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Politics & Government

UPDATE: McCollum and Ellison Introduce, 'Fiscally Responsible St. Croix River Bridge Bill' To Replace Stillwater Lift Bridge

Rep. Betty McCollum and Rep. Keith Ellison will introduce legislation called the Fiscally Responsible St. Croix River Crossing Authorization Act.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), will introduce legislation Thursday called the Fiscally Responsible St. Croix River Crossing Authorization Act.

This act will allow for a less expensive bridge to be constructed to replace the Stillwater Lift Bridge.  The legislation includes environmental mitigation, a limitation on federal funding, and allows for an accelerated project timeline for construction, according to a press release from McCollum’s office.

“The McCollum-Ellison bill will protect taxpayers from the exotic $700 million “extradosed” mega-bridge (carrying only 18,000 cars daily), which is proposed in H.R. 850," the release said.

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The legislation also prohibits the use of federal funds for the construction of any bridge project exceeding $574 million in total cost. 

 “Building the biggest, most exotic and expensive bridge possible makes no sense when we have tremendous unmet transportation needs and taxpayers expect responsible investments.  This legislation will be a compromise that allows an appropriately-scaled bridge to be built, not a gold-plated interstate bridge,” McCollum said.

Find out what's happening in Stillwaterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Stillwater Mayor Ken Harycki sees the proposed bill as a, “last minute attempt to delay the bridge project.”

“It is a delaying tactic by someone that doesn’t live in the district,” Harycki said.

The current proposed bridge project has support by every legislator that represents Stillwater in congress, Harycki stated.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also weighed in on the newly proposed bill:

“On the fringe of this issue are two members of Congress, Minnesota's Representatives Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison, that don't represent the St. Croix River Valley where this crossing will be built. They claim a 'less expensive bridge' is needed, even though neither of these members have ever been Congress' strongest advocate for fiscal responsibility before this futile attempt,” Bachmann said.

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