Area Transportation Partnerships

The Southwest Area Transportation Partnership (ATP), or Southwest Minnesota ATP, was formed in 1993 following the passage of landmark federal surface transportation legislation in 1991. The legislation required states to emphasize greater planning, multimodal decision-making, and local and public involvement in the development of transportation plans and programs. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) established ATPs in response to this new legislation as a way of providing a sub-state geographic focus on transportation decisions. Specifically, ATPs focus on the programming of federal highway funding included in the Minnesota State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

MnDOT District 8 staff is primarily involved in the day-to-day management of the ATIP. Management activities include ensuring the implementation of MnDOT District 8’s trunk highway program and the locally sponsored federal projects in the ATIP. The MnDOT District 8 Planning and Programming Unit is responsible for managing the trunk highway program and the District 8 State Aid Engineer, with input from regions and affected local agencies, is responsible for managing the local projects in the ATIP.

While the overall responsibility for managing the ATIP rests with MnDOT District 8, Southwest Minnesota ATP has approved guidance and policies to assist in managing changes affecting projects that have been selected for implementation in the ATIP. Possible changes to the ATIP include: dealing with revisions to project cost estimates, managing changes in project scope, and managing increases or reductions in federal funding. The level of direct ATP involvement may vary depending on the change that is being requested.

Southwest Minnesota ATP has adopted the following general policies to ensure the orderly delivery of projects and management of the ATIP.

• The project development process shall be initiated as soon as possible after final STIP approval.
• Local jurisdictions should provide an annual update to their respective region and the District 8 State Aid Engineer regarding the project development status for their programmed projects.
• Local jurisdictions should provide cost and project delivery updates on programmed projects to their respective region and the District 8 State Aid Engineer during the annual project solicitation period.
• Regions with a local project that has been removed from the ATIP because of project delivery failures or eligibility shall be granted the first right of refusal for programming new projects with the unexpended funding.

Amendments to the STIP are needed for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to the following examples:

• A project is not listed in the current, approved STIP and must be added to the current (first) year.
• There is an increase in the total cost of the project warranting an amendment.
• A phase of work (e.g. preliminary engineering, right of way, construction, etc.) is added to the project and increases the project cost.
• The project scope is changed (e.g. changing a bridge project from rehab to replace, changing a highway project from resurface to reconstruct, etc.)
• There is a major change in the project termini/length warranting amendment.

Southwest Minnesota ATP worked to clarify its amendment requirements, streamline the decision-making process, and minimize potential delays to projects that would otherwise require formal action by Southwest Minnesota ATP. The policy provides guidance on when formal action by Southwest Minnesota ATP is required to amend the STIP and when such action is not warranted.

Southwest Minnesota ATP meetings are open to the public.

• View meeting notes, agendas and documents.

Meeting schedule

All specific dates are preliminary. Actual meeting dates may change. We will likely have a virtual attendance option for all meetings. Dates displayed above are based on the ATP’s previous history of meeting and the STIP development timeline. Locations for future meetings have not been chosen. The December ATP meeting is usually held in conjunction with the Southwest MSPE Legislative meeting.

• Oct. 2, 2026: Kickoff meeting
• Dec. 11, 2026: Meeting to review 2030 construction candidates
• March 12, 2027: Meeting to review ATP-managed projects, and MnDOT and ATP funding guidance
• April 9, 2027: Meeting to approve Draft ATIP
• June 25, 2027: Meeting to approve STIP

Accessibility

To request an ASL or foreign language interpreter, call 651-366-4720. To request other reasonable accommodations, call the Minnesota Relay Service toll-free at 1-800-627-3529 (TYY, Voice or ASCII) or 711, or email your request to adarequest.dot@state.mn.us.

• June-October: Solicitation of enhancement projects
• October-November: ATP Meeting - kick off meeting; Enhancement project ratings
• November-December: Solicitation of city and county projects; City and county road & bridge project ratings; HSIP ratings
• December: ATP Meeting - review potential projects
• January: ATP Meeting - approval of Draft ATIP
• February-April: Public review and comment on Draft ATIP
• April: ATP Meeting - approve ATIP; Submit ATIP to MnDOT Central Office
• June: ATP Meeting - adjust and finalize the draft STIP
• October-December: STIP approval by the Commissioner of Transportation

Southwest Minnesota ATP voting members include:

• Six elected officials (one appointed by each Regional Development Commission)
• One representative of each of the seven State Aid cities (yearly rotational process)
• Four MnDOT District 8 representatives
• One Transit representative
• Three county engineers (one from each Regional Development Commission)

Voting members

RDC 6E: Mid-Minnesota Development Commission

• Roger Imdieke, Kandiyohi County 
• Doug Krueger, McLeod County

RDC 6W: Upper Minnesota Valley RDC

• Bill Pauling, Chippewa County (Vice Chair) 
• John Berends, Yellow Medicine County

State Aid City representative

• Chuck DeWolf, City of Litchfield

RDC 8: Southwest Regional Development Commission

• Bob Byrnes, City of Marshall (Chair) 
• Mic VanDeVere, Lincoln County

Cities and counties

• Joe Wilson, Lincoln County 
• Sam Muntean, Lac qui Parle County 
• Jeff Marlowe, Renville County
• Jason Anderson, City of Marshall

MnDOT

• Kelly Brunkhorst, District Engineer
• Todd Broadwell, State Aid Engineer
• Susann Karnowski, Assistant District Engineer
• Megan DeSchepper, Planning Director

Transit

• Nick Leske, United Community Action Partnership (UCAP) 

Non-voting members

Southwest RDC (RDC 8)

• Chris Webb

Upper Minnesota Valley RDC (RDC 6W)

• Kristi Fernholz

Mid-Minnesota Development Commission (RDC 6E)

• Blake Barnard

MnDOT

• John Groothuis, Transit Manager
• Cathleen Amick, Transit Manager
• Irene Aguilar, State Aid Program Manager
• Tony Pfau, Program Manager
• Melissa Hjelle, Public Engagement Coordinator
• Stephanie Felt, Public Affairs Coordinator

We review operating procedures yearly for any improvements or updates needed to procedures or policies. 

• Southwest Minnesota ATP operating procedures (Word)

How the STIP is tied into the CHIP

The STIP is created by drawing projects from the Capital Highway Investment Plan (CHIP), the 10-year plan of which the first four years are the STIP and years 5-10 are the work plan years.

• View the CHIP