piers109uk/MN-Statutes huggingface dataset:
161.21 STUDIES.
The commissioner may make or cause to be made such studies and investigations as the commissioner deems necessary for the purpose of determining the most advantageous location and design of trunk highways from the standpoint of both present and future traffic needs, and in making such determinations the commissioner may take into consideration the probable future development of both urban and rural areas and the effect of such development on future traffic needs as indicated by such studies and investigations and the location and design with respect to bikeway establishment.
Such studies and investigations may also be carried out by the commissioner in cooperation with any governmental authority or agency of this state or of any other state, the federal government or any of its agency, including the National Academy of Sciences, whenever federal law or federal rules and regulations require such studies in order for Minnesota to receive federal aid.
160.284 RESORT SIGNS; DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE.
The Department of Transportation shall design a sign of such size and dimension and of a type sufficient to provide directional information, on slats designed for that purpose, for at least five individual resorts. The Department of Transportation shall contract for the construction or manufacture of such signs, either with private industry or through some agency of the state. All such signs shall be of a standard size and design.
161.231 APPROPRIATION; PROCEEDS FROM STATE PROPERTY.
There is appropriated annually from the fund or account in the state treasury to which the money from the sale, lease, conveyance, or disposal of state property is credited a sufficient amount of money to carry out the state's obligations under the provisions of sections 15.16, 117.135, 117.226, 161.16, 161.202, 161.23, subdivision 3, 161.24, 161.241, 161.43, 161.433, 161.44, 161.442, and 272.68, subdivision 3, including the inventorying, marketing, and property management activities required to sell, lease, rent, permit, convey, or otherwise dispose of the land or the interest in the land. At the discretion of the commissioner of transportation, money in the account at the end of each biennium may cancel to the trunk highway fund.
160.29 VACATION OF PUBLIC WAYS BY MUNICIPALITY.
For purposes of this section the term "municipality" means any city, county or town. The term "public way" means any highway, road, street, cartway, alley or lane or other publicly owned interest in real property which is open to the free passage and use of the public.
In proceedings under statute or charter to vacate a public way or portion thereof, a municipality may specify the extent to which such vacation affects existing easements therein and the extent to which the vacation affects the authority of any person, corporation or municipality owning or controlling electric or telephone poles and lines, gas and sewer lines, or water pipes, mains and hydrants, thereon or thereunder, to continue maintaining the same or to enter upon such way or portion thereof vacated to maintain, repair, replace, remove or otherwise attend thereto.
160.295 CRITERIA FOR SPECIFIC SERVICE SIGNS.
A specific service identified on a specific service sign shall be in conformity with all applicable laws and rules concerning the provisions for public accommodation without regard to race, religion, color, sex or national origin.
A specific service sign may be placed on a nonfreeway trunk highway if the specific service is located within 15 miles of the qualifying site.
Motels, restaurants, and resorts served by the specific service signing shall be licensed by the state Department of Health as required by section 157.16.
Recreational camping areas shall possess a state Department of Health license as required by section 327.15 and the following:
(1) a minimum of 15 camping spaces;
(2) modern sanitary facilities (flush, chemical, or incinerator toilets) and drinking water; and
(3) services available 24 hours a day.
A rural agricultural or tourist-oriented business must be open a minimum of eight hours per day, six days per week, and 12 months per year. However, a seasonal business may qualify if it is open eight hours per day and six days per week during the normal seasonal period.
160.296 SPECIFIC SERVICE SIGNS; ADMINISTRATION; RULES.
(a) A person who desires a specific service sign panel shall request the commissioner of transportation to install the sign. The commissioner of transportation may grant the request if the applicant qualifies for the sign panel and if space is available. All signs shall be fabricated, installed, maintained, replaced and removed by the commissioner of transportation. The applicant shall pay a fee to the commissioner of transportation to cover all costs for fabricating, installing, maintaining, replacing and removing.
(b) If the applicant desires to display a business panel, the business panel for each specific service sign panel shall be supplied by the applicant. All costs to fabricate business panels shall be paid by the applicant. All business panels shall be installed and removed by the appropriate road authority. The costs for installing and removing business sign panels on specific service signs located on nonfreeway trunk highways are included in the fee specified in paragraph (a). If a business panel is stolen or damaged beyond repair, the applicant shall supply a new business panel paid for by the applicant.
All sign panels for seasonal services shall be covered or removed when the service is not available.
Any new or participating specific service business shall respond to any communication from the commissioner of transportation within 30 days or an in place sign panel will be removed.
