The image above promotes National Work Zone Awareness Week (April 8-12). Statewide Mn/DOT has scheduled 245 construction projects with an estimated total cost of $1 billion.

Winter hasn’t completely loosened its hold over the state, but nonetheless, Minnesota’s "other season" begins officially on March 28 in the Twin Cities Metro area.

That’s when Mn/DOT Metro Division kicks off its summer construction season with a news conference March 28 at the Cedar Avenue truck station at 10 a.m. Metro will highlight 56 Twin Cities area construction projects for the news media, including 40 new projects.

Around the state, Mn/DOT has scheduled 245 construction projects with an estimated total cost of $1 billion. The federal government will supply about $525 million towards these projects while the state will provide about $370 million.

Those figures tell an interesting story, according to Mn/DOT Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg.

"Minnesota is fortunate to be one of the states that receives more in federal highway construction dollars than we send to Washington," Tinklenberg said. Since 1990, Minnesota has received an average of $1.10 from Washington for every $1 sent.

Work zone safety: the summer campaign begins

Highway construction projects, of course, mean work zones on heavily traveled highways—as well as safety issues for workers and people passing through work zones. To highlight the importance of work zone safety to the public, this year Mn/DOT will roll out its summer work zone safety publicity campaign—"See Orange. We’re in the Work Zone Together"—during National Work Zone Awareness Week (April 8-12).

As part of the national campaign, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will unveil a traveling memorial on April 9. Mn/DOT cosponsors the memorial, which includes the names of three Mn/DOT employees who were killed in work zones.

The need for awareness increases

"Working with the National Work Zone Awareness campaign is about bringing the attention of the motoring public and media to the fact that nearly 900 men, women and children are killed senselessly in work zones each year," according to Jon Jackels, pavement marking and work zone engineer.

Nationally, work zone crashes have increased dramatically—up 25 percent from the previous year. In Minnesota, however, the increase has been much less, despite more construction sites. That’s also despite a 40 percent increase in vehicle miles driven on a highway system that’s increased available lane miles by less than 2 percent.

"We would like to believe a big part of that is the education and training Minnesota does up front," said Mary Meinert, work zone safety awareness coordinator. "Mn/DOT also offers training to construction companies—including their safety officers and truck drivers, as well as consultants who sign projects."

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In response to a recent department internal audit, Mn/DOT will improve project oversight to ensure that contractors and public agencies working under department supervision meet state and federal regulations.

The audit, which covered the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, was part of Mn/DOT’s annual review of its financial statements and federal programs. The department forwards the results of its internal audit to the Office of the Legislative Auditor each year for review. The legislative auditor publicly released its report about Mn/DOT’s findings on March 26.

"Our internal audit findings indicate we have areas in which we need to improve," Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg said. "Fortunately, we have already defined processes to make us more efficient and accountable and are taking measures to address all of the concerns raised."

The audit identified seven areas of concern, including suggesting that MnDOT did not provide adequate oversight to Hennepin County engineers in properly disposing of lead paint residue removed from the Washington Avenue bridge in Minneapolis. According to the original audit report, the Hennepin County contractor improperly disposed of 117 tons of bridge lead paint blasting residue at a landfill instead of disposing it at a hazardous waste treatment facility.

However, Tinklenberg said, Mn/DOT has been working with Hennepin County on this issue and recently received documentation from Hennepin County officials—not available at the time of the audit—that verifies otherwise. According to the documentation, the blasting residue was tested and deemed to be non-hazardous waste by state and federal standards.

"The documentation indicates that the contractor safely disposed of the material in a landfill without endangering the environment and without violating state and federal regulations and standards," Tinklenberg said. "Had the findings been otherwise, Mn/DOT could and would have exercised its authority to issue penalties and withhold federal funding."

Another area of concern identified in the audit were missing reports that adequately document the disposal of asbestos from the demolition of 40 homes. Project staff has assembled and can verify proper disposal in 39 of the 40 homes. In the remaining home—demolished in 1998—project staff is working with the contractor to verify asbestos disposal. It is likely that in this case, as with many in this project, the home either contained no asbestos, contained below-threshold amounts or was moved rather than demolished. In any of these instances, no reports are required to be filed.

The focus of the FY 2001 audit included state highway construction expenditures; grants for airport improvement; grants to local governments for road construction and maintenance; local bridge and transit project disbursements; rail service improvement loan balances, and highway user tax transfers.

