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  moving minnesota through employee communication
  October 24, 2001 No. 34 
This week's top stories
Speakers, coffee, bagels-to-go mark grand opening of NorthStar Commuter coach service
Employees’ courage, quiet determination bring honor to Mn/DOT’s first 25 years
Connecting Minnesota proceeds despite economy
Insurance open enrollment to be held Dec. 1-14
Krebsbach named acting District 6 transportation engineer
Winter prep an ongoing process for Mn/DOT maintenance forces
Mn/DOT makes a ‘best Minnesota documents’ list
State troopers, emergency personnel test intelligent vehicle technology at Brainerd raceway
 Speakers, coffee, bagels-to-go mark grand opening of NorthStar Commuter coach service

Woman, man alongside NorthStar Commuter Coach bus

Helping celebrate the grand opening of the NorthStar Commuter Coach service were Donna Allan, Transit director, and John Tocho, director of the office's Transit Program Section. In less than three weeks of operation the new service carries nearly 200 passengers each way daily, about half of its capacity. Photo by Sarah Lenz

Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg and Shannon Beaudin Klein, Communications and Public Relations director, served coffee and bagels to riders at the Elk River park-and ride lot Oct. 22 to mark the grand opening of the NorthStar Commuter Coach service.

During the five-day celebration this week, commuters will receive free coffee, newspapers and other gifts and may register to win NorthStar sweatshirts and free bus passes.

The second part of the Oct. 22 event hosted elected officials and county, city and state transit specialists who had been involved in the project. Speakers for the event included Gov. Jesse Ventura, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, mayors Stephanie Klinzing (Elk River) and Lonnie McCauley (Coon Rapids) and Tinklenberg.

Mn/DOT completed the NorthStar Commuter Coach project in answer to congestion problems along the Northstar Corridor, which stretches north from the Twin Cities to St. Cloud between I-94 and Hwy 10. Residents expressed concerns in an August 1999 transportation survey, sponsored by the Northstar Corridor Development Authority, which found that 76 percent of respondents in the Northstar Corridor believed highway congestion had worsened during the past five years.

In response to this survey, Mn/DOT constructed two park-and-ride lots and purchased seven luxury coach-style buses to provide commuter service during peak hours from Elk River and Coon Rapids to Minneapolis.

The NorthStar Commuter Coach service is the first mass transit system owned and operated by Mn/DOT.

Since the service began Oct. 1, ridership has steadily increased, reaching its highest level on Oct. 23, when 200 passengers boarded the buses for their daily commutes.

"The Minnesota Department of Transportation recognizes the need for convenient, safe and reliable transportation options for commuters, both in the Northstar Corridor and throughout the state of Minnesota," said Tinklenberg.

"The NorthStar Commuter Coach is a great example of how Mn/DOT is working quickly and efficiently to connect Greater Minnesota with the Twin Cities."

More information about the NorthStar Commuter Coach is available at www.commutercoach.org

By Mary McFarland


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 Employees’ courage, quiet determination bring honor to Mn/DOT’s first 25 years

Mn/DOT 25th anniversary logo

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles looking back on the department’s first 25 years—remembering the people, issues and cultural forces that have shaped the agency and the milestones Mn/DOT has achieved.

Fire at night

Mn/DOT maintenance forces from the Metro Division provided traffic control and other support when a tanker carrying naptha exploded and burned in St. Paul. Photo by Dave Gonzalez

Alone in her snowbound car, afraid and in danger of freezing, Tari Ritter wrapped a baby blanket around her head, covered her lap with an old rug and stuffed her waist-length hair into the sleeves of her jacket. Like hundreds of other motorists forced off the road by a fierce, fast-moving blizzard on Feb. 4, 1984, Ritter was in trouble.

Ritter had been visiting her daughter in the Graceville Hospital. But only minutes after leaving there, her car spun out of control leaving Ritter in the ditch along Hwy 75 between Graceville and her home in Clinton.

