Bill
SF 4657
MnDOT must overhaul project evaluation and planning to prioritize context-specific scoping, multidisciplinary decision-making, and outcome-based metrics over traditional level-of-s
Dates and status
- Senate Bill: SF 4657
- Session: 2025-2026
- Author: Senator Dibble (co-sponsor: Scott Dibble)
- Introduced: March 2026
- Committee action: Reported “To pass” and re-referred to Finance (April 22, 2026)
- Effective date provisions: Various sections effective March 1, 2028; some earlier for specific activities (e.g., July 1, 2027)
Purpose and intent
- To require the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to overhaul the evaluation, scoping, and planning processes for trunk highway projects, with a focus on context-specific, multidisciplinary, and outcome-based decision-making. The bill aims to ensure that projects are developed with broader considerations beyond traditional level-of-service metrics, emphasizing safety, equity, multimodal mobility, environmental considerations, and community input.
Key provisions and changes
1) Section 1 – Purpose, need statements, and scoping requirements (adds 161.1611)
- Establishes a planning worksheet scoping guide to be used with stakeholders when determining a project's scope.
- Defines key terms: planning worksheet scoping guide, project, purpose and need, scoping document.
- Requires context-specific scoping to identify all potential options and narrow to reasonable alternatives for environmental review (e.g., EIS).
- Introduces a requirement that purpose and need statements avoid identifying a specific improvement as the sole need and consider all approaches, including safety, access, and broad transportation objectives.
- Encourages relaxing traditional level-of-service-based prioritization in favor of other considerations (cost efficiency, safety, community input, statutory requirements) and potentially alternative metrics.
- Mandates a multidisciplinary review process integrated into the development of purpose and need.
2) Section 1 – Scope and process requirements
- Applies to projects requiring environmental impact statements under Chapter 116D or involving construction, bridge work, capacity changes, access alterations, or right-of-way acquisitions (with exceptions for routine maintenance and certain resurface projects).
- Requires a context-specific scoping document, stakeholder engagement, and a field/visual assessment process (coordinated field visits and walking audits).
3) Section 2 – Transportation ombudsperson (new or revised authority)
- Creates a Transportation Ombudsperson to serve as a neutral resource for dispute resolution between MnDOT and the public.
- Ombudsperson reports to the Commissioner; duties include information gathering, mediation facilitation, and monitoring ombudsperson performance.
- No complaint fee; cannot hold another MnDOT formal position.
- Effective March 1, 2028.
4) Section 3 – Internal compliance audit (new)
- MnDOT internal auditor must conduct targeted audits if noncompliance with statutory requirements is detected repeatedly.
- Audit results reported to the Commissioner and legislative chairs/ranking minority members; recommendations for process changes must be implemented.
5) Section 4 – Departmental organization and affirmative action
- Reiterates organizational flexibility to meet transportation needs and requires appointment of a Chief Financial Officer with authority over budgetary controls.
- Requires an affirmative action plan to ensure proportional representation of designated groups in department staffing, aligned with state government workforce proportions (with statutory sunset tied to certification).
6) Section 5 – Standards-based reviews (new)
- Requires performance reviews of supervisors and lead project managers to include evaluation of adherence to sections 161.1611, 174.03, 174.742, 174.75.
- Applies to supervisors at district engineer level or equivalent.
7) Section 6 – Outcome analysis for the 20-year Highway Investment Plan (new)
- Requires analysis of trunk highway projects included in the statewide multimodal transportation plan, focusing on:
- Project age in the plan, purpose/need, milestones, alignment with statewide plan priorities, links to funding and construction, and the scoping process.
- Post-project reporting on safety, emissions, access, and costs, with deviation findings reported to the internal auditor.
8) Section 7 – Multidisciplinary project development (new)
- Requires interdisciplinary planning and decision-making for eligible projects.
- Core project team roles include field visits, corridor familiarity, co-review of purpose and need, alignment with statewide plan priorities, and evaluation using alternative transportation metrics (mobility, equity, public health, environmental justice, etc.).
- Ensures data transparency and prohibits manipulation of assumptions or data to predetermine outcomes.
- Effective March 1, 2028.
9) Section 8–9 – Complete Streets and implementation guidance (amendments to 174.75)
- Updates the Complete Streets policy to incorporate context-sensitive solutions, active transportation integration (sidewalks, crosswalks, bikeways), and coordination with other road authorities.
- Requires guidance on project context, road system categorization, and considerations for speed reductions and safety improvements for active transportation users.
- Effective March 1, 2028.
Effective dates
- Core context-specific scoping, multidisciplinary development, and related reforms: March 1, 2028 (Sections 1, 6, 7, 9 and related changes).
- Subsection 4 (Scope-related changes) becomes effective July 1, 2027 for projects scoped on or after that date.
- Section 2 (Ombudsperson) and Section 3 (Internal compliance audit) effective March 1, 2028.
- Other adjustments align with the policy updates for Complete Streets and internal oversight.
Potential impact
- Increase in stakeholder engagement requirements and multilingual/multimodal consideration early in project development.
- Shift away from sole reliance on level-of-service metrics toward broader performance indicators (safety, equity, accessibility, environmental justice, public health, and affordability).
- More formalized oversight mechanisms (ombudsperson, internal audits, performance reviews) intended to improve accountability and transparency.
- Greater emphasis on multidisciplinary teams and field-based analyses to inform scoping and design.
- Longer lead times for major project planning due to expanded analysis and coordination requirements.
Notes
- The bill adds new statutory sections and amends multiple existing provisions, with several provisions becoming effective in 2027 or 2028.
- It explicitly seeks alignment with NEPA and Minnesota Environmental Policy Act requirements and requires documentation of alternatives and decision-making processes.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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