Rebecca Pula, Office of Construction, records bid information during the Feb. 27 bid letting at the Central Office. Photo by David Gonzalez

Mn/DOT lets its first two bond-accelerated projects on Feb. 27 when apparent low bids were accepted for the first stage of the I-35E/I-694 “Unweave the Weave” project in the Twin Cities metro area and rebuilding Hwy 14 between Janesville and Waseca.

The two projects number among 12 projects included in the Transportation Finance Bill passed last year by the Minnesota Legislature. Both projects will increase safety and mobility, two of the legislation’s major goals.

The bill provided $400 million in state bonds for highway construction.

Combined, the 12 projects will save more than 65 years in construction delays and an estimated $140 million in project inflation costs.

“Minnesota is continually faced with improving our transportation infrastructure,” said Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “Because of the good work of Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau at the Department of Transportation, we are able to speed up several long-term projects that will improve safety and mobility for Minnesota drivers.”

The low bid to reconstruct the I-35E/I-694 interchange. was from Lunda Construction at $3,212,867. This project is being accelerated by four years. It will eliminate the currently dangerous weaving movements at that interchange, improve safety and improve travel times through the area. Construction, originally scheduled to begin in 2008, will start in mid-April.

The low bid to reconstruct Hwy 14 between Janesville and Waseca in southern Minnesota was from Mathiowetz Construction Co. at $34,263,131. The project is the largest ever constructed in Mn/DOT’s Mankato District. This interregional corridor will be expanded from two to four lanes, which will improve safety and mobility. Construction of the Hwy14 project will begin in May and is expected to be completed in 2006, three years earlier than previously scheduled.

"The beginning of these critical construction projects this spring is another important step in ensuring that Minnesota continues to have one of the safest and most efficient highway systems in the nation,” said Molnau.
By Donna Lindberg

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On Friday, Feb. 27, Congress passed and President Bush signed a two-month extension of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. An earlier, five-month extension of TEA-21, enacted by Congress last year, expired Feb. 29. This second extension of federal funding for transportation extends through April 30.

Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have drafted bills to replace TEA-21. The House’s proposed bill totals $375 billion, the Senate’s $318 billion. The President has threatened to veto any bill agreed upon by both the House and Senate that exceeds $270 billion.

Until a bill is agreed upon, Mn/DOT is making its programming forecasts based on the Senate’s $318 billion SAFE-TEA bill.

“Out of a $318 billion bill, Minnesota’s share is $472 million for new projects and to pay off our bond projects,” said Frank Van De Steeg Director of Innovative Finance in Mn/DOT’s Office of Investment Management. “There is a better chance that the Senate bill will get passed because it is a middle-of-the-road bill that all sides are most likely to agree to. Mn/DOT could get as much as $550 million with the Senate bill because it fixes a current ethanol tax problem.”

Betsy Parker, Mn/DOT’s director of Government Affairs, and Bob Hofstad, Director of the Program Development Section, OIM, attended a reception for the Minnesota Congressional delegation in Washington D.C. last week. Many national transportation organization representatives, Congressional staff and contractor and consultant organizations attended the reception to encourage the passage of a long-term reauthorization of TEA-21.

If a long-term transportation bill is not passed before April 30 there may not be an action on this issue until after the presidential elections in November. A third extension may then be needed.

Further extensions could spell trouble for Mn/DOT.

“Lack of action on a reauthorization bill could delay or stop bonding projects,” said Hofstad. “Conversion of federal advance construction dollars in a timely manner is an integral part of making the 2003 Pawlenty-Molnau transportation funding package work.”

Cities, counties and private contractors could also feel the pinch.

“If we don’t have a long-term bill soon, the biggest impact could be on local governments that don’t have projects authorized,” said Van De Steeg. “And if extensions don’t provide the funding necessary for current projects, Mn/DOT could be faced with paying contractors with cash on hand, with no timely reimbursement from the federal government.”

Reauthorization of TEA-21 would be good news, but none of the current proposals completely address Minnesota’s long-term funding needs.

