Cravaack wants roads before rails

Republican Congressman Chip Cravaack says he wants the federal government to fix its roadways before spending money on a proposed high speed passenger rail project between Minneapolis and Duluth.

In May the Northern Lights Railway project was awarded a five-million-dollar federal grant to put together a preliminary engineering and service development plan.

According to a report from Northlands News Center, the project has solid support from Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and was a priority for former Congressman Jim Oberstar. Congressman Cravaack however maintains there are more important priorities for federal spending.

Cravaack said, "The project has to pay for itself. I don't want to take money and put it into a Northern Lights Project when we can't drive on our roads. We have a finite amount of money, we have to make sure that the right money goes to the right projects for the right reasons.”

Rep. Cravaack says with limited federal dollars transportation spending has to be prioritized and safe roads are more important than rail transportation at this point.