Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Department of Transportation have announced ten highway construction projects will receive funding through the state’s new $300 million Corridors of Commerce program.

The projects will strengthen Minnesota’s transportation system by adding capacity and improving the movement of freight across the state, according to a release.

Transportation improvements include the addition of lanes, bypasses and shoulders to essential travel corridors in the state, including Interstate 94 between Rogers and St. Michael, Highway 14 in southern Minnesota, and Highway 34 between Detroit Lakes and Nevis. Five of the projects are scheduled to start in 2014, three in 2015 and two in 2016.

The selected projects were among more than 400 proposals representing more than 100 unique projects that the state DOT received earlier this fall from public sector partners, stakeholders and interested citizens across the state.

Enacted during the 2013 legislative session, the Corridors of Commerce program authorizes special funding for projects that are not already in the Minnesota’s four-year State Transportation Improvement Program. The legislation established two major goals for the program: to increase highway capacity on segments where bottlenecks occur and to improve the movement of freight and reduce barriers to commerce.

A map of the Corridors of Commerce projects is available for download.