By Donna Lindberg  

Visitors to the 2006 Minnesota State Fair can relive the history of Minnesota’s transportation system at Mn/DOT’s exhibit.    

The exhibit, whose theme is “Transportation Past and Present,” commemorates the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway system and its effects on life in Minnesota. Displays include excerpts from essays written about the system by high school students who participated in an essay contest.

The exhibit also will include a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, a powerful, luxurious car designed for long-distance travel on the nation’s rapidly growing network of interstate freeways.

“Our state fair booth will function as a kind of time machine,” said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau. “Visitors can look back at the history of the modern transportation system, check out current practices and projects and see Mn/DOT’s continuing efforts to improve transportation in the future.”

The displays look at innovations in rail, water, air and transit transportation that have helped shape Minnesota’s quality of life.

The exhibit also provides a hands-on look at Mn/DOT’s core services such as snowplowing and traffic management.

Visitors can climb inside the cab of a snowplow to see how the plow’s on-board, automated systems allow operators to choose the most effective snow-fighting tactics as traffic, weather and road conditions change.

Mn/DOT employees staffing the booth will explain operation of the 511 Traveler Information System. The system provides weather, road conditions and other information by telephone and the Internet.

Recent enhancements, such as route-specific road condition reports filed by snowplow operators in the field, help better inform 511 system users. Other changes make it easier to go from reports on the Web page to news releases posted on the Web site and design schematics that make the system easier to use for people who have color-blindness.

Booth visitors also may meet with Molnau, who will make several appearances at the booth located on Judson Avenue at Underwood Street, just west of the Dairy Building.

“The fair is known as the great Minnesota Get-Together,” Molnau said. “We’d like fair visitors to get together with us to learn about how we’re improving the state’s transportation system for the next 50 years.”

By Craig Wilkins

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s tracks parallel Hwy 10 for much of its length, especially where it runs through Detroit Lakes. There, the highway and the rails are only about 50 feet apart.

When District 4 staff began planning a new Hwy 10 alignment in the city, railroad officials required precise monitoring to detect the slightest movement of the rail bed during reconstruction.

To meet that requirement, District 4 and the railroad agreed to use a survey total station to send optic beams to a series of 64 prisms mounted on railroad ties. The station triangulates reflections from the prisms to determine any lateral or vertical movements.

If the system detects movement, it automatically notifies the railroad and the project’s survey crew by e-mail and a cell phone text message.

Tom Harper, survey crew chief, said the Leica-made system is widely used in Europe to detect movement in dams and in the United States to monitor mining operations. But this is the first time, he said, the system has been used for a highway project.

The district’s application of the high-tech system also reflects some home-grown ingenuity.

One total station unit rests on a salvaged metal platform. The trunk of a recently felled cottonwood tree supports the platform and stairs.

Harper and his crew fashioned rubber mounts for the set of 64 prisms from an old tire. The mounts cushion them from the pounding caused by a dozen or more heavy freight trains that rumble through the project area every day and from nearby pile-driving operations.

The pile-driving is needed to build an underpass and a railroad bridge over Roosevelt Avenue, one of the city’s busiest streets, which will eliminate an at-grade crossing and the street’s intersection with Hwy 10.

The project, known as Connect Detroit Lakes, will also eliminate two at-grade crossings, straighten an S-curve on Hwy 10 and reduce the number of access points from 70 to 7.

The improvements will improve safety and mobility in the busy Hwy 10 corridor, said Shiloh Wahl, project engineer.

One part of the project, a rebuilt intersection for Hwy 34 and Hwy 59 in the city, was completed in July, a month early, Wahl said.  

“To accommodate a five-lane bridge over the BNSF and Canadian Pacific rails, the Hwy 34 and Hwy 59 intersection in the city was rebuilt and widened. Construction was completed a month early," Wahl said.

“Grading for the BNSF tracks will be completed this fall. The BNSF will start building its tracks next spring and start running trains on the new alignment by July 2007. Once the BNSF has switched onto the new alignment, we’ll remove the old tracks and start building the new Hwy 10 alignment,” he said.