The specific service sign panels shall be removed by the commissioner of transportation if any of the requirements in sections 160.292 to 160.296 are not continually met.
161.25 TEMPORARY TRUNK HIGHWAY DETOUR; HAUL ROAD.
If, for the purpose of constructing or maintaining any trunk highway, the use of any public street or highway is necessary for a detour or haul road, the commissioner may designate any such street or highway as a temporary trunk highway detour or as a temporary trunk highway haul road, and shall thereafter maintain the same as a temporary trunk highway until the commissioner revokes the designation. Prior to revoking the designation the commissioner shall restore such streets or highways to as good condition as they were prior to the designation of same as temporary trunk highways. Upon revoking the designation, the street or highway shall revert to the subdivision charged with the care thereof at the time it was taken over as a temporary trunk highway.
161.26 HIGHWAY MAINTAINED ACROSS PORTION OF ADJOINING STATE.
When a state trunk highway route is so located that in order to properly connect the designated objectives it is advisable to construct and maintain the highway across a portion of an adjoining state, the commissioner is authorized to expend trunk highway funds therefor in the same manner as other expenditures for trunk highway purposes are made. No such highway or portion thereof shall be established or constructed in any adjoining state until the adjoining state shall first pass legislation consenting thereto and granting the commissioner necessary jurisdiction over the portion of the highway located in the adjoining state.
160.297 OTHER SIGN LAWS.
Sections 160.292 to 160.296 provide additional authority to erect signs on nonfreeway trunk highways and do not limit the authority to erect highway signs provided by other law or rule.
161.261 CONNECTOR SEGMENTS WITH OTHER STATES.
When the beginning or terminal of a trunk highway is the state boundary, and the commissioner of transportation and the authorities of the adjoining state deem it desirable during the construction or improvement of such trunk highway to construct or improve a connector highway in the adjoining state thereby connecting or improving the connection of such trunk highway with the highway system of the adjoining state, the commissioner may enter into agreements with the authorities of such adjoining state providing for such connecting highway to be constructed or improved under and as part of the trunk highway construction contract. Such connector highway shall connect with the trunk highway at the state boundary. The entire cost of constructing or improving the connector highway, including engineering costs and expenses, planning and designing expenses, and any other expenses attributable to such connector highway, shall be paid by the adjoining state, and the manner and time of such payment shall be specified in the agreement.
The commissioner, in the interest of construction economy, may enter into agreements with the authorities of an adjoining state providing that the adjoining state construct or improve a segment of a Minnesota trunk highway route in conjunction with a construction project of the adjoining state so as to connect or improve the connection of the Minnesota trunk highway route with the highway system of such adjoining state at their common boundary. The cost of construction or improvement of such segment, including costs of planning and design and equitable engineering costs and expenses attributable to such segment, shall be paid from the trunk highway fund.
MS 1974 [Repealed, 1976 c 163 s 63]
160.294 SPECIFIC SERVICE SIGN DETAILS.
Specific service sign panels shall be made of reflective sheeting and shall be on blue background with white letters, arrows and border. The directional arrow and mileage shall be displayed on the same side of the panel as the direction of turn on specific service sign panels located on nonfreeway trunk highways at grade intersections and on exit ramps at interchanges located on bypasses of outstate municipalities. The specific service sign panel shall display only the name or optional business panel, or both, when installed on nonfreeway trunk highways at interchanges located on bypasses of outstate municipalities.
Business panels shall be made of reflective sheeting and shall not resemble a traffic sign, signal, or device. The business' trademark, symbol, or logo shall be consistent on all business panels for a specific business. The business panel shall not include any supplemental messages or additional verbiage.
No specific service sign or assembly shall be placed at a location that will interfere with other necessary signing as determined by the commissioner of transportation.
160.285 RESORT SIGNS; COUNTY PARTICIPATION.
Any county of this state is authorized to expend county road and bridge funds for the purchase of signs under section 160.283, and for the erection of such signs along or adjacent to highways under their jurisdiction or along and adjacent to town roads within the county, provided that the cost of the signs to the counties must be 100 percent reimbursed by the requester.
Counties may erect and maintain these signs at the expense of the requester on those county state-aid highways, county highways and town roads designated in section 160.283, subdivision 2 provided that these signs shall not be erected closer than 500 feet from trunk highways forming a part of the interstate system as provided in section 173.16, subdivision 4, paragraph (d), or closer than 300 feet from other trunk highways as provided in section 173.16, subdivision 4, paragraph (e).