“What is really needed is an increase in overall transportation funding, said Hofstad. ”

For more information about the TEA-21 reauthorization bill, visit the AASHTO Web site at http://www.transportation.org/aashto/press.nsf/by+Date+Public?openview

By Donna Lindberg

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Flanked by Linda Aitkin, Mn/DOT's tribal liaison, Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau meets with Chuck Walt, health clinic assistant director, and Jason Hollinday, tribal economic development planner, at the Fond Du Lac Reservation's health center. Photo by John Bray

With her Feb. 24 visit to the Fond du Lac Reservation near Duluth, Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau completed on-site meetings with tribal leaders from all of the state’s federally recognized Indian tribes.

Molnau met personally with tribal leaders as part of Mn/DOT’s outreach effort to tribal governments to examine ways each entity can support mutual goals related to transportation.

Mn/DOT officials began their dialogue with the tribes with the first Tribes and Transportation conference held in April 2002. A second conference was held last year.

The conferences produced agreements of mutual support and cooperation by federal, tribal and state government officials.

The agreements have led to ongoing development of a handbook and a Web site to enable tribal and other government officials to work more effectively together, a joint effort by Willmar/District 8 and the Upper Sioux Community at Granite Falls to plan for future transportation needs and the series of visits by Molnau; Linda Aitkin, Mn/DOT’s tribal liaison, and Al Steger, regional FHWA division administrator, and other officials to the reservations.

Recently, Aitkin said, Mn/DOT and tribal officials resolved issues related to signing for two tribally operated casinos.

“The visits and resulting dialogue have been very valuable,” Aitkin said. “We’ve had a lot of involvement by the tribes and we continue to build partnerships to continue our work together.”

By Craig Wilkins

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A Metro District maintenance crew including Bob Lavone and Ed Boyd, Arden Hills, describes its pothole patching chores to Jason DeRusha, a WCCO-TV news reporter who reported on the pothole outbreak. Photo by Kent Barnard

As surely as spring follows winter, potholes form as the weather warms to plague the state’s highway system. This year the pothole menace started earlier and more intensely after other cold, heavy snowfalls and a rapid warm-up in February did their dirty work.

In response, Mn/DOT maintenance crews quickly switched from plowing snow to patching potholes by the thousands.

Techniques vary from automated patchers used in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud to the tried and true method of filling potholes with patching material and tamping it down by hand.

Mn/DOT crews in areas such as the Twin Cites and St. Cloud use the automated patcher because of its suitability for high-traffic areas.

The automated process employs a truck- or trailer-mounted boom. The driver/operator blows compressed air through a long tube to clean out the pothole then fills it with the precise amount of patching material needed. The automated operation saves time and money and improves safety by reducing the exposure of highway workers to traffic.

Mn/DOT’s standard response, however, is not the department’s only approach to the pothole problem.

When the warmer spring weather arrives, the freeze/thaw cycle accelerates, causing pavement to deteriorate even more quickly. Mark Wikelius, Mn/DOT’s state maintenance engineer, said the key to the problem not becoming too much of a nuisance is speedy repairs.

Crews throughout the state now use improved pothole filling materials that resist moisture and bond with the pavement more effectively to provide a longer-lasting repair.
Mn/DOT initiatives to reduce the prevalence of potholes include its preventive maintenance program. Preventive maintenance involves constant pavement monitoring to identify sections of roadway most prone to potholes, rutting, cracking and other damage.

Problem areas are then scheduled for resurfacing or other repairs to minimize future damage to the roadway.

Resurfacing techniques include methods such as micosurfacing. That process uses a mixture of an emulsion, a mineral such as Portland cement and aggregate. The mixture sets up quickly and incorporates existing water into its chemical reaction or curing. Microsurfacing provides a surface repair that will last until more extensive repairs are needed.

Other treatments include traditional crack filling done by hand and applying seal coats, thin layers of asphalt that provide a smooth riding surface.

Mn/DOT’s long-range efforts to extend pavement life include its growing use of Superpave, a high-performance asphalt pavement design that shows potential to resist damage caused by the freeze/thaw cycle and the extremes in temperature that damage pavement.

Mn/DOT also recently joined with the University of Minnesota to lead a national research effort to develop crack-resistant asphalt paving materials that would eliminate potholes and other pavement failures.

