By Beth Petrowske 

By the end of December, all Mn/DOT radios will be connected to the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response network—an interoperable radio communications system that allows Mn/DOT, the Department of Public Safety, law enforcement and other public agencies to communicate more effectively with each other, especially during an emergency.

“With the ARMER system, all participants are able to communicate from anywhere in the state with anybody else connected to the system,” said Mark Gieseke, Electronic Communications director.

Previous to the implementation of the ARMER system there were few common frequencies for radio communications, resulting in regular communication breakdowns between public safety responders during emergencies.

Metro District has been using the ARMER system since 2002 and has benefited from its effectiveness, according to Gieseke.

“ARMER allowed Mn/DOT emergency response personnel to communicate seamlessly among themselves and with other emergency responders after the Interstate 35W Bridge collapse and during the Republican National Convention,” Gieseke said. “ARMER also has proven to be very effective for typical day-to-day communications.”

Development of the ARMER system began in the late 1990s. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave national attention to the need for a unified, reliable radio communications system. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission set a 2012 deadline for all VHF band radios to be narrowbanded, meaning many agencies with older equipment would need to replace their radio systems.

There will eventually be 327 radio towers built about 20 miles apart throughout Minnesota to handle ARMER radio traffic. Sixty percent of the towers already have been built—the remaining 40 percent will be completed by 2013. The towers are designed to be shared with other public safety agencies and can be leased to private businesses, including cell phone companies.

Mn/DOT owns and operates the ARMER system for the state of Minnesota. The system is used by more than 40,000 radio subscribers today and will eventually serve at least twice that number, according to Gieseke. Subscribers on the system include:

• State agencies
• City and county law enforcement
• Fire departments
• Emergency medical service providers
• Public works departments
• Emergency management officials
• Transit providers

There are 70 counties, and local governments within those counties, currently planning to migrate to ARMER, which is a voice-only communications system.

“The ARMER system was developed because voice communication is the most critical form of communication in emergency situations,” Gieseke said. “The next step to improving statewide communications will be the development of an interoperable data system that will provide emergency responders with the tools they need to share data files, video and text messages.”

The 2010 shipping season officially ended at 2:35 p.m., Nov. 25, when the M/V A. Steve Crowley passed through Lock and Dam #2 in Hastings and headed down river to its final docking place in St Louis.

This year’s towing season in the Twin Cities lasted 229 days, the shortest season since 2001.

“The short season can be attributed to lock repairs and high water down river, said Dick Lambert, Ports and Waterways Section director. “The Twin Cities didn’t flood this year until September, which is extremely unusual.”

All employees are invited to attend the grand reopening of the newly redesigned Mn/DOT Library Wednesday, Dec.15. The celebration will feature speakers, refreshments, door prizes and giveaways.

An open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with speakers beginning at 1:30 p.m., including:

• Commissioner Tom Sorel
• Bernie Arseneau, Policy, Safety & Strategic Initiatives Division director
• Nick Thompson, Office of Policy Analysis, Research & Innovation director
• Linda Taylor, Research Services director
• Sheila Hatchell, Library director

Employees unable to attend in person can listen to the speakers via Adobe Connect by logging in as a guest beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The Library remodeling project was part of the comprehensive Library development plan generated by focus group interviews. The project was initiated in response to customer requests for improved working areas, more computers and wireless Internet access. The newly improved Library features:

• Redesigned floor plan with emphasis on open, friendly, efficient work and reading areas for both users and staff
• Relocated reference and circulation desk
• Free Wi-Fi access 
• Kindle e-readers
• Updated collections
• Redesigned website and electronic newsletter
• Two networked computers that allow employees to access the Mn/DOT network
• Two public computers that provide access to the Internet outside of the Mn/DOT firewall
• Additional tables where people can work alone or with others
• Comfortable chairs for those who wish to read or use a laptop

Door prizes, including leadership books recommended and signed by Commissioner Sorel, will be available to drawing winners. Names will be selected from a list of employees who register either in person or via Adobe Connect by using their full name when logging into the speaker presentation. Winners who are present at the time of the drawing also can have their pictures taken with Commissioner Sorel.

