Melissa Hortman honored with Highway 610 dedication

7:04 right now and today, a stretch of Minnesota Road will be named in honor of the late state representative Melissa Hortman. The highway, part of her passion project for that lawmaker. And Bill Keller joins us now. He's in Brooklyn Park with more on today's dedication event. Bill, good morning. Good morning, guys. In fact, this dedication ceremony happening later this morning will really be a bittersweet honor for Melissa Hortman, who worked tirelessly to support the 610 project, but she never lived to see it completed. Later this morning, Governor Tim Walz will officially unveil and dedicate Highway 610 as the Hortman Memorial Highway. Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed legislation to commemorate Hortman's work to secure funding for the highway, now used by as many as 85,000 drivers a day, it is something her fellow lawmakers say that the late speaker was especially proud of. This is a picture of Melissa during the groundbreaking of Highway 610. This was a really big deal to her. It was a thoroughfare in her community, and it still is one of the river crossings that we use daily to get from the east side of the The river to the west side. Yeah, for years, Hortman championed completing that 12-mile-long trunk highway, which now connects Highway 10 in Coon Rapids to I-94 in Maple Grove. After decades of planning and years of construction, the final phase of 610 corridor, it was finished last November, five months after the state lawmaker and her husband were killed in that politically motivated attack at their Brooklyn Park home. Well, now Highway 610 will be named in their honor. The dedication ceremony is set for 9 o'clock this morning. Tom and Kelly. All right, thanks so much. Bill Keller for us live there in Brooklyn Park. Thank you, Bill.