She spent the next 13 hours in the car without heat. Shortly after morning light, Ritter’s precarious situation ended. Driving with head out of his snowplow’s window and straining to see, Charlie Stein spotted Ritter’s car. Stein, a transportation generalist at Ortonville, had been patrolling Hwy 75 for hours looking for stranded cars.

After reuniting Ritter with her family at the hospital, Stein went back on patrol. Later that morning he found a van carrying four Cub Scouts, two of their leaders and another stranded motorist. Pushing on, Stein discovered another car with its driver dead at the wheel from an apparent heart attack.

While Stein was searching along Hwy 75, his co-workers were performing the same daunting, exhausting task throughout Western Minnesota.

The storm, known as a "ground blizzard," developed quickly on a Saturday afternoon, catching many people who had left home to go shopping or out to dinner unaware.

Arvid Lovig, the maintenance superintendent at Morris who directed the rescue efforts, said the efforts made by Stein typify Mn/DOT employees' sense of responsiblity, work ethic and quiet courage.

Lloyd Easterday, a transportation generalist at Lakefield, had his own close call during the blizzard. Driving from Lakefield to Sioux Falls with his spouse, Easterday’s pickup truck went in the ditch when the storm hit them on I-90. After their truck went off the road, a car carrying a couple from Iowa came to rest beside them. For 13 hours the two couples huddled together, their lives saved by the gear the Easterdays kept in their truck.

They were found at 10:30 a.m. by workers from the Worthington Truck Station. By 11 a.m., Easterday was back at the wheel of a snowplow, supporting the rescue effort that lasted until late that evening.

The storm took several lives. Without the effort of Mn/DOT employees and other rescuers, the toll would have been much higher. Actions by Stein and Easterday exemplify the countless efforts made voluntarily by Mn/DOT people to aid their fellow citizens since the department was created in 1976.

Black & white portrait of a man

Arvid Lovig, retired maintenance superintendent at Morris. Photo by Rob Sheppard

Halloween storm brings frightening challenge

During the Halloween Storm of 1991, for example, hundreds of Mn/DOT people worked virtually around the clock to recover from its effects. Snow falling on the warm pavement in the Twin Cities metro area quickly turned to ice and bonded with the pavement. The combination made snow removal extremely difficult, said Bob Wryk, a Metro Division superintendent who was then a supervisor at the Camden Truck Station in north Minneapolis.

In some places, Wryk recalled, snow was compacted to a depth of six inches. Supported by crews and graders from Greater Minnesota, maintenance forces worked around the clock for several days to clear ice- and snow-covered roadways.

"We had long days and long nights, but people responded well. Maintenance people tend to shine best under the most stressful conditions," he said.

Four years later, the wind struck with more fury at Itasca State Park toppling thousands of trees and isolating campers in the park along Hwy 200 over the July 4 holiday. Alerted by the State Patrol that there might be injured campers, Cliff Moening, maintenance supervisor at Bemidji, called in workers from three truck stations to remove the fallen trees.

"Hwy 200 was covered with trees for three or four miles," Moening said. "It was a mess but we got going right away because of the reported injuries."

Employees from Bemidji, Bagley and Park Rapids worked 14-hour days in high heat and humidity to get the road open. In addition to the heat, Moening said the work was dangerous because a tree or a limb could easily spring up when another was moved. He added that one worker, Al Sprague from Bagley, suffered an injury when stuck by a tree limb.

"It was a hard job but we got the road open," he said. "People from the DNR and members of the public volunteered to help us. This is quite a country that we live in."

Orange truck loaded with sandbags

Workers from the Metro Division fill sandbags as volunteers fought to hold back the Mississippi River near Newport during the floods of 1997. Photo by Kevin Walker

1997 floods create widespread devastation

The devastating floods of 1997 presented a critical challenge to Mn/DOT people and resources. Already battered by a winter marked by a series of severe storms that taxed their energy and resources, Mn/DOT people needed a respite. It didn’t come—but the floods and their aftermath did.