All money received from the purchase of signs from any county must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the trunk highway fund.
161.241 RELOCATION OF RAILROAD TRACKS, ACQUISITION OF LAND.
Whenever the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a trunk highway will require the acquisition by the state of lands or interests in lands owned by a railroad company, and will require the railroad company to relocate its tracks in order to provide right-of-way for the trunk highway, the commissioner of transportation may either reimburse the railroad company for replacement lands including all reasonable costs directly related to acquiring the replacement lands, necessary for relocation of its tracks or may acquire, by purchase, gift, or eminent domain proceedings, the lands or interests in lands necessary for the relocation of such tracks. Such acquisition is deemed to be for a trunk highway purpose. The commissioner and the railroad company shall mutually agree whether the replacement lands will be provided by the commissioner or acquired by the railroad company.
The lands to be acquired from the railroad company, and the lands necessary for the relocation of the railroad tracks to be acquired by the state, shall be described in a voluntary agreement between the railroad company and the commissioner. Such agreement shall set forth the consideration to be paid for the lands involved. The consideration may be an even exchange of land if the market value is equal, or there may be money payment or services to be rendered by one party or the other to the agreement in addition to the exchange of land, depending on the relative market values of the lands involved. Any money paid to the state shall be credited to the trunk highway fund.
The commissioner shall convey to the railroad company, by quitclaim deed, lands or interests in lands acquired by the state pursuant to the provisions of subdivisions 1 to 3.
The commissioner shall convey to a railroad company, by quitclaim deed, lands owned by the state in fee for trunk highway purposes, but no longer needed for such purposes, when the lands are needed by a railroad company for the relocation of its tracks which is required by the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a trunk highway. The consideration must be set forth in a voluntary agreement between the railroad company and the commissioner of transportation and must be as provided in subdivision 2.
MS 1974 [Repealed, 1976 c 163 s 63]
160.293 SPECIFIC SERVICE SIGNS; INTENDED USE.
Specific service signs are to be used to create and implement a system of signing for the purpose of displaying specific service information to the traveling public on nonfreeway trunk highways in rural areas.
A specific service sign may be erected at the intersection or interchange of a trunk highway with a controlled-access road or a local road, and at the intersection or interchange of two trunk highways. A specific service sign may not be erected if the place of business is readily visible, if effective directional advertising is visible, or if an advertising sign can be legally and effectively located near the intersection or interchange.
(a) Unless otherwise provided in paragraph (b), a specific service sign for a rural agricultural or tourist-oriented business, place of worship, restaurant, motel, resort, recreational camping area, or gasoline service station or other retail motor fuel business is limited to one intersection or interchange on the trunk highway system.
(b) Specific service signs are permitted at two intersections or interchanges on the trunk highway system if the place of business is located between trunk highways and within 15 miles of each qualifying intersection or interchange.
Appropriate signing on local roads between a trunk highway intersection or interchange and a specific service shall be the responsibility of the specific service and the local road authority.
Placement of specific service sign assemblies shall be in accordance with sections 160.292 to 160.296 and existing traffic-control device standards.
Rural roads, named and marked in accordance with resolutions from their road authority, shall continue to be identified.
161.27 TRUNK HIGHWAYS ACROSS BODIES OF WATER.
The commissioner may establish, construct, and maintain trunk highways into, through, or across any lake and may alter and change the channel of any stream when necessary or expedient in the construction or maintenance of any trunk highway; provided that no such trunk highway improvement affecting public waters shall be made until a permit therefor is issued by the commissioner of natural resources as provided by law.
For the purposes set forth in subdivision 1 the commissioner may acquire lands and properties or any interest therein by purchase, gift, or condemnation.
160.298 HIGHWAY SIGN PROGRAM; BILLING, ACCOUNT, APPROPRIATION.
The commissioner of transportation may bill highway operations units of the department and local road authorities for the costs of a centrally managed highway sign program. These costs may include equipment acquisition and rental, labor, materials, and other costs as determined by the commissioner. Receipts must be credited to a special account, which is established in the trunk highway fund, and are appropriated to the commissioner to pay the costs for which the billings are made. Amounts credited to the account are exempt from statewide and agency indirect costs payments.
