# Rethinking I-94 *A Minnesota Department of Transportation planning process for the Interstate 94 corridor through the Rondo neighborhood, as documented in the agency's project page, a news release and an advocacy publication.* Rethinking I-94 is a [[Minnesota]] Department of Transportation (MnDOT) planning process for the Interstate 94 corridor, which the agency presents on a public project page.[^1] The at-issue record treats the process as part of its account of [[Rondo]], the neighborhood whose land the freeway occupies. It gives that land as 366 acres.[^1] The process narrowed ten alternatives to four and eliminated both At-Grade options. The at-issue record describes those options as the only alternatives that would have returned any of the freeway's land to the neighborhood.[^1] MnDOT's stated position is that it "does not make land use decisions," and it defers those decisions to a later phase.[^1] In February 2026, MnDOT issued a news release extending the public comment period to March 23.[^2] On February 12, 2026, Our Streets MN published *Pause the Rethinking I-94 Project*.[^3] ## What According to at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-042, the Rethinking I-94 process began with ten alternatives and reduced them to four.[^1] Both At-Grade options were among those dropped. The pair states that the At-Grade options were the only alternatives that would have returned any part of the 366 acres the freeway occupies to the neighborhood.[^1] MnDOT describes its own role differently. The agency says it "does not make land use decisions" and assigns those decisions to a later phase of work.[^1] The at-issue record notes the sequence. The deferral of the land-use question came after MnDOT had eliminated the options that would have made a land return possible.[^1] ## When - February 12, 2026: Our Streets MN publishes *Pause the Rethinking I-94 Project*.[^3] - February 2026: A MnDOT news release announces that the Rethinking I-94 public comment period is extended to March 23.[^2] ## How many - Alternatives considered: ten. Alternatives retained: four.[^1] - At-Grade options retained: none of the two. The at-issue record describes these as the only land-returning alternatives.[^1] - Land occupied by the freeway, as given in the at-issue record: 366 acres.[^1] ## In the at-issue record Pair AI-Ramsey-042 belongs to the Ramsey package. It appears in the tier titled *Rondo: The Apology and the Ledger*, which covers pairs 37–52. The pair rests on two kinds of source. One is MnDOT's own project record. The other is a published analysis.[^1] The pair sets MnDOT's elimination of the At-Grade alternatives beside the agency's statement that it "does not make land use decisions." It characterizes this as a scoping decision that forecloses the remedy and then defers the remedy question.[^1] The pair is anchored to a March 2025 presidential action, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos*.[^4] The project's validated dossier places the same elimination within a wider ledger. Finding RF-9 records Rondo as Ramsey County's largest documented physical injury, with 600 to 700-plus homes and roughly 300 businesses destroyed.[^5] The finding dates the material and symbolic responses as follows: - an apology on July 17, 2015; - a plaza in 2018; - a restored street name on February 8, 2024; - a land bridge funded at approximately $12.7 million, against a project estimated to exceed $450 million. By the dossier's account, that funding is under 3% of the estimate, with no construction dollars identified eleven years after the apology.[^5] The same finding lists MnDOT's elimination of the At-Grade alternatives among the remedies that remain unbuilt.[^5] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - MnDOT maintains the Rethinking I-94 project page (record S-11439).[^1] - MnDOT issued a news release announcing that the public comment period was extended to March 23 (record S-11440).[^2] - Our Streets MN published *Pause the Rethinking I-94 Project* on February 12, 2026 (record S-11442).[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Department of Transportation, *Rethinking I-94* (project page) — MnDOT's public page for the process. At-issue pair AI-Ramsey-042 names talk.dot.state.mn.us as its record source for several points: the narrowing of ten alternatives to four, the elimination of both At-Grade options, the 366-acre figure, and MnDOT's statement that it "does not make land use decisions." https://talk.dot.state.mn.us/rethinking-i94 [^2]: Minnesota Department of Transportation, *Rethinking I-94 public comment period extended to March 23* (news release, February 2026) — announces the extension of the comment period. https://www.dot.state.mn.us/news/2026/02/26-metro-rethinking-i94.html [^3]: Our Streets MN, *Pause the Rethinking I-94 Project* (February 12, 2026) — publication calling for the project to be paused. https://www.ourstreetsmn.org/2026/02/12/pause-the-rethinking-i-94-project/ [^4]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (presidential action, March 2025) — the federal anchor cited by at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-042. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^5]: Project dossier, *Warren_E_Burger_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02*, §XI, finding RF-9 (validated; no source URL carried in the pack) — Rondo destruction counts, remedy dates, land-bridge funding against its estimate, and the At-Grade elimination.