The highway lobby is trying again this year to get the Legislature to raise the state gas tax. The gas tax is constitutionally dedicated to highway construction, and the highway interests have been trying in vain to raise it for ten years. This year, they're hoping a new strategy will make the difference. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: The highway lobby and its rural allies at the Capitol have unable to get a gas tax hike through the Legislature since 1988 because URBAN legislators won't let them. A hard core of urban and a few suburban legislators has held the gas tax hostage for years because the rural lawmakers won't support more funding for mass transit in the cities. The pro-highway interests are now promising something for BOTH sides. They've introduced a bill to dedicate all sales taxes on cars