Two lanes of traffic on the John A. Blatnik Bridge, which carries Interstate 535 between Duluth and Superior, Wis., were closed May 6 after recent calculations and field inspections determined that gusset plates in eight locations on the bridge did not meet the structure’s load requirement.

Travel on the bridge will be limited to one lane in each direction on the four-lane structure until angle irons can be installed to strengthen the 16 gusset plates (two per location).  

“I want to reassure the public that the bridge is safe or it would have been closed,” said Commissioner Tom Sorel. “We are taking a conservative action based on sound engineering practices.”

The repairs, and a final inspection, are expected to be completed by mid-June.

Mn/DOT’s decision to limit traffic on the bridge came after an analysis revealed an increase in weight loads from a new deck and from heavier railings installed when the bridge was reconstructed in the early 1990s.

The analysis was driven by a Federal Highway Administration directive in January asking states to recalculate bridge loads when major work was planned for the structure. Mn/DOT immediately began checking the gusset plates on all 25 of the state’s steel truss bridges, regardless of whether or not work was planned.

In March, Mn/DOT closed the Highway 23 DeSoto bridge in St. Cloud after a similar analysis and field inspection found problems with some of the bridge’s gusset plates.

“We are acting as quickly as we can to make repairs that will ensure the Blatnik Bridge remains safe,” Sorel said.

The Blatnik Bridge, which carries an average of 29,500 vehicles over the bridge daily, opened to traffic in 1961.

Motorists in the area still have full access to the Richard Bong Memorial Bridge, which also connects Duluth and Superior.

Mn/DOT is working with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to minimize the effects of the lane closures.

For more information about the Blatnik Bridge, visit Mn/DOT’s Web site at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/.

By Craig Wilkins

Quick thinking and using safety gear properly helped avoid serious injuries to a bridge maintenance crew washing an Interstate 35 bridge in Northfield.

The April 29 incident occurred when a semitrailer driver entered the work zone, hit a dump truck and then collided with the Owatonna-based crew’s water tanker.  

The driver drove past an arrow board truck and a sign trailer before suddenly veering into the work zone, said Troy Hollasch, Rochester/District 6 safety administrator.

The workers in each Mn/DOT truck were using seatbelts and suffered only minor injuries.

Mike Kiesler, the tanker driver, saw the first crash, then immediately locked his truck’s brakes to prevent it from rolling forward and striking Curt Broughten, who was flushing the bridge with a hose.

Mark Burkhartzmeyer, who was in the attenuator truck, received minor injuries. Both he and Kiesler were treated at a Faribault hospital and released.Broughten was not hurt.

They are transportation generalists at the Owatonna truck station.

The semitrailer driver was seriously injured and hospitalized in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Minnesota State Patrol reported he was not using a seat belt.

Hollasch said the truck-mounted crash attenuator absorbed the brunt of the impact before the semitrailer crashed into the tanker.

Workers involved in the crash and others at Owatonna met with Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team members, who helped them process their reactions to the incident.

“The Northfield incident and an earlier one in District 4 involving an employee who was wearing a seatbelt and walked away unhurt from a rollover crash illustrate how crucial the need is for Mn/DOT employees to follow safety standards and policies,” said Todd Haglin, state safety director.

Lynn Bisch, an administrative assistant at the Mankato District headquarters, died April 28 of cancer. She was 54.

Bisch had survived a bout with breast cancer in 2006, but fell ill with a different form of the disease last fall.

Funeral services were held May 2.

Bisch’s survivors include her husband, Mike, and a daughter, Crescentia.

She joined Mn/DOT at Mankato in 1985, and has served as executive assistant for District Engineer Jim Swanson since 1993.

Bisch earned the respect and affection of her coworkers for her strong work ethic, optimism, humor and caring nature.

Wendy Meyer, an administrative specialist at Mankato who had breast cancer seven years ago, said Bisch’s humor and optimism helped her and many others when they faced difficult times in their lives.

Now cancer-free, Meyer credits support from Bisch and other employees as part of the cause for her recovery.

“District 7 will not be the same with Lynn’s loss,” said Rebecca Arndt, district public affairs coordinator. “She graced us with her smile, her laugh and her keen sense of humor every day.