By Bob Filipczak

For the past several months, the Office of Information Technology and Office of Communications have been working to redesign iHUB, the department’s internal website. The new design went into effect Nov. 30, and much to the satisfaction of Kay Korsgaard, Mn/DOT webmaster, no one seemed to notice.

“Changing websites is a lot like road construction—the less people are inconvenienced by changes to their normal routines, the better,” Korsgaard said. “In the case of iHUB, the layout and colors have changed to provide a better overall design.

“The navigation on the left also has been rearranged and relabeled, but most of the links and functions of iHUB are still there.”

For example:

"The beauty of the Web is that it's easy to update as needs change or new information becomes available,” Korsgaard said.

To share ideas for new content or to report missing links, contact Kay Korsgaard at 651-366-4267, or e-mail the Mn/DOT Web team.

By Lisa Yang

Every spring and fall, Mn/DOT’s prescribed burn crews conduct intentional burns on state highway roadsides to promote desirable vegetation and control noxious weeds, plants and other unwanted vegetation from growing. As temperatures and snow continue to fall, crews are already planning for next spring’s burn season.

Ken Graeve, botanist and plant ecologist in the Office of Environmental Services, leads many of the burn crews when they go out into the field. Not all districts have burn crews—there are currently crews in Metro District, District 3 (Baxter/St. Cloud) and District 6 (Rochester/Owatonna), with interest growing in some of the other districts.

“The goal is vegetation management,” Graeve said. “A good way to manage vegetation is to prevent weeds in the first place."

About a dozen prescribed burns are conducted every year and the number may increase as crews become more equipped and better organized. Mowing roadsides is sometimes used as an alternative, but burning has a better effect on desirable vegetation, according to Graeve.

Crew members attend a week-long, wild-land fire fighter training class offered through the Department of Natural Resources before they can perform prescribed burns. One of the things crew members learn about in the training is fire behavior.

“We have to be able to predict where the fire is going to go depending on wind conditions, the slope of the area—there can be several factors,” Graeve said. “We want to use that knowledge of predicting how fire is going to behave to our advantage.”

Months before a prescribed burn takes place, planning begins, which includes identifying burn sites and objectives. Crews then look at the time of year that would be best to burn the site as well as the weather conditions to decide which day to burn. They must then obtain a permit from the DNR and inform area residents and the local fire department. In addition, crews prepare the burn site by mowing fire breaks to estimate where they need to stop burning and figure out how hot the fire needs to be to meet their goal.

On the actual day of the burn, signs are set up along the highway to warn drivers that a prescribed burn is taking place and there could be smoke.

“We usually meet mid-morning and check the area for hazards that we haven’t seen before,” Graeve said. “We then light a small fire and test how it behaves and where the smoke goes—we check the weather at least once every hour.”

Crew members wear standard reflective vests and hats along with fire resistant outfits so they can work more closely with the fire.

There are several tools and pieces of equipment used during the prescribed burn:

• Drip torch—a can of diesel fuel and gasoline with a burning wick on top used to light vegetation on fire by dripping the fuel out of the spout.
• Flapper—a shovel with what looks like a mud flap on the end to control fire by smothering it—Crew members tamper down on the edges of flames that are less than four feet high to put out any small flames that need to be extinguished.
• Backpack sprayer—a “great big squirt gun of water,” according to Graeve. The five-gallon, 45-pound backpack sprayer is used to extinguish flames.
• Pickup truck—a standard truck that becomes a make-shift fire engine and refills backpack sprayers with water. A tanker truck is also on site to provide extra water.
• All-terrain vehicles—ATVs equipped with water tanks, pumps and hoses are available in a few districts for burn crews to use for water spraying.