161.28 ALTERING PUBLIC DRAINAGE DITCH BY TRUNK HIGHWAY.
Upon the filing of a petition by the commissioner with the appropriate county auditor setting forth that it would be advantageous or desirable in the construction or maintenance of a trunk highway to make a minor alteration or change in a public drainage system directly affecting a trunk highway and that the alteration or change will not affect the functioning or efficiency of the public drainage system, the auditor shall fix a time and place for hearing and give notice of the hearing by publication, as defined in section 103E.325. Upon the filing of the petition, the commissioner shall also file a plan showing in detail the alteration or change petitioned for. If upon the hearing it appears to the county board or joint county ditch authority that the alteration or change in the public drainage system will not affect or impair the efficiency of the drainage system, the board or authority shall make its order allowing the commissioner to make the alteration or change petitioned for. Upon the making of the order by the county board or the joint county ditch authority, the commissioner may proceed at the sole cost and expense of the state to make the alterations or changes as may be in the order allowed, damages, if any, for any additional lands necessary for the change or alteration being first duly paid or secured. Upon completion of the alteration or change, the commissioner shall file with the appropriate auditor a map drawn to scale showing the change or alteration made and shall also file a profile of all lines of the alteration or change in the ditch showing graphically the elevation of the ground and gradient, whether open or tiled, the size of tile, and the bottom width and side slope of open ditch sections, and such other information as may appear necessary for understanding. Upon the completion of the alteration or change herein provided for, the ditch shall thereafter include such alteration or change as a part of it with the same force and effect as though it had been originally so constructed and established.
Within six years after completion of any alteration or change as provided in this section, any owner or owners of lands in the drainage system claiming damages by reason of the alteration or change may bring an action in the district court of the county in which the lands are located to compel the commissioner to pay damages, if any, caused by the alteration or change.
161.29 ACQUIRING TOLL BRIDGE FOR TRUNK HIGHWAY SYSTEM.
On determining that it is in the best interests of the public and necessary in the location, construction, improvement, or maintenance of any trunk highway, the commissioner may designate by order as a part of the trunk highway system any toll bridge situated wholly within the state, and may acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation, as provided by law, the necessary rights or easement in, to, or over any such toll bridge as will enable the public to use the bridge for highway traffic free of toll.
161.30 MARKING DESIGN.
The commissioner shall adopt a suitable marking design with which the commissioner shall mark or blaze the trunk highway routes, and as the definite final location of each route is opened to traffic the markings shall be changed to such location.
In order to coordinate the markings of the various existing routes, together with the new routes which have been or may be added, and in order to avoid duplication in numbers used on interstate routes, the commissioner may revise and consolidate the marking and numbering of the routes within the system from time to time. Upon revising the marking or numbering the commissioner shall prepare a map showing the existing routes and identifying numbers and the routes and identifying numbers or design of the revised system. This map shall be authenticated by a certificate of the commissioner certifying the same as being the map showing the revised markings under the provisions of this section. This map and certificate shall be filed in the office of the commissioner and thereafter shall govern the identification of the several routes or portions thereof in the trunk highway system and all proceedings, records, and accounts thereafter shall be governed accordingly. Proceedings pending and under way at the time such map is filed shall cite both the old and the new identifications.
161.31 MAPS AND PAMPHLETS.
The commissioner shall periodically publish a map showing the location and status of improvements of the trunk highway system. Trunk highway maps may contain advertising as a means of offsetting the costs of preparing and distributing the maps. All advertising revenues received by the commissioner under this subdivision shall be deposited in the trunk highway fund.
MS 2012 [Repealed, 2014 c 227 art 1 s 23]
161.3206 BEST-VALUE CONTRACTING AUTHORITY.
Notwithstanding sections 16C.25, 161.32, 161.321, or any other law to the contrary, the commissioner may solicit and award all contracts, other than design-build contracts governed by section 161.3412, for a project on the basis of a best-value selection process as defined in section 16C.28, subdivision 1b. Section 16C.08 does not apply to this section.
161.3208 CONSTRUCTION MANAGER/GENERAL CONTRACTOR; AUTHORITY.
Notwithstanding sections 16C.25, 161.32, and 161.321, or any other law to the contrary, the commissioner may select a construction manager/general contractor as provided in section 161.3209, and award a construction manager/general contractor contract. The number of awarded contracts shall not exceed three in any calendar year.
Final determination to use a construction manager/general contractor contracting procedure may be made only by the commissioner.
The solicitation of construction manager/general contractor requests for qualifications or proposals does not obligate the commissioner to enter into a construction manager/general contractor contract. The commissioner may accept or reject any or all responses received as a result of the request. The solicitation of proposals may be canceled at any time at the commissioner's sole discretion if cancellation is considered to be in the state's best interest. If the commissioner rejects all responses or cancels the solicitation for proposals, the commissioner may resolicit a request for proposals using the same or different requirements.
