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Last week, Gov. Mark Dayton directed Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel to establish the Commissioner’s Transportation Finance Advisory Group to recommend financial options for improving the state’s highways, roads, bridges and public transit systems.

The group will be charged with identifying investment opportunities in the transportation system; identifying and analyzing potential revenue sources and nontraditional approaches to financing transportation needs, as well as opportunities for public-private partnerships to invest in transportation improvements; and helping develop a marketing strategy to obtain public support for the investment, Dayton said in a prepared statement.

“After traveling the state and meeting with business owners across Minnesota over the past several months, I have been reminded of how essential transportation is to business success in Minnesota,” he said. “We must either improve our transportation systems or else suffer the consequences of their decline.”

The advisory group will make its recommendations to Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature by Dec. 1.

“In creating this Transportation Finance Advisory Group, we will draw on a variety of experiences and ideas that will help us develop options for funding that will sustain our transportation systems for years to come,” said Sorel.