The $37-million project is a joint effort by Mn/DOT, the city of Detroit Lakes and the BNSF.

Harper said railroad and project staff worked intensely this spring to get the system operating reliably.  

“We had some problems and a steep learning curve with the system at first,” Harper said, “but now the system is working as planned and we’re using it with little difficulty.”

Harper said the system has alerted him and the BNSF several times when movements have occurred.

The railroad, he said, has sent crews that check track alignments to prevent derailments or other problems.

“The system tells us first if there is a problem,” Harper said. “If a train discovers it first, it may be too late.”

By Craig Wilkins

The Federal Highway Administration will establish 24 centers nationwide to widen opportunities for women and people of color in the transportation industry during the next two years.

Frederick Isler, FHWA associate administrator for civil rights, announced the ongoing initiative at the AASHTO Conference on Civil Rights held Aug. 18-23 in Minneapolis.

The initiative establishes Business Opportunity and Workforce Development Centers to combine and strengthen the FHWA’s on-the-job training and its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs.

“We are agents of change in the environmental, social and economic spheres as well as in civil rights,” Isler said. “Civil rights laws open the doors, but we must reach out to create partnerships with schools, unions, contractors and community groups to get through the door.”

Isler said the FHWA, state DOTs and other agencies must listen to the actual needs of DBEs, contractors and other employers rather than offer only pre-packaged training programs that may not address their most crucial issues.

He urged transportation agencies to create or enhance efforts, such as matching new or struggling DBEs with established ones, creating union apprenticeship programs and having prime contractors serve as mentors to women- and minority-owned sub-contracting firms.

“Establishing partnerships is crucial if we are to succeed,” he said. “We need to engage fully with people about their questions and concerns. We need to stop saying, ‘Go to my Web site.’”

Conference participants also focused on parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other laws which require full access for people with disabilities when using transportation modes and facilities.

A general session on enforcement of ADA requirements was led by panel of managers from several federal agencies including the FHWA and the Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and Federal Railroad Administration.

They reported about areas where success has been gained and areas where more work is needed. The panelists also engaged with audience members in a free-wheeling discussion on a host of issues.

Panelists and audience members agreed the accessibility issues are increasing because of the nation’s aging population, the expectations that people with disabilities have and the growing awareness that barriers to access limit individual’s life choices and reduce their ability to contribute to community life.

They discussed topics ranging from buses, trains and taxis needing flat floors for access to accommodating the needs of people who use service animals such as seeing-eye dogs.

“Accessibility is a civil rights issue,” said Jodi Petersen, an FHWA civil rights Manager in the state of Washington.

“States need to be more pro-active to ensure access whether it’s designing curb cuts that wheelchair users can actually negotiate or safe access to transit stations,” she said. “We have an obligation to ensure that people with mobility impairments or other disabilities can participate fully in everyday life.”

The event also included a highway contractors forum where prime contractors, DBEs, civil rights leaders and others aired their concerns as well as workshops and panel discussions on several topics.

The workshops addressed topics such as signing and other methods to meet the needs of recent immigrants, tourists and others with limited English proficiency.  

By Meg Tilley and Jackie Winkelman

The annual Mn/DOT training community workshop featured a new twist this year: a trade fair with booths, giveaways and internal trainers presenting their latest courseware, products and services, according to Maggie Capocasa, Mn/DOT training manager.  

Thirty-five training professionals from all areas of Mn/DOT attended the workshop, held Aug. 2-3 in St. Cloud.

“This new format gave trainers a chance to interact and ask questions,” said Capocasa.

Cindy Bellefeuille, transportation program specialist at the Arden Hills training center, agreed.

“I really appreciated the time to explore and learn more in-depth information on the various courses and services available to the training community,” Bellefeuille said. “The expo was an excellent opportunity for us to talk with our peers about some of the efforts happening statewide and within the districts.”  

