InfrastructureUSA.org is a non-profit, online community whose mission is to bring together infrastructure experts, industry leaders, government officials and most especially interested citizens, to participate in vigorous conversation and generate action to address the U.S. infrastructure crisis.

BLUEGREEN ALLIANCE

Executive Summary

Minnesota’s infrastructure systems are in urgent need of significant repair. Our state’s roads and bridges, water, waste water, transit, energy, and communication systems need increased investment to become efficient, safe, and productive for Minnesotans. Repairing Minnesota will create good jobs, make our systems more efficient and less polluting, and safeguard communities from the impact of climate change, like severe weather such as floods and droughts.

In this report, the BlueGreen Alliance identified needed investments—some of which is already in the planning stages—in roads and bridges, transit, waste water, drinking water, electricity, natural gas and smart grid. After identifying these needs, we estimated the number of jobs that would be created by making these essential investments in repairing and modernizing our basic infrastructure systems.

An estimated 114,000 jobs could be created and sustained across the Minnesota economy by making muchneeded investments in our basic infrastructure systems. This includes the number of direct jobs from impacted sectors like construction laborers, equipment operators, and maintenance workers; as well as the number of indirect jobs from industries that service those sectors and supply chains, including the manufacturing of materials, components, and equipment. In addition, we estimated the number of induced jobs supported as the workers buy goods and services, including increased demand for retail, housing, and financial services.

• Roads and Bridges: Investing $1.5 billion per year over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 41,700 jobs each year.
• Rail: Investing between $310 million and $475 million per year over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 6,200 to 9,500 jobs each year.
• Transit: In the metro area, investing $1.05 billion per year over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 37,910 jobs each year. In Greater Minnesota, transit investment of $150 million a year over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 5,410 jobs each year.
• Waste Water: Investing $180 million per year in waste water infrastructure over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 3,600 jobs each year.
• Drinking Water: Investing $368 million per year over the next 20 years in drinking water infrastructure would create or sustain an estimated 7,360 jobs each year.
• Electricity: Investment of $400 million per year in Minnesota on the CAPX2020 transmission project over the span of five years is creating or sustaining an estimated 5,200 jobs each year.
• Natural Gas: Replacing the 43 miles of the state’s old cast and wrought iron natural gas pipelines would create or sustain an estimated 490 jobs.
• Smart Grid: Investing $140 million per year in a smart grid advanced metering infrastructure build out for 5 ½ years would create or sustain an estimated 3,370 jobs each year.

 Download full version (PDF): Repair Minnesota

About BlueGreen Alliance
www.bluegreenalliance.org
“The Blue Green Alliance is a national, strategic partnership between labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy.”

Tags: BlueGreen Alliance, Minnesota, MN

This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2013 at 10:12 am and is filed under Bridges, Drinking Water, Energy, Infra Views, Local, Smart Grid, Transit, Wastewater . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.