By Lucy Kender

The state Legislature adjourned Monday night after having passed a base budget bill for Mn/DOT.

“We’re pleased that the $3.3 billion base budget for Mn/DOT has been approved so that we’re not faced with a potential shutdown,” said Bob McFarlin, assistant to the commissioner.

The base budget allows Mn/DOT to continue its construction and operations programs but adds no additional financing for accelerating road construction projects.

“We are disappointed that the Legislature could not come to agreement with Gov. Pawlenty on future transportation financing methods,” said McFarlin. “The governor had a very sound proposal that made progress on transportation in Minnesota.”

Mn/DOT’s budget bill includes the new monies from the motor vehicle sales tax constitutional amendment approved by voters last fall, appropriating 60 percent to roads, 36 percent to Metro Transit and four percent to greater Minnesota transit. When fully implemented in 2012, the new revenue will be equal to a five-cent gas tax increase.

“This marks an historic final step in the constitutional dedication of motor vehicle sales tax for transportation” said McFarlin. “Transportation will benefit from this step for years to come.”

See also Mn/DOT’s Daily News Clippings for May 22, 2007 for a round-up of transportation-related articles about the legislative session.

Motorists and other travelers will be able to pick up a copy of the new state highway map at several locations during the Memorial Day weekend.

“We might not think of the map as a safe driving tool, but motorists who know where they’re going can focus their attention more fully on their driving,” said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau.

The 2007-08 highway map reflects Minnesota’s changing landscape and population centers. The Twin Cities metro area inset, for example, now includes all of Hennepin County. The new map also adds inset maps for the cities of Alexandria and Buffalo.

Maps are available without cost at highway rest areas, Mn/DOT offices, chambers of commerce and the 10 state travel information centers operated by Explore Minnesota Tourism. The map can be viewed and downloaded from Mn/DOT’s Web site at www.dot.state.mn.us/statemap.

By Kevin Gutknecht

As winters go, the just-ended snow and ice season was about average compared to others during the last five years.                                                                                                   

According to the final snow and ice report released by the Office of Maintenance, Mn/DOT spent about $31.2 million on snow and ice operations for 2006-07. That compares to $35.5 million last year—the most Mn/DOT spent in the last five years—and $20.3 million, which is what the state spent in 2002-03.

An average of 35 inches of snow fell across the state this winter, the same amount that fell in 2002-03. In 2005-06, the state received an average of 44.4 inches of snow. The snowiest recent winter was in 2003-04 when the state received an average of 66 inches.

Mn/DOT meets its snow removal targets (see performance measures article in this issue)

One of the most visible performance measures Mn/DOT makes each year is how quickly it clears snow from state roadways when snow stops falling.

For the 2006-07 snow season, Mn/DOT met its targets statewide with an average clearing, or “regain,” time of 6.8 hours. Last year, the average clearing time for all roads across the state was 7.2 hours.

Target times are based on roadway type and on research indicating how long the public thinks Mn/DOT should take to clear the roads.  

The regain time number can be deceiving. Most motorists notice that snow is cleared from roadways, particularly busy ones, within an hour or two. However, the average regain time is calculated by taking all of the roads statewide and averaging the length of time it took to clear them once the snow had ceased. Mn/DOT uses five road classifications, based on type of road and how much traffic is on the road, in determining the average.

For a definition of the road categories and the maintenance philosophy on clearing roads, visit http://www.dot.state.mn.us/maint/operations-practices.html.

By Craig Wilkins

Large Norway pines and ground-hugging shrub roses now create an attractive gateway to Sandstone from Interstate 35.

A community- and Mn/DOT-led effort planted pine and birch trees, lilacs and other shrubs in the southeast quadrant of the freeway’s interchange with Hwy 23 on May 19.

Participants included members of the Pine County master gardeners’ club, inmates from the nearby federal prison, city employees and firefighters and staff from Duluth/District 1.

Tom Jacobson, a transportation specialist at Duluth, led the district’s contributions to the project.

Patti Strohmayer, a landscape designer in Technical Support, served as project coordinator.

The planting at Sandstone represents Mn/DOT’s continuing effort to beautify roadsides through its Community Landscape Partnership Program. Mn/DOT staff design the projects and supply trees, shrubs and other plants. Communities do the planting and accept responsibility for watering and other plant care.

While the crew at Sandstone worked in the north woods, another group of community members, firefighters and Mn/DOT staff worked to add visual interest to West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis near the ramp that connects Hwy 55 to I-94.

Working in concert, volunteers from the Plymouth Avenue Green Team and the North Side Residents Council, Metro District maintenance crews and Scott Robinson, a landscape designer with Technical Support, cleared out overgrown shrubs and replaced them with Black Hills spruce and elm trees as well as red twig dogwood, other shrubs and vines.

Minneapolis firefighters pitched in to move some of the larger trees and watered the plantings, Robinson said.

Robinson cited the firefighters and Robert Hendel, a maintenance area supervisor at Eden Prairie, for working in step with community volunteers to complete the project.

“Contributions from volunteer groups, firefighters and Mn/DOT reflect the program’s intent to involve communities in beautification efforts and to share responsibilities with them,” he said.