The widespread floods severed roads, threatened bridges and created stress on much of the state’s highway system. Mn/DOT people, however, responded with their characteristic mix of dedication, courage and resourcefulness.

In some locations, workers quickly switched from plowing ice off roads to setting up detours, building dikes, hauling fill for damaged shoulders and flagging motorists through water-covered highways—anything that could make travel feasible.

Dave Dalager, maintenance superintendent at Crookston, recalls the way Bemidji District employees pulled together to combat the widespread flooding.

"The floods of 1997 showed one thing—Mn/DOT forces are resourceful," he said. "We could respond and go to the areas where the need was and get the job done."

Were it not for Mn/DOT’s quick response, the city of Oslo on Hwy 1 would have been cut off by the floods.

"We found a gravel pit for aggregate to repair washed out parts of Hwy 1 so that we were dumping fill and rebuilding the road as the water was receding," he added. "We pulled together to do what needed to be done. We didn’t mess around—we just did it."

Near Crookston, Larry Tester, a transportation generalist at Dilworth, escorted an ambulance through a flooded road near Felton to aid three men whose car had skidded off the road and was frozen into a muddy ditch. One man was found in a nearby farmhouse, tearing off his clothes in the hysteria associated with hypothermia. The others were so stiff from the cold they could barely bend enough to enter the ambulance. They all later recovered.

Elsewyere, rapidly rising floodwaters forced the crew at the Breckenridge Truck Station to move their trucks out. They worked around the clock for days battling the flood, taking time off only to secure their own homes.

In the Minnesota River Valley, employees from the Willmar and Mankato districts worked valiantly to minimize damage to the region’s roads and bridges. In the Twin Cities region, Metro Division employees hustled Jersey barriers into place overnight along I-35W to prevent flooding in a low-lying area near the Minnesota River.

Once the floodwaters receded, Mn/DOT people switched to the recovery mode, re-opening roads and repairing roadways and shoulders damaged by the rushing water.

Man fixing traffic signal

Mike Jordan, a signal technician from the Duluth District, prepares to replace a traffic signal on Hwy 169 damaged when a tornado struck St. Peter in 1998. Photo by Craig Wilkins

Twisters hit southern Minnesota

In 1998, Mn/DOT employees again encountered the forces of nature. In March, tornadoes destroyed large sections of St. Peter and most of the small city of Comfrey in Brown County.

Mn/DOT crews were on the scene almost immediately after the twisters struck, assessing damage, removing downed trees and repairing highway signal systems. Hwy 169 was closed through St. Peter to keep gawkers out and allow rescue crews to travel unimpeded.

Tim Sheehy, now maintenance superintendent at Virginia, recalls the situation at St. Peter when he was the maintenance supervisor at the nearby Le Sueur Truck Station.

"We had more than 100 people in St. Peter clearing debris, working with counties, cities and volunteer fire departments," he said. "We had one section of town to clear. I remember the smell of natural gas and seeing downed power lines all over the place."

"We ran our crews 14 to 16 hours a day during that first week," he said.

In the year 2000, Mn/DOT employees faced the aftermath of another tornado in Granite Falls and flooding in southeastern Minnesota.

Man & video camera hanging over bridge

Leaning over the flooding Red River of the North, Gary Andrist, Communications and Public Relations, helps document the devastation caused in Northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota by widespread flooding in 1997. Photo by Gary Ruud

Already battered by the floods of 1997, Granite Falls took another hit from a twister spawned from a summer storm in July 2000. Mn/DOT crews were on the scene almost immediately, barricading Hwy 212 and cutting and hauling brush to clear paths in the stricken city. The Marshall sign shop crew made directional signs to help volunteers find parking and to replace signs lost during the storm.

The region experienced heavy snowfalls during the winter of 2000-2001, which resulted in more spring flooding.

Denny Marty, regional maintenance supervisor at Willmar, said the winter snowfall often required his forces to use snowblowers and bulldozers 24 hours a day to keep the roads cleared. The floods struck cities such as Granite Falls, Madison and Montevideo and damaged highways in the region.

