MARSHALL – Infrastructure is a topic that gets discussed a lot by city and county officials in the Marshall area – especially the question of how to pay for needed updates to roads, bridges, sewers and more. This week, area leaders got a chance to talk about what could be done at the federal level to help maintain and improve Minnesota infrastructure.

Members of U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s Minnesota staff met with area officials in Marshall on Tuesday, as part of a statewide listening tour. Staffers wanted to hear what the Marshall area’s infrastructure needs were, as well as suggestions on how to meet those needs, said Jake Schwitzer, state policy adviser for Franken. Some 25 total listening sessions are being held this summer, Schwitzer said.

The needs area officials brought up covered a wide range of topics. Some were likely familiar to many Lyon County residents, like maintaining area roads and highways. Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson said there needed to be a better way to make government funding available for planned updates to infrastructure.

“We’re good at responding to emergencies,” Olson said. “We’re not very good at planning for replacing infrastructure.”

Several participants in the discussion said expanding regional travel infrastructure was important.

“Marshall is becoming more and more a regional hub,” said Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce Director Brad Gruhot. Roads and bridges needed to be strong enough to accommodate truck and agricultural traffic. Regional corridors, like Minnesota Highway 23, also needed to be expanded, he said.

Lyon County Commissioner Rick Anderson suggested that maybe federal funding for transit could be expanded. He said it might make it easier for Minnesota to handle costly projects like light rail in the Twin Cities, “and save the state funding for other projects,” in Greater Minnesota.

Southwest Minnesota also needed more housing for workers and young professionals, area officials said. Tracy City Administrator Mike Votca said one of the big challenges with building new housing in small cities is that it can cost more to build a house there than the house would be worth on the market.

Other needs discussed at Tuesday’s listening session were a little less obviously visible, like the need for more available child care. Area officials said it might take teamwork – maybe with businesses – to expand local child care options.

Officials said there was also a need for Internet access for area residents and businesses. Anderson said there was a need “to get broadband out to all of Minnesota.”

While many cities have access to high-speed Internet, access drops off in rural areas, local officials said.

“There’s a drastic change between (access) inside the city and outside the city,” Votca said.

Schwitzer said there is federal funding available for improving broadband access, but it’s up to a local entity, like a business or other group, to actually build the network. However, that might not be happening fast enough, he said.