Click here to read the complete audit report and Mn/DOT's response.

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The Senior Management Team March 19 approved recommendations for changes to the Office of Bridges and Structures and the Office of Traffic Engineering.

The recommendations are part of the department’s ongoing Shaping Our Future effort to adapt to changing state and national priorities, the economic climate, new technology and customer needs.

SMT approved the recommendation to maintain the responsibilities of the Office of Bridges and Structures as a Central Office function within the Program Support Group. Feedback from the districts and Metro Division indicate that those specialty functions, like bridge design, work best when centralized as they are now.

Districts that have a high number of fracture-critical bridges (those bridges in which the loss of a single supporting piece could cause collapse) will continue to perform these special inspections at the district level in addition to their regular annual inspections. The Central Office will assist in high-demand districts and will provide the expertise to those districts that have less demand. This is consistent with how the work has been distributed in recent past.

The Office of Traffic Engineering also will see changes. All plan development for lighting, signing and signals will be distributed to the districts and to Metro Division. The Central Office will be responsible for audit, standardized plan development and training functions.

The process for traffic agreements will also change. Agreement writing will be the responsibility of the districts. The Office of Traffic Engineering will establish a process to ensure that the essential elements are included in the agreements. The Pre-Letting Section in the Office of Technical Support will ensure that agreements are in place.

Nelrae Succio, assistant division director for Program Delivery, and Keith Shannon, acting assistant Metro Division engineer, will lead the development of an implementation plan to transition these functions to the districts.

Click here for more information about Shaping Our Future. Send questions to change@dot.state.mn.us or to Change, Mail Stop 150.

By Sonia Pitt

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In Rochester on March 23, Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg spoke of the need for long-term, multi-modal transportation funding to meet Minnesota’s growing transportation needs. Photo by Brian Jergenson

Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg stressed the importance of long-term, multi-modal transportation funding to meet Minnesota’s growing transportation needs in Rochester on Saturday, March 23.

Tinklenberg made his remarks at the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce’s "Eggs and Issues" monthly breakfast forum that drew nearly 100 people including House Speaker Steve Sviggum, other legislators and community and business leaders.

Issues he addressed included funding mechanisms such as raising the state gasoline tax, now 20 cents per gallon, to keep pace with growing needs and projects such as rebuilding nine miles of Hwy 52 in Rochester.

He also addressed other issues including Mn/DOT’s use of the streamlining process to accelerate project completion in areas such as right of way acquisition and designing and building highway projects.

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The hardest part about a new job or changed job duties is often subtle—from learning how to navigate the cafeteria to knowing how to speak up effectively in staff meetings.

Mn/DOT’s mentoring program can help make a job transition easier.

"Mn/DOT’s mentoring program pairs employees looking for guidance and support with more experienced employees," explains Emeric Pratt, mentoring program coordinator. "The goal is to build and retain a productive, satisfied and knowledgeable workforce through the exchange of information relating to department culture, work style and career development opportunities."

"The mentoring program is also part of our Shaping Our Future effort to build the skills within Mn/DOT needed to deliver products and services today and in the future," says Linda Bjornberg, director, Management Operations Group. "Mentoring is a continuum of learning to help employees be more successful in the new organization."

From the most experienced employee to the newest members of our workforce, there is personal benefit to all who participate, Bjornberg said. "Mentoring opens up communications across functions and classifications and encourages new ways of thinking. It will help Mn/DOT retain the brightest, best people and create an attractive environment for prospective employees.

"I encourage managers to not only support employees in their involvement in mentoring but to expect employees to commit to the future of Mn/DOT through mentoring others," Bjornberg added.

Learn more about mentoring and sign up to be a mentor or a mentee by visiting the new mentoring program site at http://www2.hr.dot.state.mn.us/mentoring.

By Kay Korsgaard

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Richard Braun, seen here in his days as Mn/DOT's commissioner (1978-1986), will have an endowed faculty chair named for him at the University of Minnesota. Photo by Robert Vockrodt

Former Mn/DOT Commissioner Richard Braun received another honor this month when the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology’s Department of Civil Engineering and the Center for Transportation Studies announced plans to name a faculty chair position after him.