One road, Hwy 40 at Milan, was under water for three weeks, he said.

"We had the tornado and then the snow and then the floods but the guys kept going at it," Marty said. "Ask them why and they’ll say it’s just part of the job."

Floods damage roads in southeastern Minnesota

The Root River left its banks and caused widespread damage in the Rochester District in June and July of 2000. The river tore chunks of pavement from Hwy 250 and caused flooding on Hwy 16 near Hokah, Hwy 43 at Choice and other locations.

Near Hokah, Greg Husmann, supervisor at Dresbach, and members of his crew helped farmer Jerry Welke rescue his cattle from the swollen river by herding them along Hwy 16 to safety.

Dave Redig, Rochester maintenance superintendent cited several examples of employee dedication during the floods. He recalled that one evening when he left Hokah at 8 p.m., Scott Dolle and Scot Allen were flagging along Hwy 16. When Redig returned to work at 6 a.m. they were still there to make sure motorists could get through the flooded road safely.

‘Everyday acts of heroism’

In the sweep of major events such as floods and blizzards, everyday acts of heroism can be overlooked. Many, however, have been recognized.

Two men on a stage

Chris Cheney, transportation generalist at Togo, receives an award from Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg at the 2001 Transportation Conference for saving the life of a woman last winter. Photo by Maureen Talarico

Chris Cheney, transportation generalist at Togo, is credited with saving the life of a woman who fell last winter after crossing the highway to get her mail. She had broken her leg and would have perished in the minus-20 temperatures if Cheney hadn’t noticed her during his second pass through town.

The Detroit Lakes District honored five employees for heroism in recent years.

Roger Sazama and Dave Graham were cited for coming to the aid of a woman being assaulted by a man in her car. The woman jumped from the car seeking help. Sazama and Graham responded, and called for help. Their action, a State Patrol officer said, saved the woman from further harm and helped to capture the assailant.

In 1999, Dave Soyring and Jeff Leff from Mahnomen helped save the life of an accident victim by stopping the flow of blood. They received the State Patrol’s lifesaving award for their quick reaction.

And earlier this year, Steve Rice, Dilworth, found a motorist whose car had run off the road during a winter storm. Recognizing the danger if she stayed in the vehicle, Rice took the driver to safety. While away from the scene, another vehicle struck the parked car. Rice’s quick action saved the woman from being injured.

While it takes courage to look into the eye of a storm, it also takes courage to look into the eyes of those who have suffered a great personal loss.

Five people sitting at airport

Members of Mn/DOT's Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team take time out for a photo before boarding a flight to New York to work with employees of the NY DOT whose offices were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Team members are (front) Kay McDonald and DeLorah Curry and (back row) Brad Powers, Richard Lehmann and Tony Kilpela.

Last week, five members of Mn/DOT’s Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team traveled to New York to work with employees of the New York DOT transit office whose offices were in the World Trade Center. Three of the transit employees died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Led by DeLorah Curry, staff psychologist, Human Resources, the team met with groups of employees to help them deal with the tragic aftermath of the attack.

"Our work was difficult and memorable and unprecedented in many ways," Curry said. "Their experiences were horrendous and their fears were qualitatively different as a result of the magnitude of the attack. It was a great opportunity for us to help."

"Their stories were almost unbelievable," said team member Kay McDonald, Information Resource Management. "I went because I was genuinely interested in helping. It was an honor to be asked to go."

The day-to-day courage shown by Mn/DOT people may escape public notice, but employees’ co-workers recognize their colleagues’ contributions in many ways.

There are awards and citations, but mainly there is respect.

Arvid Lovig, now retired and living near Alexandria, recalls employees who were on duty plowing snow for weeks on end without complaining, even during holidays. He also recalls their ability to think on their feet and devise quick solutions to pressing problems.

And he remembers the willingness of Mn/DOT people to step up and quietly do what’s needed.

"I couldn’t make people go out in situations like the blizzard of 1984," he said, "but I always had enough volunteers."

