This winter, 60 Mn/DOT snowplows are equipped with yellow lights that create a wall of light reaching to the ground to alert drivers they are nearing the plow.

Ken Nelson, transportation program specialist, Maintenance Operations Research, said the lights mounted at the rear of snowplows are one more experiment to reduce the number of collisions involving motorists and Mn/DOT plows.

Unlike lights mounted on top of the plows, Nelson said, the new lights are not obscured by the plow's snowcloud effect.

The lights were adapted for use on snowplows from commercial semi-trailers, which use the lights to add illumination when they are loaded or unloaded.

The need is underlined by Mn/DOT's experience so far this winter. On 12 occasions, drivers have rear-ended Mn/DOT plows. One of those crashes resulted in the death of a motorist in December near Fulda.

Driver response to the lights has been positive, Nelson said. Drivers whose trucks have the lights are enthusiastic about them, and other snowplow drivers have asked their trucks be equipped with the underbody lights, he added.

For more information, contact Ken Nelson at (651) 282-5435.

By Craig Wilkins
Photo by Ken Nelson

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The fiber-optic project that would connect significant portions of Greater Minnesota and increase telecommunications capacity in the Twin Cities area halted Feb. 22 when the developer's contract terminated.

Known as "Connecting Minnesota," the goal of the public-private partnership was to install fiber-optic cabling along 2,200 miles of interstate and state highway rights-of-way. To date, network construction spans 250 miles along I-94, linking Moorhead, St. Cloud and Minneapolis, and also linking Minneapolis to the Wisconsin border.

According to the agreement, ICS/UCN, the Denver-based network developer, was required to fully fund the network by Feb. 15, 2001. The deadline was extended to Feb. 21, but when ICS/UCN was unable to meet the extension, the state decided that it was not practical to further amend the contract, said Adeel Lari, state project director for network construction.

Mn/DOT and the Department of Administration reached their decision after examining key data and consulting with third parties interested in the project, he said. Playing a large role in the decision was the state's concern that its original objectives would not be met under the current agreement. These objectives were to expand the infrastructure to as much of the state as possible, secure telecom capacity for Mn/DOT and provide access to other state agencies.

"We are pleased that we have made progress and have access to some telecommunications capacity for state use," Lari said last week in a news release issued jointly by Mn/DOT and the Department of Administration.

"Nonetheless, a major build-out is not possible at this time. Legal and regulatory challenges have been time-consuming and delayed the project. Market erosion over the past few weeks has impacted the telecommunications industry and added to the uneasiness," he said.

Lari said the state remains committed to expanding telecommunications networks in Minnesota and is exploring options to build on private sector investments that already have been made in the Connecting Minnesota project.

For more information, contact Adeel Lari at (651) 282-6148 or visit the Connecting Minnesota Web site.

By Jeanne Aamodt

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Getting accurate and timely employee information soon will be easier-thanks to a project underway that will update the GroupWise e-mail address book with information imported from SEMA4, Mn/DOT's database of employee information.

"It's amazing how something as simple as accurate work phone numbers and addresses will greatly improve communications within the department," said Lucy Kender, director of Internal Communications. "Not only will the new system save time for people looking for information, it will save time for the people who previously had to enter information into more than one database."

Once SEMA4 begins updating the GroupWise address book, any changes to an employee's work phone number, fax number, mail stop, work address and title will be made automatically, according to Phil Jorgensen, network services supervisor, Information Resource Management. Changes will be imported from SEMA4 overnight and appear in GroupWise the next day.

Implementation of the new system will be phased in over the next few weeks, with the offices in the Management Operations Group being the first to be converted, Jorgensen said. Offices and districts will be notified prior to the changeover in their area. Once the updating process begins, employees should check the accuracy of information in the GroupWise address book and report any changes to their human resource staff or office manager.

This project fulfills one component of Mn/DOT's communications plan for improving internal communications, Kender said.

For more information, contact Phil Jorgensen at 651-297-3939.

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Computer-based training helps roadway design technicians and engineers do their jobs. The screen above describes "bad vertical alignment" both with animation and with words.

What started as an idea for a video-based technical training program with Mn/DOT's roadway design technicians and engineers has developed into a federally funded project developing computer-based training.

