The Marshall Independent reports…

The mayors of area cities including Tyler, Slayton, Pipestone and Luverne spoke to Sen. Amy Klobuchar in a conference call Friday morning. The main topic of discussion was infrastructure.

“I want to find out what projects you have, and what your priorities are,” Klobuchar said.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in November will give the opportunity to “repair and transform” highways, bridges, and other infrastructure in Minnesota, Klobuchar said.

On Friday, federal officials released the first award amounts that will come from the infrastructure spending, which included $60 million for Minnesota bridge repairs. Minnesota is set to receive a total of about $300 million for bridge repairs and $4.5 billion for highways, Klobuchar said.

Federal infrastructure spending will also include funding to improve water infrastructure and broadband access. Both are needs that southwestern Minnesota residents have been grappling with.

“We have 144,000 Minnesotans without access to high-speed internet,” Klobuchar said.

Area mayors spoke on all those topics.