By Craig Wilkins


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 Connecting Minnesota proceeds despite economy

People in field laying fiber-optic cable

"Connecting Minnesota" across a sea of grass, contract workers installed conduit for fiber-optic cables alongside I-94 from Moorhead to the Wisconsin border. This site, from Fergus Falls to Moorhead, was part of stage one.

Court challenges delayed it. Last year’s economic crash in the telecommunications sector starved it of investment capital. Critics claimed that Minnesota’s fiber-optic network was overbuilt anyway.

Then in February 2001 came what seemed to be the final blow for the initiative known as "Connecting Minnesota": insufficient funding for the statewide fiber-optic network. As a result, the Colorado-based telecommunications company ICS/UCN defaulted on its contract with Mn/DOT and the Department of Administration to build the network.

Nonetheless, Connecting Minnesota has behaved like the "Energizer Bunny," progressing section by section, a little bit at a time. By mid-October, Northern Line Layers, the private contractor hired by ICS/UCN before it defaulted, had substantially completed installing conduit for fiber-optic lines along I-94 from Minneapolis to Woodbury. This installation effectively now provides a conduit route for fiber-optic lines connecting Moorhead to the Twin Cities metro area to Wisconsin, where the conduits hook up with lines leading to Chicago.

‘It keeps going—and going...’

How did this happen? According to Jeanne Aamodt, Mn/DOT communications spokesperson, project staff in both agencies persisted, firmly believing that improved fiber-optic infrastructure will bring more advanced telecommunications and Internet access to all parts of Minnesota.

"The goals of Connecting Minnesota remain the same as before," said Adeel Lari, Research director, "first, to connect as much of the state as possible; second, to increase state-owned fiber-optic capacity so that it can support innovative and expanded traffic management technology; and third, to provide additional fiber-optic capacity to private industry."

"Even after the contract default," he added, "the state of Minnesota believes it can come close to its original vision of connecting most of the state in order to bring more of the information superhighway to places such as Moorhead, Duluth, Marshall, Mankato and Rochester."

Creative financing helped as well. Under terms of the agreement, the contractor "received conduit as their ‘payment in kind’ for construction work—conduit that they can market or sell," Aamodt said.

Map of MN showing fiber-optic line connections

The goals of Connecting Minnesota are to connect as much of the state as possible; increase state-owned fiber-optic capacity so that it can support innovative and expanded traffic management technology; and provide additional fiber-optic capacity to private industry.

Persistence pays off

According to Russ Cox, one of the state’s project managers in Administration, the contract default also means that the state now owns 96 lines of previously installed fiber running from Moorhead to St. Cloud under the first stage contract, plus 48 lines of cable connecting St. Cloud to Minneapolis.

As the second stage progressed last summer and this fall, more miles of conduit sprouted along the shoulders of two of the Twin Cities area’s busiest freeways, I-94 and I-35E. This conduit will eventually carry more fiber-optic cables for both public and commercial use.

Now that two stages of Connecting Minnesota are complete, several public and private partners own usable conduit stretching from Moorhead to Wisconsin: Northern Line Layers, Mn/DOT, Administration, AT&T, Touch America and Williams Communications. The latter three are telecommunications companies with plans to use their lines for completing their fiber-optic connections to Chicago.

Answering the critics

Despite industry concerns about "overbuilding," Cox said that he anticipates continuing private and public sector interest in using fiber lines that the state does not need for its own use. "A number of telecommunications companies have inquired about running fiber through recently laid conduits, especially between St. Paul and Minneapolis," Cox said.

Public sector usage could include the state’s own network, MNET, which "currently uses lines leased from the telephone companies," Cox said. As for the state’s fiber, Cox said "it remains unused for now while we study our options to determine how to make the best use of it."

Cox and Aamodt said that expanding Connecting Minnesota beyond these two stages remains a viable option. "What’s really attractive to telecom companies is access to the interstate because the land remains essentially undisturbed by other utilities," Cox said.