“We’re attacking potholes on several fronts,” Wikelius said. “In the short term, we’re using methods such as the automated patcher to make repairs as quickly as possible. In the long term, we are expanding our use of Superpave and other advanced pavement designs that we hope will greatly reduce the potential for damage such as potholes to develop.”

By Craig Wilkins

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Metro Transit bus drivers are set to go on strike at 2 a.m. on Thursday, March 4. Mn/DOT’s Regional Traffic Management Center will monitor potential impacts on traffic. Congestion information will appear on their traffic map at www.511mn.org.

For advice on other commuting options, visit Metro Transit’s Web site at www.metrotransit.org. The site provides info on routes operated by suburban providers
and private contractors, carpool matching services and information about the 31-day pass and Metropass users. The Metropolitan Council offers an interactive rideshare program at www.metrocommuterservices.org. A rideshare board is at www.twincities.com.
For a list of other bus providers into downtown St. Paul, go to www.saintpaulparking.com.

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Gene Olchefske, team leader, and Dave Sundberg (sitting), prepare one of the CDs in the design training program. Photo by David Gonzalez

Chances are good that you won’t find them at Target or Sam Goody’s, but the training CDs made by Mn/DOT are a Top 40 hit with design engineers and technicians nationwide.

That’s actually the “Top 34,” the number of the interactive compact discs produced by Gene Olchefske and Dave Sundberg, Workforce Development, since the project started in 1999. (Another team member, Karen Kimble, left Mn/DOT in December.)

Impetus for the project stems from the need for a way to help the complexities of geometric design be grasped easily and quickly by engineers, highway technicians and other designers.

Mike Christensen, assistant district engineer at Metro, said the need was first identified during a quality improvement session in the 1990s.

With support from Mn/DOT and 23 other states, production on the CD-based lessons got under way in 1999. Olchefske said each of the self-paced lesson addresses a design issue such as vertical alignments, clear zones, sight distances and computing quantities of fill and other materials.

Since the CDs first became available, they have been used in nearly every state to provide what, Christensen an early backer of the effort, calls “just in time” training.

The CDs, Olchefske said, provide a “look at design as it would look in real life by using 3D animation. We try to build in a lot of interactive pieces to keep the training interesting and fun.”

Use of the CDs far exceeds its original intention. They are now also used to illustrate proposed projects at public meetings, train people entering the TSS classification and provide quick tutorials for experienced designers. They also help prepare people to use GeoPak, Mn/DOT’s standard design software program.

Lynnete Roshell, now a project engineer with State Aid, said the CDs help designers apply engineering theory to practical applications.

Roshell’s former design squad at Golden Valley was involved in the QI training that led to development of the CD series.

“The training teaches design standards and how they interact, for example, when designing an intersection. The CDs also help explain the ‘why’ behind the ‘how’ of design,” she said.

Cathy Walz, director of Workforce Development, said the training has become valuable tool for DOTs nationwide.

“States and local governments are just realizing the potential of electronic learning and multi-media, Web-based technologies that can deliver high quality, cost effective training to learners at their desktops,” Walz said.

“Response to this training resource has received extremely positive feedback internally and from DOTs nationwide,” she said. “Through a partnership with the Center for Transportation Studies, the CD series will soon be available to cities and counties.”

To learn more about the training, contact Olchefske at 651/628-6800 or Walz at 651/296-3101.

By Craig Wilkins

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Mn/DOT and Ford Motor Company have partnered to test a new traveler information system that will relay information right from the source of potential problems – the road. By the end of the year, 15-20 Minnesota State Patrol vehicles will be equipped with sensors that collect and transmit traffic information, speed, location and other data to Mn/DOT’s Condition Acquisition and Reporting System (CARS) and eventually to the 511 system. Weather-related data can also be obtained from sensors, including windshield wiper operation, lights on or off, outside temperature and traction control system status.

“Vehicles will become sensors on the roadway, gathering instantaneous roadway conditions and sharing this information with each other and our traffic management systems,” said Jim Kranig, Assistant State Traffic Engineer and formerly with Mn/DOT’s Office of Intelligent Transportation Systems.