“Lynn was a true public servant,” Arndt said. “She put others first and was very conscientious about how decisions affected her co-workers, people in the transportation industry and the public at large.

“She treated everyone as though they were the most important person she needed to deal with, set the bar high for a strong work ethic and was always there, sleeves rolled up, to meet any challenge given to her.

“Many of us sought her confidence and common sense when we were faced with difficult dilemmas,” Arndt said. “Lynn was many things, but foremost she was a friend. I feel privileged to have known her.”

Swanson, who eulogized Bisch at her funeral, said they shared similar backgrounds and values, which helped them run their office in concert.

“Lynn was a hard worker, organized, and quickly earned respect for knowing what she was doing,” he said. “She was one of those people who could stay calm in the midst of turmoil while doing about 100 things at a time.”

Swanson said Bisch was versatile and always willing to help others.

“Lynn was able to help new employees learn their way in the organization and host foreign visitors and others with equal aplomb,” he said.

“She had a knack for working with people and was a good listener,” Swanson said. “She also had a great smile, a great laugh and a great sensor of humor.

“We will miss her very much,” he said.  

By Craig Wilkins

No one stood to applaud them, but two heavy snowstorms in mid-April set the stage for a troublesome reprise on April 26.

The encore performance dropped as much as 18 inches of snow in some locations and snarled traffic in many areas.

Slippery roads and low visibility forced closing a section Interstate 94 between Evansville and Alexandria in District 4 for several hours.

Some Mn/DOT maintenance crews had removed plows, sanders and other winter gear from their plow trucks after the first two April storms, but the weather ignored their cues.

April’s third storm brought a barrage of rain, heavy snow, high winds and unseasonably cold temperatures.

Snow accumulations set records for April in many places, including 19 inches in Brainerd, 14.6 inches in Duluth and 32 inches in Detroit Lakes.  

Bemidji received 48 inches of snow, but the National Weather Service could not determine if it were a record amount.

Morris maintenance area cities, including Elbow Lake and Pelican Rapids, had 18-inch snowfalls from the April 26 storm.

Among those least surprised by April’s behavior is Dean Olson, an Elbow Lake native and a 40-year veteran of maintaining the state’s highways.

Olson now serves as District 4’s maintenance superintendent at Morris.

“I remember plowing snow on May 17 in the late 1970s when I was working at the Aitkin truck station in District 3,” he said.

“After I transferred to Morris, we would schedule spring safety meetings in late April, then have to cancel them to go plow snow, so this spring storm business is not exactly new.”

Olson did acknowledge, though, that a whole lot of snow fell this April.  

“We had 18 inches at Elbow Lake and Pelican Rapids and 11 inches right here in Morris just from the last storm,” he said. “The good thing about these storms is that the sun and warm pavement temperatures help us get rid of the snow pretty fast.”

By Craig Wilkins

Mn/DOT’s new driving simulators sound, feel and look so much like a snowplow it’s easy to believe you’re in a real one.

And that’s the basic idea.

In snowplow mode, the simulator operates like a plow while trainees react to a stream of video images.

As the trainees navigate through the session, the simulator also provides realistic sensations such as the feel of an icy road, the pull from a heavy snow load on plow blades and noises from the plow, wind, traffic and blades scraping the road surfaces.

“The simulators create a controlled environment that allows snowplow operators to improve their skills and their ability to react quickly and safely and make better decisions to the situations they face,” said Linda Taylor, Maintenance Research and Training engineer.                            

Taylor said the simulators will train operators how to react systematically to conditions such as blown tires, white-out conditions or spin-outs on slippery road surfaces.

The simulators, Taylor said, can supplement snowplow operator training for rookie operators as well as help seasoned employees keep their skills sharp and up-to-date.

The configuration of the simulators can be changed to resemble a car or a pick-up truck in order to provide training on defensive and evasive driving, fuel management and other skills for all employees, she said.

Taylor said studies of the simulators’ use by other state DOTs indicate they are an effective way to reduce the number and severity of crashes.

District 1 will be the first district to use the simulators, Taylor said. The simulators will travel throughout the district and provide training for four to six employees each day. Use of the simulator will rotate around the state. It will be scheduled for three weeks in the Greater Minnesota districts and five weeks in the Metro District.