"This chair came about because the Civil Engineering Department wanted to make sure that they were supporting the needs of the transportation industry," said Jennifer Clarke, IT development officer. "It’s being named for Dick Braun because he has long been a champion of transportation engineering education and research, as well as being the founding director for CTS."

The person hired for the Braun CTS Chair will help to develop and expand the department’s transportation engineering program. The expanded Richard P. Braun Transportation Engineering Program will include new undergraduate courses and short courses for professionals in transportation and traffic planning, design and engineering, as well as seminars and workshops cosponsored by Mn/DOT.

Funds for the position and the expanded program will come from the interest on an endowment—a gift of money invested in perpetuity. The money for this endowment will come from several sources, including royalties from Autoscope – a traffic detection technology developed by Civil Engineering professor Panos Michalopoulos and co-sponsored by Mn/DOT and CTS.

"The University owns the patent on Autoscope, which takes images of traffic flow on roads and highways and then processes those images to calculate things such as traffic counts and vehicle classifications," explained Bob Johns, CTS director.

"The University licensed the patent to a St. Paul company—Image Sensing Systems—that produces Autoscope products sold around the world—which leads to royalties," Johns said. "We’ve now accumulated enough funds that we decided to endow a chair in an area that’s most useful—transportation and traffic technology."

Some of the endowment’s principal will come from a fund-raising committee led by former Mn/DOT Deputy Commissioner Doug Differt to raise an additional $500,000 for the endowment. Both the Civil Engineering Department and CTS will match each contribution, thus effectively tripling the effect of each gift.

Braun served as Mn/DOT’s second Commissioner from 1978 to 1986, also serving as president of the American Association of State Transportation and Highway Officials during that period. He left Mn/DOT in 1986 to become the founding director of CTS. He has also chaired the Metropolitan Airports Commission as well as an independent, bipartisan study of options for the proposed new St. Croix River crossing in Stillwater.

Besides the faculty chair position and transportation civil engineering program, Braun’s name adorns another fixture around the Twin Cities Metro area—the Richard P. Braun Bridge on Hwy 610 over the Mississippi River in the northern suburbs.

For more information about the fundraising effort, contact Clarke at 612/626-9354, 800/587-3884, or jclarke@itdean.umn.edu.

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Mn/DOT will provide $140,000 to help the city of Duluth repair a 1,000-foot section of the Lakewalk pedestrian and bike trail along the Lake Superior shore damaged during a storm last year. Photo courtesy of Kenneth R. Newhams, Duluth Shipping News

Technical assistance and funding from Mn/DOT will enable the city of Duluth to repair a 1,000-foot section of the Lakewalk pedestrian and bike trail along the Lake Superior shore damaged during a fierce storm last year.

Todd Campbell, district hydraulics and surveys engineer, said the powerful waves ripped away rock placed along the shoreline during construction of the I-35 tunnels in the late early 1990s and damaged the boardwalk between the Veterans Memorial and the Fitgers hotel and shopping center complex.

Mn/DOT will provide $140,000 of the $200,000 needed to repair the facility. Repair work includes replacing rock, repairing the wooden boardwalk and repaving damaged asphalt sections of the paths.

Campbell said that although the storm tore much of the boardwalk loose, the wood, an extremely durable hardwood known as ipe, was salvaged.

Repair work will begin in April and will be completed before Memorial Day, Campbell said.

The city of Duluth, Campbell added, plans to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to explore methods to prevent future storm damage to the waterfront trail.

By Craig Wilkins

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Participants will have an opportunity to view and operate the equipment, as well as talk to vendors about their new products at this year’s Spring Maintenance Expo on April 24-25 in St. Cloud. File photo

On April 24 and 25, employees from the state, counties, cities, townships and tribes will gather at the St. Cloud Civic Center for an in-depth look at spring and summer roadway maintenance issues.

The two-day event will focus on the latest experiences and technology in Minnesota maintenance operations. Workshop topics range from new work zone technology to hot weather safety tips.

In addition, the event will consist of multiple vendors and agencies demonstrating equipment, products and services. This portion of the expo will be held at the Minnesota Safety Center located off Hwy 10, south of St. Cloud.

Attendees are encouraged to register for the annual event by April 12. To receive a registration form or obtain more information about the expo, contact Donna Coleman, Office of Maintenance Research, 651/297-3598.

By Daneeka Marshall-Oquendo

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