Minnesotans are used to saying it for their sports teams; now they can extend the ‘maybe next year’ mantra to the expansion of Highway 14.

Minnesota’s Highway 14 was not among the projects selected for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program.  The Minnesota Department of Transportation applied in June for the grant, which would have funded $25 million of the estimated $85 million project.

Local and state officials had hoped the final phase of a decades-long effort to expand Highway 14 from a two to a four-lane between Nicollet and New Ulm would come to fruition with federal dollars.

Following the news, the Highway 14 Partnership said they were renewing their call on Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Legislature to fund the project in 2020.

The 12 miles between Nicollet and New Ulm is the final stretch of Highway 14 that remains unfunded in the 100-plus miles between New Ulm in Rochester.