U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta addressed a general session of the AASHTO conference on Sunday, Sept. 7. Photo by Dave Gonzalez

People from Mn/DOT joined representatives from state DOTs, the FHWA, consultants and other industry members gathered to learn, share ideas and applaud their achievements during the national meeting of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Sept. 4-9 in Minneapolis.

The meeting drew more than 1,000 participants from United States as well as other nations.

Staff from Mn/DOT supported the conference, performing tasks that included driving vans, registering participants, monitoring sessions, taking photos, etc. Before the event, other Mn//DOT employees planned the event in cooperation with AASHTO staff and management.

Comprised of members from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and the transportation industry, AASHTO advocates transportation policies, provides technical services and demonstrates the transportation’s contributions to the nation.

State and national leaders addressed the convention including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau, U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy of Minnesota and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. They stressed finding new solutions to transportation problems

Craig Schankwitz, ITS Institute, U of M, explains the workings of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative’s SafePlow while on board the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s TechnoBus. AASHTO conference participants could observe the plow’s operation via a video monitor in the TechnoBus as the vehicles operated in tandem. Photo by Craig Wilkins

The participants met in workshops, small groups and assemblies to conduct AASHTO business, present papers and visit an industry trade show held in conjunction with the conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Issues examined during the conference included transportation security, the use of context-sensitive design, options to increase highway capacity and ways to include environmental concerns in the very first stages of project planning.

Participants said the event enabled them to see issues from different perspectives and widened their awareness of issues that Minnesota and other northern tier states face when building and maintaining transportation systems.

They also toured facilities at the 3M Corporation in Maplewood to observe reflective road marking fabrication and the Minnesota Road Research facility near Monticello that uses a section of I-94 as a "real time" laboratory to test pavement design and structure.

Another tour enabled conference participants to ride on the Metro Transit Commission’s "TechnoBus." The bus uses global positioning system guidance, radar and other tools to help drivers stay within the narrow confines of highway shoulders they use during peak traffic periods. The bus operated in tandem with the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative’s SafePlow to allow visitors to see the plow’s operation via live video from the truck shown on the bus. The demonstration was held on the busway that connects the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses of the University of Minnesota.

Anna Cady, Kay McDonald and Ron McLane, Information Technology, solved a printer problem for support staff at the conference. Photo by Judy Melander

Al Brantley, a MissDOT official, joked that he couldn’t wait to transfer advanced snowplow technology to his state, but Brantley and others from the southern states said they use or could use similar technology to manage operations during the hurricanes and other severe storms that plague Mississippi, Louisiana and other coastal states.

Mn/DOT received AASHTO’s Legacy Award for preserving the history of Hwy 100 in the western Minneapolis suburbs during its reconstruction.

Hosting the conference enabled transportation professionals from the region to attend and generated about $2 million in associated revenue for Twin Cities area businesses as well.

By Craig Wilkins

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John Lardy, a member of the FIRST team based at Metro’s Cedar Avenue Truck Station, shows the new truck logo. Photo by Craig Wilkins

Mn/DOT recently changed the name of the Highway Helper program to the Freeway Incident Response Safety Team to better reflect its role in managing congestion and incident response on the Twin Cities metro region’s highway network.

"There is a misperception that the Highway Helper program is about helping individual motorists—not about improving safety and reducing congestion on our highway system," said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau. "The name FIRST better describes the program’s role in responding quickly to remove congestion-causing problems."

Molnau said the FIRST program is an important element of Mn/DOT’s overall incident management plan.

"If we cannot quickly respond to lane-blocking stalls or pick up debris within minutes of its falling from a trailer, our highway system will break down causing congestion, unexpected delays to motorists and secondary crashes," she said.

FIRST staff will continue to provide emergency aid to motorists as needed. Each bright yellow-green truck carries a portable message sign to support emergency traffic control and uses heavy push bumpers to move stalled or damaged vehicles to clear shoulders and traffic lanes quickly.

