Highway 23

Bonding committee hears ‘the ask’: Willmar area officials request funds for roads, college maintenance projects

January 9, 2018

Bonding committee hears ‘the ask’: Willmar area officials request funds for roads, college maintenance projects
WILLMAR—With millions of state bonding money on the line when the Legislature reconvenes next month, local officials made the case Monday that several area projects should be funded. Members of the Senate Capital Investment Committee began a 12-day tour of the state Monday to hear pitches for projects seeking state funding. During an hour-long stop at Ridgewater College in Willmar, committee members heard about the nuts and bolts of two major road and bridge projects and maintenance projects at

EDC Hosts Highway 23 Transportation Rally

December 6, 2017

EDC Hosts Highway 23 Transportation Rally
In May of 2017 a group of over 30 interested people, including business and government leaders, met in New London to discuss the need to finish the four-lane gaps on Highway 23, formalize the Highway 23 Coalition and elect officers.  Since that time, the Coalition has incorporated, established a budget and the full membership elected a nine-member Board of Directors.  Currently, there are more than 60 committed members of the Coalition, including 16 units of government, nearly 40 businesses and

Highway 23 Coalition makes pitch to transportation commissioner

October 14, 2017

Highway 23 Coalition makes pitch to transportation commissioner
SPICER—On a bus ride from Paynesville to Spicer, Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Charles Zelle saw trucks hauling wind turbine blades south on Highway 23. Zelle jokingly asked members of the Highway 23 Coalition Friday if they had arranged for those trucks so he could see the need for a four-lane state Highway 23 from Willmar to Interstate 94. The coalition hosted Zelle at a luncheon in Spicer and took him on tours of pending road projects, including the Willmar Wye. Currently, the road has

Willmar joins Highway 23 Coalition seeking funds to close four-lane gaps

August 30, 2017

Willmar joins Highway 23 Coalition seeking funds to close four-lane gaps
WILLMAR—The city of Willmar has officially joined the Highway 23 Coalition. “This has been a long-term project,” said Councilor Kathy Schwantes. While the coalition has been in existence for several years now, there has been a recent push to become more formally organized in an attempt to persuade the state to approve money for state Highway 23 projects. “The coalition has been seeking state funding to complete the two four-lane gaps on Highway 23 between Willmar and I-94,”

Highway 23 four-lane project from Willmar to I-94 needs community push

May 15, 2017

Highway 23 four-lane project from Willmar to I-94 needs community push
WILLMAR—A loose-knit coalition of local transportation advocates may soon be reinvented—and reignited—in its mission to complete a four-lane route between Willmar and St. Cloud. The group has been lobbying for decades to make state Highway 23 a four-lane link to Interstate 94. Aaron Backman, executive director of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission, wants to broaden that coalition to bring in more community partners and give the group more structure that
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