The simulator training sessions include PowerPoint presentations, computer-based training and hands-on/behind-the-wheel of the simulator. Andy Kubista, Maintenance Operations Research, and district trainers will conduct the simulator training.

Joe Huneke, Maintenance Operations Research’s new winter maintenance coordinator, said the simulators provide an essential training tool.

Huneke, a transportation generalist, is on temporary assignment from the District 6’s Zumbrota truck station.

He said the simulators would greatly benefit snowplow operators like himself to adapt from working in rural settings to an urban location such as Rochester.

“The simulators give trainees an opportunity to practice plow handling, gang-plowing or the way they respond to situations and to get it right—something they can’t do in the real world,” Huneke said.

By Lucy Kender

Mn/DOT’s new commissioner Tom Sorel is a familiar face at the department as he served as the Federal Highway Administration’s Minnesota Division Administrator for the past three years. Sorel began as Mn/DOT’s 17th commissioner on April 28.

Sorel’s first week on the job included myriad news media interviews, countless get-to-know-you better meetings and a very cold ribbon cutting for a project in District 1 near Ely.

Sorel hopes to visit with employees in the districts and offices as soon as possible.

“I look forward to meeting more of the Mn/DOT staff across the state and listening to new ideas,” said Sorel.

“I also hope to very visible with our partners and customers in the community,” he said. He wants to “open doors” for staff with Mn/DOT’s stakeholders.

Sorel uses servant leadership as his management philosophy and promises Mn/DOT employees will be hearing more about the specifics of that philosophy in the weeks ahead.

“Serve others first. That’s how I summarize servant leadership,” he said. “Of course I am here to serve Gov. Pawlenty, but also the citizens of the state and the employees of Mn/DOT.”

Sorel plans to review the agency’s organizational structure but does not plan a major overhaul, perhaps just some “tweaking.”

“My number one priority is to help rebuild the public trust and confidence in Mn/DOT and in the transportation system,” he said. “But I will need the help of Mn/DOT managers and staff to accomplish that. I’ve been impressed by the professionalism and experience of the employees I’ve met so far, and look forward to working together as a team.”

Sorel said that his 30 years of experience with the FHWA has prepared him well for this new position.

“I hope I can bring that federal perspective to help Mn/DOT move forward on its objectives,” he said.

“I look upon my new job as commissioner as a calling of sorts,” he said. “I am passionate about transportation and am honored to be serving in this new role for Minnesota.”

For more on Commissioner Sorel please see:

• Pioneer Press article (May 1, 2008)
• Associated Press article (April 30, 2008)  
• Governor’s news release (April 21, 2008)

By Donna Lindberg

On Workers Memorial Day, April 28, 2008, Mn/DOT districts and locations statewide remembered fallen coworkers in many different ways.

District offices and Central Office played a message from Mn/DOT’s Operations Division Director Bob Winter and then observed a moment of silence in honor of the 31 Mn/DOT employees who have been killed or injured on the job since 1960.

In some cases, district events were held in partnership with local contractor or union groups.

Approximately 225 employees attended a Metro District program, which included recognizing workers who have gone above and beyond to improve and promote work zone safety.

District 3 traffic and maintenance engineers addressed Baxter and St. Cloud employees, and safety officers made opening remarks during safety training in those locations.

Mn/DOT and contractor employees working on the reconstruction of the Interstate 35W bridge ceased work for a few minutes at 2 p.m. in memory of workers and as well as the individuals who lost their lives when the old bridge collapsed on Aug. 1, 2007.

On Friday, April 25, Mankato International Union of Operating Engineers - Local 49 representatives sponsored a memorial event in partnership with Mn/DOT District 7 at the construction site of the new Blue Earth County Law Enforcement Center. Congressman Tim Walz spoke, while others shared thoughts of persons injured or killed.

Mn/DOT, union and contractor participants at a Workers Memorial Day event at the Duluth Labor Center planted an apple tree to honor northern Minnesota workers who have died on the job. In addition, Mn/DOT District 1 placed changeable message signs with Workers Memorial Day messages in high traffic areas in Duluth and Virginia.