# Rondo land bridge *Proposed land bridge in Ramsey County, Minnesota, intended as a remedy for the destruction of Rondo; funded for planning only, at under 3% of its estimated cost, as of September 2026.* The **Rondo land bridge** is a proposed structure in Ramsey County, [[Minnesota]]. The project's at-issue catalogue describes it as existing to remediate the freeway that runs through [[Rondo]]. The project's dossier counts it among the material remedies for Rondo that remain unbuilt. According to that dossier, 600 to 700-plus homes and roughly 300 businesses there were destroyed.[^1][^3] The record sets the remedy against its funding. An apology dated July 17, 2015, was followed by five appropriations for the land bridge between 2021 and 2024. As of the dossier's date (September 2, 2026), those appropriations totaled approximately $12.7 million against a project estimated to exceed $450 million. None of the money is for construction.[^1][^2] The land bridge assessment also runs separately from the freeway process it exists to remediate.[^3] ## Who Kaskaskia Engineering lists a project titled *Rondo Land Bridge Feasibility Study* among its work.[^4] MnDOT is the agency conducting the freeway's Tier 1 environmental review. According to the dossier, MnDOT eliminated the At-Grade alternatives that would have returned land.[^1][^3] The record assembled here does not name the party responsible for the land bridge's design or delivery. ## What The at-issue catalogue states that MnDOT carried four options into its [[Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement]], and that none of them is a dedicated Rondo land bridge alternative.[^3] As a result, the land bridge assessment is formally separate from the freeway process it exists to remediate. The catalogue's cited sources for that entry are startribune.com and talk.dot.state.mn.us.[^3] The record contains no construction design or dimensions for the structure. ## When The dossier lists three dates for the remedies:[^1] - an apology on July 17, 2015; - a plaza in 2018; - restoration of the street name on February 8, 2024. The land bridge appropriations it itemizes run from 2021 to 2024.[^2] The dossier dates its finding of "no construction dollars identified, eleven years after the apology" to its own compilation in 2026. The at-issue entry carrying the same wording is tagged to the year 2024.[^1][^2] ## How much The dossier puts the land bridge's funding at approximately $12.7 million, against a project estimated to exceed $450 million. That is under 3 percent of the estimate.[^1] The at-issue catalogue itemizes the funding as follows:[^2] | Year | Source | Amount | |---|---|---| | 2021 | State | $6.2 million | | 2022 | Federal | $2 million | | 2022 | Congressionally directed | $1.5 million | | 2023 | State | $1 million | | 2024 | Federal | $2 million | The items sum to $12.7 million, consistent with the dossier's total.[^1][^2] The catalogue states that every dollar secured to date is for planning, pre-development, environmental assessment, and outreach, and that no construction dollars have been identified.[^2] Its cited sources for these figures are bringmethenews.com and reconnectrondo.com.[^2] The record assembled here does not include the document that produced the $450 million estimate.[^1] ## How many The dossier gives the following counts:[^1] - **Homes destroyed in Rondo:** 600 to 700-plus. - **Businesses destroyed in Rondo:** roughly 300. The itemized funding consists of five actions from 2021 to 2024: two state, two federal, and one congressionally directed.[^2] MnDOT's Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement carries four options, and none of them is a dedicated land bridge alternative.[^3] ## In the at-issue record - **AI-Ramsey-041.** This entry pairs the itemized, planning-only funding with a March 2025 presidential action concerning protection of federal accounts against fraud, waste and abuse.[^2][^5] The catalogue's stated reason for the pairing is "eleven years of appropriations, none of them construction".[^2] - **AI-Ramsey-043.** This entry pairs the absence of a land bridge alternative from MnDOT's Tier 1 options with a March 2025 presidential action concerning the elimination of information silos.[^3][^6] The catalogue states that "the remedy and the harm are being studied in separate files".[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Project dossier, *Warren E. Burger Apex Dossier* §XI, RF-9 (2026-09-02, validated) — sets out the Rondo homes and businesses destroyed, the apology date, the plaza, the street-name restoration, the approximately $12.7 million in funding against an estimate exceeding $450 million, the absence of construction dollars, and MnDOT's elimination of the At-Grade alternatives. No public URL in the record. [^2]: Project at-issue catalogue, *AI-Ramsey-041*, Tier III, Pairs 37–52 (year 2024; sources bringmethenews.com, reconnectrondo.com) — gives the itemized funding for 2021–2024 and its planning-only character. No public URL in the record. [^3]: Project at-issue catalogue, *AI-Ramsey-043*, Tier III, Pairs 37–52 (sources startribune.com, talk.dot.state.mn.us) — states that no dedicated land bridge alternative is among the four MnDOT Tier 1 EIS options, and that the land bridge assessment is separate from the freeway process. No public URL in the record. [^4]: Kaskaskia Engineering, *Rondo Land Bridge Feasibility Study* (undated project page) — shows that the feasibility study project exists. https://kaskaskiaeng.com/project/rondo-land-bridge-feasibility-study/ [^5]: The White House, presidential action on protecting America's bank account against fraud, waste, and abuse (March 2025) — the anchor document for AI-Ramsey-041. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^6]: The White House, presidential action on stopping waste, fraud, and abuse by eliminating information silos (March 2025) — the anchor document for AI-Ramsey-043. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/