Since its inception in 1991, the community landscaping program has completed scores of projects statewide and forged working relationships among city, county and state government agencies, community leaders and residents.  

Strohmayer said future plans at Sandstone include more roadside plantings.

“The community really wants us to come back,” she said.

By Donna Lindberg

When Mn/DOT’s Statewide Transportation Plan for 2003-23 was approved four years ago, it was the first statewide transportation plan to incorporate performance measures.

“A key new part of the 2003 plan was the performance measures,” said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau. “This has helped us direct investments toward efforts that get more results at a lower cost. They also help us provide maximum customer value for our services.”

Performance measurement is not new. Mn/DOT began measuring its performance in the mid 1990s with snow and ice and other maintenance services. By the early 2000s, development of a “dashboard” performance management system made the department a statewide and nationwide leader in this discipline.

“Managers look at past spending and budget priorities to determine if they meet performance targets,” said Kevin Gray, Finance and Administration Division director. “This helps them determine the best ways to deliver the most important services to the public and direct resources to agency priorities.”

Performance measures at Mn/DOT are based on the agency’s strategic goals of helping Minnesotans travel safer, smarter and more efficiently.

“We have always asked ourselves ‘What are the right things to do, did we do the right things, and are we doing them right?’” said Molnau. “Mn/DOT employees and our partners have made incredible strides to improve the transportation system in Minnesota. During the past six years, we’ve increased construction by 50 percent from the previous six-year period and did so without increases in staff or state revenue.”

Mn/DOT is not alone in its use of performance measures. Several Minnesota counties, including Dakota, Washington and Hennepin, now use performance measures to manage roads, streets and other services. It is also common practice in other state departments of transportation and in local governments.

All Minnesota state agencies now post a Department Results Scorecard on the governor’s State of Minnesota Results Web site at the end of each year. Performance targets are set for a level of accomplishment based on annual customer surveys that indicate where the public would like service improved.

Mn/DOT reports about 13 performance measures annually on the governor’s site, including:

Congestion on Twin Cities metro area freeways

While growing congestion and traffic volumes continue to present challenges, Mn/DOT has reduced congestion in the Twin Cities three years in a row, something few other major metropolitan areas have been able to achieve. Through multiple strategies, including the bond-accelerated projects and expanded incident management partnerships, the percentage of the Twin Cities freeway system congested during peak hours has dropped from 22.9 percent in 2003, to 20.6 percent in 2006.  

Safety

Mn/DOT has played a lead role in developing and implementing the state’s Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan and Toward Zero Deaths program.

Through cooperative efforts by Mn/DOT, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Department of Public Safety, counties, emergency response team providers, local citizens groups and individual Minnesotans driving more safely, the number of highway fatalities has fallen dramatically during the last three years. In 2006, the number of highway fatalities dropped from more than 600 to 494, the lowest number of fatalities in 45 years. This has not only exceeded all department targets, it is one of the lowest fatality rates in the nation.

State highway pavements

Because of low investment early in the decade, Mn/DOT’s actual pavement condition in 2006 was short of performance targets and well below the level of 1995-2002. Mn/DOT has made some gains on highest volume roads and less than five percent of all trunk highways are currently rated poor. The department is also working to prioritize future resources to address the increasing number of highway miles in “poor” condition due to aging and traffic growth.

State highway bridges

State bridges are still performing slightly below targets, though conditions have improved. Today, due to increased investments, Minnesota has fewer state highway bridges in “poor” condition than at any time in the last 10 years.

Snow and ice removal (see related article in this issue)

Every winter since 1999, Mn/DOT has met annual performance targets for how quickly snow and ice are cleared after a storm, although a few individual major storms and below-zero temperature snowfalls still present a challenge.

By Donna Lindberg

Three Mn/DOT initiatives received 2006 environmental awards from the Federal Highway Administration.

“Mn/DOT projects and initiatives have won more environmental excellence awards from the FHWA than any other state in the nation,” said Frank Pafko, Office of Environmental Services director.

“Mn/DOT employees should be proud of their commitment to the environment in the work they do every day for the citizens of our state.”

The Minneapolis Grand Rounds Wayfinding Program won an award in the scenic byways category. The initiative is an interpretive program that provides residents and visitors to the Minneapolis Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway with the tools to understand and use the byway.

Mn/DOT’s biomound process for reuse of petroleum-contaminated soil won in the recycling category. The process is a low-cost, low-maintenance composting technique that makes it possible to reuse contaminated soil rather than send it to a landfill.  

Winning in the restoration category was the Bob Jacobson Wetland Restoration Project, formerly called the Wingard Wetland and Grassland Restoration Project. The project was renamed in remembrance of Bob Jacobson, a former wetlands program supervisor with Office of Environmental Services who died suddenly in January.

The wetland restoration project, the largest ever undertaken by a Minnesota agency, restored approximately 750 acres of wetlands and 1,150 acres of tall grass prairie in Polk County in the Red River Valley. In its restored condition, this flat expanse of historic Lake Agassiz will once again look like it did before it was farmed.

The Bob Jacobson Wetland Restoration Project also received a separate FHWA award that recognizes outstanding transportation projects, processes and people who incorporate environmental stewardship into the planning and project development using FHWA funding sources.  

For more information, see FHWA Environmental Excellence awards.