“The sensors will be tested first in State Patrol cars in the Twin Cities Metro area,” Kranig said. “If they prove to be effective, they may eventually be installed in Mn/DOT maintenance and Freeway Incident Response Team vehicles.”

Mn/DOT and Ford are working together and sharing the costs of the project. Similar fleets are also under development in Dearborn Heights, Mich., and on the Ford campus in Dearborn, Mich.

“Because of our dramatic changes in seasons, there is a genuine need for travelers to know as much as possible about the road before they travel,” said Ginny Crowson, in Mn/DOT’s Office of Traffic, Security and Operations. “If we can successfully collect and transmit the data from the vehicles, we can use it to provide better, more accurate traveler information.”

By Donna Lindberg

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In the field of transportation, locating a needed report, article or book has never been an easy task.

For years, the only index to these resources has been the Transportation Research Information System database compiled by the Transportation Research Board. However, transportation practitioners, especially those without access to experienced librarians, often found it difficult to get the full text of an item indexed in the TRIS database.

All that changed March 1 with the launch of TransCat, a new online service that makes the catalogs of many of the nation’s largest transportation libraries—including Mn/DOT’s—available to anyone with access to the Internet.

With nearly 300,000 resources listed in TransCat, the database is second in size only to TRIS in covering transportation resources. Unlike TRIS, which is an indexing service, TransCat catalogs only available resources owned by participating libraries. This means that nearly all of the resources found when searching the database can be readily located and made available to the user.

Although many of the items in TransCat are also listed in TRIS, a recent study showed that 52 percent of recent reports available within TransCat were not indexed in TRIS. (See http://www.dot.state.mn.us/library/mtkn.html for more information on the study.)

Midwest transportation librarians have been working with OCLC (www.oclc.org/about), the world’s largest consortium of libraries, since 2001 to develop TransCat. The National Transportation Library provides start-up funds for the service.

Click here to use TransCat.

By Jerry Baldwin, Mn/DOT Library director

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All aspects of transportation safety are important at Mn/DOT, but people may not always consider how aeronautics may contribute to making lives safer. Young people ages 6 to 17 years did recently when they entered the 2003 International Aviation Art contest based on the theme “Flying Saves Lives.” The Minnesota winners received awards at an official ceremony held Feb. 23 in the State Capitol Rotunda. Ray Rought, director of Mn/DOT’s Office of Aeronautics, was the keynote speaker.

“The magnificent artwork of the students symbolizes the various ways that flying saves lives,” Rought said. “This annual contest also helps participants explore the many exciting and creative opportunities in aviation.”

In Minnesota, the first through fourth place pieces of artwork in each age category will be featured in the International Aviation Art contest calendar for 2005. Winning entries also receive a gift certificate for art supplies and a 30-minute flight at their local airport.

The contest is hosted by the Office of Aeronautics, the Federal Aviation Agency, the National Association of State Aviation Officials and the National Aeronautic Administration, in cooperation with the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

The Minnesota winning entries can be viewed on the Mn/DOT Office of Aeronautics Web site at www.dot.state.mn.us/aero/aved/students/art2004.htm.

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Minnesota Rural Futures honored Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau for her contributions to Minnesota agriculture. She was recognized for her service in the Legislature, support for the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service, the 4-H Program and her role as an active grower on her farm near Lafayette in Nicollet County.

Molnau’s contributions to agriculture also include active service with the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the state’s corn and soybean growers’ associations.

Minnesota Rural Futures is a non-profit, non-partisan women’s organization that promotes leadership and involvement in urban and rural agriculture.

Gene Hugoson, commissioner of agriculture, presented the award to Molnau and five other recipients on March 1.

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Before accepting his most recent appointment, Doan served for one year as an assistant to Dan McElroy, the former finance commissioner.

Doan rejoins Mn/DOT after serving as an economic analysis engineer in the Office of Investment Management. His career with Mn/DOT started in 1999.

In his new position, Doan will direct Mn/DOT’s involvement in developing privately built and financed toll roads to help relieve traffic congestion in the Twin Cities metro area.

Doan holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University. He serves as an officer the Naval Reserve and chairs the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans.

He may be reached at 651/284-3605 or by GroupWise.

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