This is one of Minnesota's worst years for potholes in a generation, and hopes for a quick political fix are fading.

A St. Paul Pioneer Press report says Minnesota residents have been flooding lawmakers' offices with calls demanding to know why the streets and highways are falling apart.

A House committee passed a bill this month that would have raised an estimated $550 million, most for infrastructure repair. The money would have come from fuel taxes.

But Republicans opposed the bill, and DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen acknowledges it's all but dead now.

Gov. Mark Dayton was also against the bill. He says it'd be better to debate the issue more fully in a non-election year.

Minnesota's aging highway system has more than 140,000 of state and local roads.