed the Met Council to bring on “trip ambassadors” — who are civilian workers, not police — to issue citations similar to parking tickets, creating more touch points for transit staff in a bid to increase rider safety. Data show major crime is falling, though more is needed to coax people back to transit, especially given the transformation of commuting patterns post-pandemic .

Mandating climate considerations

Major highway expansion projects are now subject to a climate impact assessment rule . This new greenhouse gas emissions standard will require changes to projects determined to increase emissions, as measured by vehicle miles traveled.

Considering that transportation is Minnesota’s largest contributor to climate-worsening carbon emissions, this is a critical step in addressing local impacts.

Greenhouse gas emissions reductions, with a catch.

The same greenhouse gas assessment meant to review highway expansion projects will not apply to projects added to the State Transportation Improvement Plan before February 2025 . This comes as many of Minnesota’s major interstates are at the end of their useful life and have already been selected for repair or expansion. As a result, a harmful highway expansion project along I-94/252 can move forward unchecked despite fierce local opposition, displacing hundreds of homes and businesses in two diverse Twin Cities suburbs.

The same 2023 transportation bill added $76 million to widen highways, including $50 million to what’s known as the Corridors of Commerce fund. This has come at a time of quiet highway expansions from Richfield and Edina to Monticello, where an I-94 expansion project broke ground this month.

According to data from Crosswalk Labs , traffic along highways contributes two-thirds of the Twin Cities’s total transportation emissions, putting this funding in direct contradiction with state goals of greenhouse gas and VMT reduction goals.

Clunky E-bike rebate program

Minnesota is one of the few states that offer e-bike rebates. Compared to electric vehicle incentives and rebates, these programs are underfunded relative to demand. A glitchy rollout prevented some Minnesotans from receiving the incentives, even as recent research found that electric bicycles can substantially reduce a region’s transportation carbon emissions and VMT.

‘Clean’ fuels and clean cars standards

Walz has also pushed for a clean fuels standard — a policy backed by agricultural interest groups — to increase ethanol use and reduce the carbon intensity of vehicle fuels. The program is not a viable climate solution , with local groups like Sierra Club and Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action ( COPAL ) in opposition. These organizations and others cite concerns that the policy amounts to greenwashing.

However, Walz also pushed Minnesota to adopt California’s strict vehicle emission standards , mandating manufacturers to produce and deliver cleaner and more zero-emission vehicles, despite opposition from Republicans and auto dealers .

This mixed bag makes it unclear if Walz is truly on board with fully electrifying vehicles and shifting away from a car-dominated transportation system or if he favors less impactful solutions.

Thinking big to right ongoing inequities

Walz has not commented on highway removal in Minnesota, where Our Streets , forward-thinking public officials , and thousands of grass-roots advocates support proposals to transform Minneapolis’s Olson Memorial Highway , I-94 between Minneapolis and Saint Paul , and along I-35 in Duluth . The new Minnesota Communities Over Highways Coalition continues to build on this momentum with nearly 70 supporting organizations.

The coalition seeks to end the structural racism baked into Minensota’s past transportation policies and their legacy on residents’ quality of life today .

Housing, land use and zoning

The Walz administration was largely absent from the land use and housing reform debate in the 2024 legislative session as the Legislature caved to pressure from the local goverments which opposed reforms to limit local control in building housing. The approach is a proven strategy to reduce transportation emissions and develop affordable housing.

This trepidation was also evident during Walz’s recent interview with Ezra Klein , commenting on Minneapolis reforms that ended single-family zoning. He sidestepped Klein’s question about Minneapolis zoning and an environmental lawsuit against it. Walz deflected the question and talked about other environmental issues without firm commitments on housing or land use. Nevertheless, he signed a bill ending the environmental lawsuit and exempting comprehensive plans from the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act.

Expanded regional connectivity

Walz leveraged state and federal funding to increase Amtrak service between Saint Paul and Chicago , the second daily train on this corridor for the first time in more than 40 years. The Walz administration also secured funding for new passenger rail between Duluth and the Twin Cities.

More work is needed on inter-regional transportation to connect greater Minnesota with fast, frequent non-car transportation options (and I don’t mean with a so-called Rochester hyper-loop ).

This could include improved transit service to St. Cloud — which received $4 million in study funds in 2023 — and connectivity to Rochester, which is the site of the Mayo Clinic, and other greater Minnesota destinations.

What happens at the White House?

If elected, Harris and Walz’s ticket has the potential to push progressive transportation, land use and housing policies on the national level, and Minnesota offers some lessons, for both better and worse.

If Walz becomes Minnesota’s third vice president after Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, the North Star State could see more funding from a supportive federal government. That’d be a good thing as long as we are ready with equitable and actionable policy priorities.

We should applaud Walz’s successes — to be fair, there are many — while recognizing the gaps that still need to be filled to address critical transportation needs felt by everyday Minnesotans.

Many of Minnesota’s reforms now attributed to Walz were championed by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor controlled Legislature. In some cases, he merely stepped out of the way of progress in the transportation space.

It remains to be seen how progressive Walz will be on transportation without the Legislature delivering ambitious bills to his desk for a signature.