ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) —Minnesota transportation officials have announced eight flood mitigation projects to be built over the next five years.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation on Thursday said the projects total $30 million and are part of a $50 million flood mitigation program.

MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel says after statewide flooding in the fall of 2010, the department created the program to make state roads more resistant to flood damage.

The projects are funded through existing bonding authority.

One project is to build a new bridge on Highway 101 north of the existing Minnesota River Bridge and raise the existing two-lane highway. Construction will be in 2014 or 2015.

Another major project realigns Highway 75 north of Breckenridge to be outside the flood plain. Work begins in 2016.

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