By Craig Wilkins

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Tom Heininger, RTMC, and State Patrol pilot Capt. Mark Dunaski prepare for a flight at the St. Paul Downtown Airport to cover afternoon traffic. Photo by Craig Wilkins

To get a better look at Twin Cities traffic, the Regional Transportation Management Center staff are getting a new angle on things—from about 2,100 feet above the ground.

Each work day, a staff member from the RTMC in Roseville flies with a State Patrol pilot during the morning and evening rush hours to supplement the information collected by the center’s system of traffic cameras, loop detectors and other devices.

The aerial surveillance began Aug. 25. The FHWA gave $200,000 in funding to Mn/DOT to conduct the program for one year.

The two-member teams—pilot and traffic observer—fly in a fixed-wing aircraft during the morning traffic peak and in a helicopter for the homebound traffic rush.

Mary Meinert, RTMC, said fixed-wing aircraft allows the team to go out further from the core cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to observe in-bound traffic. The helicopter provides a steady, lower-speed platform to monitor the evening traffic.

The crews fly from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Their higher vantage point gives the crews the ability to see beyond the limits of the freeway system’s video monitors and observe traffic problems as soon as they occur, giving them a chance to alert the RTMC staff. In addition to the crewmembers’ visual scans, the helicopter’s infrared camera enables the observers to monitor traffic through snow, clouds and darkness. A video camera will be used on the fixed-wing aircraft as well.

Twin Cities area news media can also use the video feed from the aircraft via a direct connection to the RTMC.

The observers send traffic condition information via the regional digital radio system to the RTMC as developments occur.

"Essentially, the aerial patrols bring the entire Twin Cities metro area into view," said Nick Thompson, freeway operations manager, RTMC. "Our cameras cover only about 80 percent of the region’s freeways, so now we can see places where we don’t have cameras, where existing cameras aren’t functioning or on signalized highways such as Hwy 65 and Hwy 252 that are major traffic corridors."

Thompson said the State Patrol uses the flights for law enforcement purposes, and notes that RTMC staff have been involved in the response to a fatal crash on Hwy 8 and other incidents.

"This is a partnership," he said. "Both law enforcement and traffic monitoring are major components of traffic management to help make our roads safer."

By Craig Wilkins

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Edelman Production film crew interviews John Scharffbillig (in truck) about the use of GPS in the SafePlow. Photo by Sonia Pitt

On a very cold day last January, a film crew from Edelman Productions filmed Mn/DOT and the State Patrol using global positioning systems to make Minnesota roadways safer for snowplow drivers, state troopers and the public.

Their film footage aired Sept. 9 on the History Channel’s Tactical to Practical, a new 13-episode series highlighting technology that originated for military use and evolved for use by the public. If you watched the first show, you may have recognized a couple of faces.

John Scharffbillig, Mn/DOT’s field project manager with Intelligent Transportation Systems, and Jeff Goldsmith, a Minnesota state trooper, were included in the GPS segment on Tactical to Practical.

Mn/DOT and the State Patrol partnered in a three-year project using Mn/DOT’s SafePlow and a Minnesota State Patrol vehicle equipped with technology using GPS. The vehicles were tested along Hwy 7 from the Twin Cities to Hutchinson. The technology allows the driver to "see" the roadway in a heads up display during adverse weather conditions such as snow, fog and heavy rain. Icons appear on the HUD to indicate oncoming traffic and other objects.

For more information, contact Scharffbillig at 651/215-0402.

By Sonia Pitt

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Design Camp participants had the opportunity to present one of their innovative ideas for solving transportation problems to Mn/DOT senior staff on Aug. 18. From left are Deputy Commissioner Doug Differt; Scott Peterson, acting director, Finance; Griffin Johnson, Plymouth; Kathleen Woodwick, Edina; Peter Durrant, Minneapolis; Ryan Siemers, University of Minnesota; Katleen Harder, University of Minnesota; and Wendy Friedmeyer, Design Camp coordinator. Photo by Donna Lindberg

It’s not every day that high school students have the opportunity to present their solutions to transportation problems, but on Aug. 18 four of them got to do just that before Mn/DOT senior staff.