"In all," Aamodt added, "Minnesota’s 900 miles of interstate freeways look attractive to these companies, but only 200 miles have been completed so far. We’re confident that the demand is going to be there for telecommunications expansion."

Moving on to stage three

Staff members in both state agencies remain confident that stage three may begin soon. By the end of the year, the state hopes to issue a request for proposals to the telecommunications industry to build fiber-optic infrastructure along the remaining 700 miles, Cox said.

"There’s a fair amount of interest from telecom carriers in building out the fiber to connect the rest of Minnesota," he said. "We are looking for creative approaches to improving statewide infrastructure, and will work to see that carriers get equal access."

Although state officials said that they believe that Connecting Minnesota will still develop, it won’t happen as originally planned. The changing markets have dramatically changed the way that private industry might consider investing in fiber-optic infrastructure, Cox said, adding that, up until the telecom stock dive last year, companies wanted proprietary ownership of fiber-optic infrastructure.

All that has changed, however.

"Through the feedback we’ve received on the draft RFP we hear that companies are interested in expansion of their fiber-optic networks," Cox said. "What we’re also hearing, however, is that they don’t want to go it alone anymore. They are very interested in co-location: sharing a single construction company seems to be the route they prefer today. It’s a cost issue."

For more information on Connecting Minnesota, check these Web sites:

Connecting Minnesota
Economic Community Development of Minnesota


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 Insurance open enrollment to be held Dec. 1-14

The State Employees Group Insurance Program 2001 Open Enrollment period, during which state employees must select their employer-sponsored insurance benefits for 2002, will be conducted Dec. 1 -14, 2001, the Department of Employee Relations announced last week.

Two SEGIP benefits updates will be delivered to all insurance-eligible state employee households during November. In addition, a customized open enrollment materials packet—containing information, forms and instructions necessary to make SEGIP benefit selections—will be delivered to employees by Dec. 1.

A major function of Open Enrollment 2001 will be the enrollment of all insurance-eligible employees and dependents in the Minnesota Advantage Health Plan, the new SEGIP medical coverage program for state workers and their families. Employees may review basic information about the Advantage Plan on the DOER Web site. See also Mn/DOT’s Human Resources Web site.


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 Krebsbach named acting District 6 transportation engineer

Mark Krebsbach has accepted a mobility assignment as the District 6 Transportation District Engineer, announced Jim Swanson, assistant chief engineer. Krebsbach’s assignment begins Oct. 29 and will be effective until a permanent selection is made for the position.


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 Winter prep an ongoing process for Mn/DOT maintenance forces

Teachers visit Mn/DOT info booth

Mn/DOT presented an eight-minute safety video Oct. 18 at the Education Minnesota professional conference for Minnesota teachers at St. Paul’s River Centre. Kent Barnard, Communications and Public Relations, provides visitors with additional snowplow safety information. Photo by Scott Jahnke

Winter will soon rear its icy head in Minnesota and Mn/DOT maintenance forces are ready to meet the challenge head on.

Although late fall brings a flurry of activity, preparations for snow and ice activities are actually year round. In fact, if it snowed in July, Mn/DOT could respond quickly and professionally. And crews in northern Minnesota have already had an opportunity to battle with winter weather when an early snow lightly dusted the ground Oct. 5, causing slippery bridge decks, according to Mark Wikelius, state maintenance engineer.

A quick summary of maintenance activities proves the department’s state of readiness:

  • Salt is ordered in late spring for an early delivery of some supplies in the summer Another contract then calls for additional delivery all winter long on demand. This method requires suppliers to store salt for the department because Mn/DOT’s storage space is limited.

  • Training is an important component of maintenance activities throughout the seasons. Snowplow operators undergo defensive driving and evasive driving classes on a regular basis along with equipment training and education on chemical use through Mn/DOT’s highly successful Salt Solutions program. New hires receive extensive training on all aspects of maintenance. Although not part of their regular jobs, auxiliary snowfighters assist on a temporary, on-call basis where needed throughout the state. They, too, receive extensive training.