Eight booths displayed a range of topics including an introduction to safety for new employees, performance management and how to fine-tune feedback.

The day-and-a-half meeting also featured keynote speaker Jim McCarty, who spoke about “The Power of One,” and a presentation from DeLorah Curry, Human Resources, on workforce trends.

In addition, the training community was challenged to identify training content, skill sets, potential partnerships and values that will aid Mn/DOT in its ability to retain and grow its workforce, Capocasa said.

By Lisa Yang

Four student workers in Mn/DOT’s Phoenix program were recognized Aug. 14 at Seeds Day for their work in creating a device that turns sawdust into burning logs.

Seeds Day is the department’s annual celebration of the achievements of high school and college student workers and the contributions of their supervisors and mentors. The Seeds program provides job opportunities for minority or economically disadvantaged college students and focuses on permanent placement upon graduation. The Phoenix program is another early recruitment program that targets high school students interested in engineering and technical careers.

St. Paul Johnson High School students Kong Lee, Peng Lor and Zachary Waldera, all seniors, and Sean Close, a junior, along with other students started their project last September after a woodworking classmate at school asked, “Why don’t you do something with all that sawdust?”

It was discovered that 30 percent of the wood used in the school’s wood shop was turned into sawdust—the equivalent of throwing away $1,500 a year while costing the school $300 annually to dispose of the sawdust.

With help from 3M engineers and a $7,500 grant from the Lemelson-Massachusetts Institute of Technology program, the students proposed an automated and portable hydraulic system that would compress waste, such as sawdust, into burnable fireplace logs. The device also would have a heating system to burn the logs.

The students spent time after school, work, extra-curricular activities and personal life to work on the project.

“Time was a big challenge,” said Waldera. “We had to match up a lot of busy people’s schedules.”

Lor added, “We had to meet on Saturdays just to get everything done.”  

The machine’s capabilities include manufacturing 10 to 15 logs per hour with burn times of one to two hours per log at a cost of 65 cents per log.  

3M engineers and mentors helped with final designs and also machined large cylinders for the prototype.

Lee, Lor, Waldera, another student and Dave Gundale, a teacher at Johnson High School, flew to Massachusetts in June to present the project to MIT professors, business representatives and students from other schools.

“We were all kind of nervous, not knowing what to expect. Yet we were excited to finally show off the work that we had been working on for the past year. The feedback was very positive from everyone,” Lor said.

“This is ultimately what I believe gave merit to this project,” said Gundale. “Students had a deadline and then had to present their work to MIT faculty at the MIT campus. This was an incredible platform for the students.”

According to Rob Lowe, manager of the Seeds and Phoenix programs, “What these four young men did is a good example of the caliber of students that we have in the Phoenix program. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds knowing what they want to do in life is fantastic.”

Lor, Waldera and Lee, who graduated in June, are passing the project on to Close and other underclassmen for continued work. However, it is not certain yet whether the project will get further funding.

“It was a very satisfying experience to work with corporations such as 3M and MIT,” said Lor, who will attend the University of Minnesota this fall for electrical engineering.

Lee also will attend the University of Minnesota, and Waldera will attend Michigan Tech University for mechanical engineering.  

For more information about the Phoenix and Seeds programs, see http://www.dot.state.mn.us/hr/seeds/.

This e-mail recently was forwarded to Rob Williams, Mn/DOT’s rest area program manager. Follow this link for more information about the state’s safety rest areas and waysides.

My son (who is disabled) and I stopped at the rest stop on Interstate 90, north side of the road and just east of the Rochester exit (on June 28). We usually try to make our stops at Mn/DOT rest stops because they are so accessible for someone like him who uses a wheel chair.  

We weren't disappointed today but in addition to that, we were very happy to also find a unisex handicapped rest room at this particular stop. I made it a point to talk to the supervisor at that site and express my gratitude for this amenity. He gave me your name and e-mail address. Know that many people appreciate your efforts to accommodate disabled travelers. Thank you.  

Sincerely,
Carolyn Carpenter, Wayzata