The commissioner shall notify the chairs and ranking minority members of the senate and house of representatives committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and transportation finance each time the commissioner decides to use the construction manager/general contractor method of procurement and explain why that method was chosen.
161.3207 CONSTRUCTION MANAGER/GENERAL CONTRACTOR CONTRACTS; DEFINITIONS.
The terms used in sections 161.3207 to 161.3209 have the meanings given them in this section.
"Acceptance" means an action of the commissioner authorizing the execution of a construction manager/general contractor contract.
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of transportation.
"Construction manager/general contractor" means a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, joint venture, corporation, any type of limited liability company, professional corporation, or any legal entity selected by the commissioner to act as a construction manager to manage the construction process, which includes, but is not limited to, responsibility for the price, schedule, and execution of preconstruction services or the workmanship of construction performed according to section 161.3209, or both.
"Construction manager/general contractor contract" means a contract for construction of a project between a construction manager/general contractor and the commissioner, which must include terms providing for a price, construction schedule, and workmanship of the construction performed. The construction manager/general contractor contract may include provisions for incremental price contracts for specific work packages, additional work performed, contingencies, or other contract provisions that will allow the commissioner to negotiate time and cost changes to the contract.
"Past performance" or "experience" does not include the exercise or assertion of a person's legal rights.
"Preconstruction services" means all non-construction-related services that a construction manager/general contractor is allowed to perform before execution of a construction manager/general contractor contract or work package.
"Preconstruction services contract" means a contract under which a construction manager/general contractor is paid on the basis of the actual cost to perform the work specified in the contract plus an amount for overhead and profit for all preconstruction services.
"Project" means any project selected by the commissioner as a construction manager/general contractor project under section 161.3208.
"Request for proposals" or "RFP" means the document or publication soliciting proposals for a construction manager/general contractor contract.
"Request for qualifications" or "RFQ" means a document or publication used to prequalify and short-list potential construction managers/general contractors.
"Work package" means the scope of work for a defined portion of a project. A defined portion includes construction services on any project aspect, including procuring materials or services.
161.3212 WORKING CAPITAL FUND.
The commissioner, to the extent allowed by other law or contract, may grant available money that has been appropriated for socially or economically disadvantaged business programs to a guaranty fund administered by a nonprofit organization that makes or guarantees working capital loans to small business concerns owned and operated by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. "Small business concern" and "socially and economically disadvantaged individual" have the meanings given them in Code of Federal Regulations, title 49, section 26.5. The purpose of loans made or guaranteed by the organization must be to provide short-term working capital to enable eligible businesses to be awarded contracts for goods and services or for construction-related services from government agencies.
Money contributed from a constitutionally or statutorily dedicated fund must be used only for purposes consistent with the purposes of the dedicated fund.
161.322 PAYMENT OF INTEREST TO CONTRACTORS.
When any contract for the construction, improvement, or repair of any trunk highway has been entered into by the commissioner of transportation of the state of Minnesota, and the work provided for in the contract has been in all things completed to the satisfaction of the commissioner or the commissioner's agent except for the release of sureties, in accordance with the contract, by the person with whom the commissioner has contracted, herein termed the contractor, unless final estimate for the work is made within 90 days after the contractor has so completed the work, the contractor shall be entitled to receive interest at the rate equal to the Monthly Index of Long Term United States Bond Yields for the month prior to the month in which this obligation is incurred from the date of the expiration of that 90-day period upon all amounts finally determined to be due the contractor which were not paid prior to the expiration of that period, to be paid in the same manner as, and at the time of, the final payment under the contract. The 90-day requirement, and the interest provisions provided for herein, shall not apply if delay is caused by the contractor; nor shall the 90-day requirement apply to contracts over two million dollars if the contract provides specifically for a different period of time in which to make such final estimate.
161.33 EMPLOYEE INTEREST IN CONTRACT, UNLAWFUL.
It shall be unlawful for any member or employee of the Department of Transportation to be directly or indirectly interested in any contract for the construction or improvement of any public road or bridge, or in any contract for the repair, purchase or sale of any road machinery, equipment, materials, or supplies to be used thereon. Any person violating any of the foregoing provisions shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
161.3410 DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTS; DEFINITIONS.
The terms used in sections 161.3410 to 161.3426 have the meanings given in this section.
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of transportation.
