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1 The fourth incarnation of the original Leech Lake Trail is manifested in the proposed Trunk Highway 371 2 improvements.The improvements are being proposed in response to increasing traffic counts as well as recent 3 accidents and ongoing safety concerns.The Minnesota Department of Transportation(Mn/DOT) has finalized an 4 Environmental Impact Statement(EIS)for a realignment of Highway 371 to the east of the current downtown. 5 HIGHWAY 371 6 To one extent or another,the debate over the alignment of Highway 371 has dominated discussions on the future 7 of Pequot Lakes for nearly a decade. 8 In 2004, after a significant level of discussion within the community,the City Council narrowly voted to proceed 9 with an expansion of Highway 371 on its current alignment. This was not without controversy, but once the 10 decision was made,the mechanisms of government—including the 2004 version of this plan—included a vision it centered on an expanded Highway 371. 12 In working with Mn/DOT on the details of construction that an expansion on the existing alignment would entail, 13 two things became apparent.First,widening the existing two-lane highway to a high-capacity,high-speed four lane 14 highway was going to significantly, and irreversibly, damage the character of Pequot Lakes. This character is 15 critical,not only to the business community which depends on visitors and locals alike,but to the very reason why 16 so many people have chosen to move to Pequot Lakes over the past two decades. With an expansion of the 17 existing alignment, there was no way for Pequot Lakes to avoid becoming the next drive-thru community in a 18 stretch of similar development to the south. 19 The second revelation in the process of evaluating the expansion of the current alignment was that the local cost 20 would be tremendous and would outstrip any potential gain from new growth and development.The taxpayers of 21 Pequot Lakes would be asked to pay an estimated$2.6 million to make improvements that would provide for the 22 local economy post-construction.An expansion of the existing alignment would limit prime-development sites to 23 the highway corridor,which was very expensive to serve with infrastructure.The numbers did not make sense for 24 the City. ,,..,-5 In 2007,after a resolution of the Council to reengage Mn/DOT for consideration of an alternate alignment,the City 26 Council and Planning Commission formed a joint Alternate Route Study Group to review questions and concerns 27 with respect to an alternate alignment.The group called on experts to help answer 31 questions that had been 28 developed within the community.The meetings were open to the public and were well attended.After meeting 29 I ten times over seven months,the group issued a report concluding that,"while there are costs the City must incur 30 during the project,the direct cost to the City would be significantly less for an alternate route than a through-town 31 alignment."Additionally,the report noted,"There were no indications that an alternate route would be destructive 32 to the economic health of the City of Pequot Lakes,and substantial evidence to the contrary." 33 Today a fully-developed plan for construction of the alternate alignment has been completed and is awaiting 34 municipal consent.Construction is scheduled for 2018. 35 In August of 2009,Mn/DOT issued a report indicating that,over the next twenty years it had$65 billion in needed 36 improvement projects and only$15 billion in projected revenue.That same month,the U.S.Congress approved a 37 transfer of$10 billion into the Federal Highway Trust Fund to cover persistent deficits in the federal transportation 38 fund. These shortfalls in revenue raise the very real possibility that the improvements to Highway 371 may be 39 postponed beyond 2018,or perhaps may never happen. DRAFT-November 2010 34 1 P a g e