Interregional Corridors: Prioritizing and Managing Critical Connections Between Minnesota’s Economic Centers

Growth trends in Minnesota emphasize the need to ensure that travel on highway corridors linking regional trade centers in the state is safe, reliable, and efficient. In 1999, the Minnesota Department of Transportation initiated an interregional corridor study to define a system of interregional corridors that connect important regional trade centers. Minnesota’s effort to develop the interregional corridor system, performance expectations, and principles and policies for managing and guiding development along these corridors is described. The interregional corridor system and the corresponding management principles and policies were developed in several phases: (a) definition of regional trade centers, (b) identification of the interregional corridor system, (c) development of interregional corridor principles and policies, and (d) development of a corridor management plan guide. The study developed performance measures and performance targets to identify mobility risk corridors, which are corridors that perform below target speed or have a risk of signal proliferation. Methods used at a sketch-planning level to identify priority routes and performance levels are described. The study developed a more uniform process for developing corridor management plans.