"Design-build contract" means a single contract between the Department of Transportation and a design-build company or firm to furnish the architectural or engineering and related design services as well as the labor, material, supplies, equipment, and construction services for the transportation project.
"Design-build firm" means a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, joint venture, corporation, any type of limited liability company, professional corporation, or any legal entity.
"Design professional" means a person who holds a license under chapter 326 that is required to be registered under Minnesota law.
"Design-build transportation project" means the procurement of both the design and construction of a transportation project in a single contract with a company or companies capable of providing the necessary engineering services and construction.
"Design-builder" means the design-build firm that proposes to design and build a transportation project governed by the procedures of this section.
"Request for proposals" or "RFP" means the document by which the commissioner solicits proposals from prequalified design-build firms to design and construct the transportation project.
"Request for qualifications" or "RFQ" means a document to prequalify and short-list potential design-build firms.
161.34 CONTRACT CLAIMS AGAINST STATE.
When a controversy arises out of any contract for the construction or repair of state trunk highways entered into by the commissioner or by the commissioner's authority, in respect to which controversy a party to the contract would be entitled to redress against the state, either in a court of law or equity if the state were suable, and when no claim against the state for the same redress has heretofore been made, the state hereby waives immunity from suit in connection with such controversy and confers jurisdiction on the district courts of the state to hear and try the controversy in the manner provided for the trial of causes in the district courts. Only a party to the contract shall have the right to bring action against the state.
No such action shall be maintained unless commenced within 90 days after the plaintiff has been furnished by the state with a final estimate under the plaintiff's contract, or, at the election of the plaintiff, within six months after the work provided for under that contract shall have been in all things completed.
The action shall be brought at the election of the plaintiff in the District Court of Ramsey County, or in the district court of the county where a major portion of the contract is performed, or in the district court of the county in which the plaintiff resides, or, if there be several plaintiffs residing in different counties, then in the district court of the county of the residence of any one of them. The action shall be commenced by filing a complaint with the court administrator and serving summons and copy of the complaint upon the attorney general of the state at the State Capitol. The state shall have 40 days from the date of such service within which to serve an answer upon the plaintiff, and thereafter the case shall proceed in the same manner as other actions at law in the court.
An appeal from any final order of judgment in the action shall lie as in other civil cases.
161.3412 DESIGN-BUILD AUTHORITY.
Notwithstanding sections 16C.25, 161.32, and 161.321, or any other law to the contrary, the commissioner may solicit and award a design-build contract for a project on the basis of a best-value selection process. Section 16C.08 does not apply to design-build contracts to which the commissioner is a party.
Sections 161.3410 to 161.3426 apply only to transportation projects using the two-step competitive process utilizing public solicitation for design-build services.
(a) The number of design-build contracts awarded by the commissioner in any fiscal year may not exceed ten percent of the total number of transportation construction contracts awarded by the commissioner in the previous fiscal year.
(b) The commissioner shall notify the chairs of the senate and house of representatives committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and transportation finance each time the commissioner decides to use the design-build method of procurement and explain why that method was chosen.
Use of the design-build method of state transportation project delivery is subject to state law concerning municipal consent to highways in municipalities.
161.3414 DETERMINATION TO USE DESIGN-BUILD SELECTION METHOD.
A design-build contracting procedure authorized under sections 161.3410 to 161.3426 may be used for a specific project only after the commissioner determines that awarding a design-build contract will serve the public interest.
The commissioner shall use the following criteria as the minimum basis for determining when to use the design-build method of project delivery:
(1) the extent to which it can adequately define the project requirements in a proposed scope of the design and construction desired;
(2) the time constraints for delivery of the project;
(3) the capability and experience of potential contractors with the design-build method of project delivery or similar experience;
(4) the suitability of the project for use of the design-build method of project delivery with respect to time, schedule, costs, and quality factors;
(5) the capability of the Department of Transportation to manage the project, including the employment of experienced personnel or outside consultants;
(6) the capability of the Department of Transportation to oversee the project with individuals or design-build firms who are familiar and experienced with the design-build method of project delivery or similar experience;
(7) the lack of ability and availability of any current state employee to perform the services called for by the contract;
(8) the original character of the product or the services;
(9) the work to be performed on the project is necessary to the agency's achievement of its statutory responsibilities and there is statutory authority to enter into the contract; and
(10) other criteria the commissioner deems relevant and states in writing in its determination to utilize the design-build method of project delivery.