  • Technology plays a huge role the department’s response to snow and ice. RWIS (Road Weather Information System) sensors provide better information and more advanced warning of inclement weather, allowing better preventive efforts without overreacting. Last year Mn/DOT implemented Mn/CARS software to report weather and road conditions to employees and the public.

  • Maintenance of equipment is an ongoing effort since trucks are used all year. And some plows and sanders are kept ready to mount at a moment’s notice. This means Mn/DOT’s fleet is constantly ready whenever and wherever needed, from plowing mud off roads to responding at an accident scene with sand to clean up spills. Workers have even used plows in the spring to clear mayflies from the highway.

So when the snow and ice finally arrive to stay, Mn/DOT is ready to hitch up the plows, fill the trucks and carry out their mission to provide safe, reliable travel to travelers throughout the state.

Snowplow safety video debuts at teachers’ conference Oct. 18

Children and snowplows do not mix. That’s the main message of an eight-minute safety video presented Oct. 18 at the Education Minnesota professional conference for Minnesota teachers at St. Paul’s River Centre.

The video tells the story of two children who narrowly escape injury after an alert snowplow operator stops to inspect their snow fort built too near the street. It was produced last winter by Mn/DOT, Ramsey County, the Local Road Research Board and other partners.

The video will be distributed this fall to 3rd and 4th grade classrooms statewide to help educate students about winter safety. A short workbook and activity sheets accompany the presentation. In addition, snowplow operators may visit the classrooms to reinforce the video’s messages.

Additional plans for educating about the potential dangers of snowplows include sending information home to parents, as well as eventually distributing the video and educational materials to other Snow Belt states.

By Kent Barnard


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 Mn/DOT makes a ‘best Minnesota documents’ list

Every industry seems to have its awards and its lists of the "top" products or services, and government libraries are no exception. The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library has just published its list of the best government documents produced in 2000-2001 by Minnesota state agencies, and Mn/DOT has made the list—twice.

The Mn/DOT documents cited are:

The Minnesota Library Association and Government Documents Roundtable compile this list annually for the legislative library, which posts the list on its Web site, along with links to any documents that are available on the Web.


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 State troopers, emergency personnel test intelligent vehicle technology at Brainerd raceway

Camera inside intelligent vehicle

Eighteen Minnesota State Troopers and Hutchinson Area Ambulance emergency response personnel tested the Heads Up Display technology on emergency vehicles at the Brainerd International Raceway in September. Photo by John Scharffbillig

Night testing of the Minnesota State Patrol squad car and the Hutchinson Area Ambulance that are part of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Specialty Vehicles Project was conducted for five nights in September at Brainerd International Raceway.

The technology, tested last winter on a specially equipped Mn/DOT snowplow known as the Safeplow, was recently installed on a State Patrol vehicle and on a Hutchinson ambulance to test the driver interface technology of the Heads Up Display. The goal was to get drivers’ initial response to human factors and their reaction times. The system was also tested to see if the drivers could outdrive the technology. Driving was done under lighting ranging from 100 percent to 10 percent.

Eighteen Minnesota State Troopers and Hutchinson Area Ambulance emergency response personnel were given different scenarios and road line configurations in which to drive. Drivers were asked to drive at a speed that they felt comfortable at for a specified distance while using the technology, and then asked to reduce their speed. Researchers were looking for human factors, such as how far in the distance or how close to the vehicle each of the drivers was comfortable viewing on the Heads Up Display.

Only the driver interface technology was included in these tests. Additional technology, including vibrating seats and radar, has been installed on these vehicles and on additional Mn/DOT and McLeod County snowplows.

Field operation testing of all vehicles kicks off Nov. 7 and continues through the 2001-2002 winter season on Hwy 7 from I-494 to Hutchinson.

By Sonia Pitt


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Minnesota Government links: Northstar | Governor's Office
Mn/DOT External Web site

General questions: info@dot.state.mn.us | Suggestions: www2@dot.state.mn.us