It all began in 1992 when Lynnette Roshell's Final Design squad in the Golden Valley office realized that Mn/DOT soon would be losing an enormous amount of talent and experience when the first "Baby Boomers" began to retire. The question was how to capture this expertise before it was too late?

The group developed a standardized series of 34 training tapes and workbooks for technicians and engineers. The training tapes were meant to capture the experience of accomplished Mn/DOT employees, and pass the expertise to new employees or employees new to the area of design.

This training series soon caught the attention of an FHWA committee for computer-based training, which recognized the quality of the project and wanted to convert the video-based series to interactive CD-ROM. Soon thirteen states had joined forces with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to create a pooled fund to develop the program.

Gene Olchefske and Lonnie Cowherd wrote a proposal that eventually led to a multi-media operation in the Office of Communications and Public Relations funded by FHWA.

With the recent release of the first Mn/DOT CD-ROM titles, new states are joining the pooled fund.

"This is the future, the cutting edge of training and video," Olchefske said. He and co-workers Dave Sundberg, Ellen Anderson (retired Mn/DOT employee, consultant and project champion) and Karin Kimble are located at Arden Hills. Heather Hanzalik and Tim Bagstad are student workers working in St. Cloud and Golden Valley, respectively.

Midway through the project, the CD-ROM training materials already have received praise from a number of sources, including one recently from the New York DOT: "A lot of employees (particularly technicians) are using the CD's as prep for an upcoming civil service test. The overwhelming feedback is that the CD's are GREAT! Your staff has done an outstanding job with these."

By Mary Meinert
Graphic provided by Gene Olchefske

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Bianca Hyer, Forest Lake Elementary, took second place in the age 6-9 category for her entry in the 2001 Aviation Art Contest.

Students from Mendota Heights, LeSueur and Lakeville won top honors in their age categories in the 2001 Aviation Art Contest. Winners were honored at a reception in the Capitol on Feb. 23.

Winners in each age category are Laura M. Gerbi, Convent of the Visitation, Mendota Heights, ages 6-9; Jessica Retka, LeSueur-Henderson Public Schools, LeSueur, age 10-13, and Dan Peterson, age 14-17, Century Junior High School, Lakeville.

Artwork by the top four contestants in each category is on display in the ground floor lobby of the Transportation Building. The works will also be featured in the Minnesota Aviation Calendar for 2002.

The top three winning pieces will be sent to Washington, D.C., for national judging in March.

Contest sponsors include Mn/DOT, the Federal Aviation Agency and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

By Craig Wilkins
Photo by David Gonzalez

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Patrons of the Transportation Building's cafeteria may now view a reminder of Mn/DOT efforts to promote work zone safety this winter.

A display that stresses actions motorists may take to ensure their safety and that of Mn/DOT plow operators is now mounted in the corridor leading to the cafeteria's seating area.

The display was created by the Office of Communications and Public Relations' Graphics Unit.

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Peter Jenkins was recently appointed as Mankato District's land management supervisor.

Peter Jenkins recently was appointed as the Mankato District's land management supervisor. Jenkins has served as acting supervisor since August when he was appointed to succeed Richard Keenan who retired.

Jenkins has been a Mn/DOT employee since 1998 in the district's survey unit. He has extensive experience in the private sector and holds a bachelor's degree in surveying engineering from Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich.

Photo by Rebecca Arndt

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The Mn/DOT library has created a special online request form for employees to borrow videotapes, audiotapes and keynote speakers’ books from the 2001 Transportation Conference.

There are a limited number of copies of each of the items, so library staff asks that employees only request one item at a time.

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For a handy reference about Mn/DOT’s Office of Government Relations, check out its recently completed Web site. In addition to giving you contact names and phone numbers, you can find links to your lawmakers in Congress and in the Minnesota Legislature.

The site also provides quick links to topics of interest to Mn/DOT employees, including legislative proposals, design/build contracting, transportation revolving loan, traffic management, transit and more.

To view the status of bills and committee schedules check out the Minnesota Legislature’s Web site.

For more information about legislative issues, contact Joe Hudak, legislative assistant, at (651) 297-5149.

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In last week's posting, the commissioner's office addressed an employee's concern about whether or not we were "downsizing," and what the commissioner meant when he talked about a "shrinking labor pool." For more information about one set of efforts to recruit more qualified workers, check out this week's question and answer posting.

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