161.3418 LICENSING REQUIREMENTS.
Each design-builder shall employ, or have as a partner, member, officer, coventurer, or subcontractor, a person duly licensed and registered to provide the design services required to complete the project and do business in the state.
A design-builder may enter into a contract to provide professional or construction services for a project that the design-builder is not licensed, registered, or qualified to perform, so long as the design-builder provides those services through subcontractors with duly licensed, registered, or otherwise qualified individuals in accordance with sections 161.3410 to 161.3426.
(a) Nothing in this section authorizing design-build contracts is intended to limit or eliminate the responsibility or liability owed by a professional on a design-build project to the state, county, or city, or other third parties under existing law.
(b) The design service portion of a design-build contract must be considered a service and not a product.
161.3422 RFP FOR DESIGN-BUILD.
During phase two, the commissioner shall issue a request for proposals (RFP) to the design-builders on the short list. The request must include:
(1) the scope of work, including (i) performance and technical requirements, (ii) conceptual design, (iii) specifications, and (iv) functional and operational elements for the delivery of the completed project, which must be prepared by a registered or licensed professional engineer;
(2) a description of the qualifications required of the design-builder and the selection criteria, including the weight or relative order, or both, of each criterion;
(3) copies of the contract documents that the successful proposer will be expected to sign;
(4) the maximum time allowable for design and construction;
(5) the road authority's estimated cost of design and construction;
(6) the requirement that a submitted proposal be segmented into two parts, a technical proposal and a price proposal;
(7) the requirement that each proposal be in a separately sealed, clearly identified package and include the date and time of the submittal deadline;
(8) the requirement that the technical proposal include a critical path method; bar schedule of the work to be performed, or similar schematic; design plans and specifications; technical reports; calculations; permit requirements; applicable development fees; and other data requested in the RFP;
(9) the requirement that the price proposal contain all design, construction, engineering, inspection, and construction costs of the proposed project;
(10) the date, time, and location of the public opening of the sealed price proposals; and
(11) other information relevant to the project.
161.3416 DESIGN-BUILD NOTICE; REPORT.
The commissioner shall summarize in a written statement its reasons for using the design-build construction contracting procedure. This statement, along with other relevant information describing the project, must be made available upon request to interested parties.
Final determination to use a design-build construction contracting procedure may be made only by the commissioner.
161.3424 REPLACING TEAM MEMBERS.
An individual or a design-build firm identified in a response to a request for qualifications (RFQ) or a request for proposals (RFP) may not be replaced without the written approval of the commissioner. The commissioner may revoke an awarded contract if an individual or a design-build firm identified in a response to an RFQ or RFP is replaced without the commissioner's written approval. To qualify for the commissioner's approval, the written request must document that the proposed replacement individual or design-build firm will be equal to or better than that described in the response to the RFQ or RFP. The commissioner shall use the criteria specified in the RFQ or RFP to evaluate the request.
161.361 ADVANCE FUNDING FOR TRUNK HIGHWAY PROJECTS.
A road authority other than the commissioner may by agreement with the commissioner make advances from any available funds to the commissioner to expedite construction of all or part of a trunk highway. Money may be advanced under this section only for projects already included in the commissioner's ten-year highway work program. The total amount of annual repayment to road authorities under this subdivision must never exceed $10,000,000.
By agreement with the commissioner, a road authority other than the commissioner or two or more road authorities that have entered into a joint powers agreement under section 471.59 may make advances from any available funds to the commissioner to expedite development of an interregional transportation corridor, including funds for design consultants, for right-of-way purchases, for construction, or for other related expenditures. The total amount of annual repayment to road authorities under this subdivision must never exceed $10,000,000.
By agreement with the commissioner, a road authority other than the commissioner or two or more road authorities that have entered into a joint powers agreement under section 471.59 may make advances from any available funds to the commissioner to expedite bottleneck reduction, including funds for design consultants, for right-of-way purchases, for construction, or for other related expenditures. The total amount of annual repayment to road authorities under this subdivision must never exceed $10,000,000.
Subject to the availability of state money, the commissioner shall repay the amounts advanced under this section, up to the state's share of project costs, under terms of the agreement. The agreement may provide for payment of interest for funds advanced under subdivisions 1a and 1b at a rate of interest agreed upon by the parties.