The students were participants in Design Camp, a week-long program sponsored by the University of Minnesota and Target Corporation that introduces high school students to the design process and allows them to explore new ways to solve problems, said Wendy Friedmeyer, Design Camp coordinator. They work under the instruction of design professionals from around the world and the U of M.

The camp is divided into six workshops based on common behaviors, such as dwelling, eating and moving. Students select a problem to solve, a design to improve or a system to replace. They then explore the problems through discussion, field trips to the Walker Art Center, drawing and modeling projects. At the end of camp, students present their product to jurors from the local professional community.

Scott Peterson, acting director, Office of Finance, whose daughter Ellen participated in the program this summer, was invited last June to tour the camp and see the campers’ designs.

"During my visit, I was so impressed by the imagination and thoughtful problem solving of the ‘Moving Group,’ I asked one of the instructors, Kathleen Harder, if she would bring them to visit Mn/DOT and give a presentation on the transit system they had designed," Peterson said.

"The Moving Group was asked how mass transit could be improved," said Friedmeyer. "They used models and computer graphics to display their solution, which they demonstrated at Mn/DOT."

The Moving Group’s solution was Metro Magnetic Movement. This included a Segway personal rapid transit device, a neighborhood bus and a train system above highway medians.

Small buses would pick up commuters at home and drop them at train terminals. Passengers could relax in the forward cars, eat in a diner, drink coffee or read in a library until their stop. Then they would move to the last train car that would be dropped off at the station. Other cars in the train would then pick up a new full car without coming to a stop, moving uninterrupted to the next station.

The train would be powered by an electric magnetic system and could handle small housing units (also developed at Design Camp), Segways, and even freight. The M3’s route could also easily be expanded by adding additional loops to the cloverleaf shaped route.

"The Moving Group ideas were imaginative, innovative and well researched," said Donna Allan, director, Office of Transit. "With these kinds of young minds at work, the future of transportation looks bright."

By Donna Lindberg

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Officials from Mn/DOT's Duluth/District 1 and the Department of Natural Resources at Gooseberry State Park hold an FHWA award recognizing their partnership in building a new Hwy 61 river crossing. From left to right: Mike Hoops, assistant manager of Gooseberry Falls State Park; Jim Willford, DNR regional park manager; Mike Robinson, Duluth/District 1 engineer; Paul Sundberg, manager of Gooseberry Falls State Park, and Rod Garver, Mn/DOT Hwy 61 corridor manager. Photo by John Bray

Mn/DOT Duluth/District 1 officials last month recognized the Department of Natural Resources at Gooseberry State Park for their partnership in the Hwy 61 Gooseberry River Crossing project.

The Hwy 61 project was one of 47 national winners in the recently announced 2002 FHWA Excellence in Highway Design Biennial Award Competition.

The project built a new bridge that replicates the historic original bridge that was built in 1925. The project provides for a safer pedestrian-level under-crossing, a new park entrance road, much-needed parking lots, a park visitor center, a safety rest area, a pedestrian bridge, and handicapped-accessible trails to the scenic Gooseberry Falls.

Along with Mn/DOT and the DNR, contractors M.A. Mortenson Co. of Minneapolis and Northland Constructors of Duluth also received plaques recognizing their roles in this project.

In the 2002 FHWA Biennial Awards national line-up of the "best of show," a total of 47 projects from throughout the nation received recognition. Of these, Duluth/District 1 received four national awards for the following projects:

• Hwy 61 Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel

• Hwy 61 Gooseberry River Crossing

• Hwy 61 Reconstruction in Schroeder

• Hwy 33 Bridge over the St. Louis River in Cloquet

By John Bray

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