161.365 HIGHWAY CONTRACT SPECIFICATIONS; MINIMUM WAGE.
All contracts for the construction, improvement or repair of a road or highway financed in whole or in part with federal funds and with respect to which the commissioner of transportation acts as the agent for a political subdivision of the state and is required to approve plans and specifications with respect thereto and to award such contract, the commissioner of transportation shall incorporate into the specifications a provision requiring the same wage rates for labor as is currently used by the state of Minnesota on state trunk highway projects other than interstate projects, for work in the same wage rate area. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to contracts with any railroad or public utility for the alteration or relocation of any facilities of any such railroad or public utility when the work provided for in said contract is done by the regularly employed forces of said railroad or public utility.
161.366 CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT; TACONITE RELIEF AREA.
The commissioner of transportation, as a condition of awarding a transportation construction contract in the taconite tax relief area, may require the contractor to hire a certain percentage of workers for that contract whose principal place of residence is in the taconite tax relief area. Taconite tax relief area means the tax relief area defined in section 273.134.
161.368 HIGHWAY CONTRACTS WITH TRIBAL AUTHORITIES.
(a) On behalf of the state, the commissioner may enter into agreements with Indian tribal authorities for the purpose of providing maintenance, design, and construction to highways on tribal lands. These agreements may include (1) a provision for waiver of immunity from suit by a party to the contract on the part of the tribal authority with respect to any controversy arising out of the contract and (2) a provision conferring jurisdiction on state district courts to hear such a controversy.
(b) Notwithstanding section 161.32, for construction of highways on tribal lands in a reservation exempt from Public Law 83-280, the commissioner may: (1) award a preference for Indian-owned contractors to the same extent provided in the applicable Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance, but not to exceed ten percent; or (2) negotiate with the tribal authority and enter into an agreement for the tribal authority to award and administer the construction contract, with the commissioner providing funding for the state share of the project. If negotiating with the tribal authority, the commissioner must perform an independent cost estimate and determine that the cost proposed by the tribal authority is reasonable. An agreement negotiated with a tribal authority must include a clause requiring conformance with plans and specifications approved by the commissioner.
161.369 INDIAN EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCE.
As authorized by United States Code, title 23, section 140, paragraph (d), the commissioner may implement an Indian employment preference for members of federally recognized Tribes on projects carried out under United States Code, title 23, on or near an Indian reservation. For purposes of this section, a project is near an Indian reservation if the project is within the distance a person seeking employment could reasonably be expected to commute to and from each workday. The commissioner, in consultation with federally recognized Minnesota Tribes, may determine when a project is near an Indian reservation.
161.37 SURPLUS GOVERNMENT MATERIALS.
The commissioner may accept from the federal government allotments to the state of excess materials suitable for road construction and maintenance purposes.
Costs incurred in receiving, placing in use, delivering, or purchasing spare parts for excess materials shall be paid out of the trunk highway fund; provided that any expense so incurred in receiving, delivering, or purchasing spare parts for the material in behalf of any county shall be paid by the county, and payment received therefor shall be credited to the trunk highway fund.
161.41 SURPLUS PROPERTY NOT NEEDED FOR HIGHWAY PURPOSES.
The commissioner is authorized to declare as surplus any property acquired by the state for highway purposes, excluding land, which the commissioner determines to be no longer needed or necessary for state highway purposes.
The commissioner shall administer all aspects of the disposition of property declared to be surplus under this section, including buildings used for trunk highway purposes. The commissioner shall first determine the value of the surplus property. The commissioner may then transfer the possession of the surplus property to any state agency or political subdivision of this state or to the United States government upon receipt of payment in an amount equal to the value of the surplus property.
The commissioner may also sell the surplus property under the competitive bidding provisions of chapter 16C if no state agency or political subdivision of this state offers to purchase the surplus property for its determined value.
The commissioner shall deposit all money received under this section with the commissioner of management and budget to be credited to the trunk highway fund.
If the commissioner determines that the department is no longer using a building for trunk highway purposes or that the building is a safety or fire hazard, the commissioner may demolish the building.
161.40 JOINT FACILITIES WITH DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
The commissioner may enter into agreements with the state Division of Emergency Management to build, operate and maintain joint facilities in cases where the Division of Emergency Management contributes its proportionate financial share.
161.391 PAVEMENT STRIPING.
The commissioner of transportation may bill highway maintenance operating units of the department and local road authorities for the costs of a centrally managed, pavement marking program. These costs may include equipment acquisition and rental, labor, materials, and other costs as determined by the commissioner. Receipts must be credited to a special account, which is established in the trunk highway fund, and are appropriated to the commissioner to pay the costs for which the billings are made. Amounts credited to the account are exempt from statewide and agency indirect costs payments.