Twin Cities Metropolitan Area freeway traffic congestion increased slightly between 2008 and 2009, from 17.3 percent to 18.2 percent overall, according to the recently released Metropolitan Freeway System 2009 Congestion Report.

Many factors affect congestion levels, such as the local economy, population growth, gas prices, transit ridership and vehicle miles traveled, according to Mn/DOT officials. Congestion is expected to plateau or increase minimally over the next few years as current and planned highway projects near completion.

Goals for addressing congestion include operational solutions, such as rapid clearing of traffic incidents, electronic message signs and ramp meters.

“Mn/DOT is also working closely with the Metropolitan Council and other partners to provide a safe, reliable and modern transportation system,” said Scott McBride, Metro District Engineer. “The range of solutions includes cost-effective construction projects to improve traffic flow, high-occupancy voluntary toll lanes, expanded park-and-ride lots, bus shoulder bypass lanes and bus rapid transit projects.”

Highway construction projects completed between 2002 and 2009 have helped with the overall trend of declining congestion. Some of the projects include the following:

• Completion of the Urban Partnership Agreement project on I-35W, which includes areas of increased capacity as well as a High Occupancy Toll lane
• The new I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis
• Addition of lanes and “unweaving” at I-35E and I-694 in Vadnais Heights and Little Canada
• The new I-35E Mississippi River Bridge in St. Paul
• Lane additions in each direction of I-694 between Brooklyn Boulevard and I-494 in the northwest suburbs
• Lane additions in each direction of I-494 between Highway 55 and France Avenue in the southwest suburbs
• Lane additions on I-94 over McKnight Road east of St. Paul
• Lane additions on Highway 100 at Highway 7 in St. Louis Park
• Completion of the first of two bridges carrying I-494 over the Mississippi River in South St. Paul, adding a lane in each direction

 Other capacity-adding projects that will be completed in the coming years include:

• Highway 62/Crosstown at Interstate 35W and Highway 62 in Minneapolis and Richfield
• Wakota Bridge/I-494 spanning the Mississippi River in South St. Paul and Newport
• Interchange reconstruction at Highway 169/County Road 81 in Brooklyn Center
• Completion of third lanes on I- 494 between Highway 61 and I-94 in the east metro
• Highway 610 extension in Maple Grove

To view the complete Metropolitan Freeway System 2009 Congestion Report, visit http://www.dot.state.mn.us/reports/congestion/Final_CongestionReport2009.pdf

By Bob Filipczak

Employees at the Lakeville Truck Station fired up a new salt blender on Feb. 8 that is designed to save the department a lot of time and money. The new machine, designed by Mn/DOT and assembled by Ruffridge-Johnson Equipment Co., blends road salt with a liquid deicing chemical that makes the salt more effective and less corrosive.

“Salt needs to be treated so it will stick to the road better,” said Ryan Otte, research project manager. “Moreover, the solution makes the salt work better at lower temperatures and can reduce overall salt use by 30 percent.”

The blender sprays the salt with a solution and blends it together much more efficiently than the old way, which consisted of spreading the salt out, hosing it down and pushing it back in the shed using a loader.

“The most you could get done with hand mixing was a couple of hundred tons a day,” Otte said. “With the blending station, we can treat 140 tons an hour.”

The other option for blending was to have the salt vendor do it, but that costs about $10-$20 per ton. Additionally, the quality control was inconsistent when the vendor blended the salt, according to Otte.

The blending station is mounted on a trailer so it can be taken to various truck stations to help them accumulate a supply of treated salt.

Tom Halverson became the new chief financial officer Feb. 22. 

As CFO, Halverson will serve as the agency’s chief financial spokesperson and work with the state legislature, Office of the Legislative Auditor, Department of Finance, and other state and federal agencies with regard to Mn/DOT’s financial activities, budget status and overall financial goals.

His 33 years of financial experience include senior executive roles. Most recently, Halverson served as senior financial manager for Pepsico Inc. in Chicago, Ill. He has also worked as senior vice president and CFO of Leaf, Inc. and finance director for ConAgra Foods.

“I’ve been in the private sector for many years, so this is a great opportunity to learn something new,” Halverson said.

Halverson has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting/Business from the University of Minnesota and is a certified public accountant.

Halverson’s office is located on the 4th floor of Central Office. He can be contacted at 651-366-4816.

In response to the more than 500 ideas generated by the inaugural E-magination JAM, Mn/DOT has assigned three employees to lead development of the flagship initiatives—Tech Connections, Sustainability and Workplace of Choice. The employees will begin their new jobs March 3.

Matt Koukol is set to become the project manager of the Tech Connections initiative. Koukol will be responsible for planning, developing, coordinating and implementing ideas pertaining to Tech Connections. He will be involved with a wide variety of initiatives that will advance transparency by reaching agency customers through computer-based collaborative technologies, tools and strategies.

Koukol has worked in a variety of offices during his 12 years with the department, including Human Resources and Information & Technology Services. He is currently serving as Data Systems and Coordination section director.

Cindy Carlsson will serve as Sustainability project manager. In her role, Carlsson will be responsible for planning, developing, coordinating and implementing submitted ideas relative to Sustainability. She will be involved in a wide array of initiatives that explore green action steps the department can take to enable resource efficiencies and steward workplace shifts.

Carlsson began her career at Mn/DOT in 2001 and has spent most of her time working as a planner in the Office of Investment Management. Most recently, she has been responsible for working with Minnesota's seven metropolitan planning organizations to ensure that their planning leads to the development of a fully integrated, multi-modal transportation system.

Throughout her nine-year career at Mn/DOT, Cindy Carlsson has worked on a variety of issues pertaining to land use, sustainable development, conservation, environmental protection and community livability.

Rebecca Fabunmi will serve as project manager of the Workplace of Choice initiative. Fabunmi will be responsible for planning, developing, coordinating and implementing ideas relative to Workplace of Choice. She will be involved with a wide variety of initiatives that will promote employee well-being, development and success by bringing constructive input to fruition.

Fabunmi has 13 years of experience in transportation engineering, including highway design, hydrology, project management and traffic. She will remain in her position as special assistant to Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner while leading the initiative. Carlsson and Koukol will work out of the Office of Policy Analysis, Research & Innovation.

The work of all three project managers will include project scope and schedules, cost analysis and risk assessment. They will have to work across all Mn/DOT functions and will report their progress to the Stewardship Council each month.

The four E-magination JAM themes and ideas that are not part of the three flagship initiatives—Targeted Transparency, Operational Innovations, Scope Incentive and Public-Private Partnerships—will be assigned to the appropriate Mn/DOT offices for further examination and possible implementation.

For more information on the progress and status of ideas, visit the E-magination JAM Web site at http://ihub.dot.state.mn.us/emaginationjam/.

By Qin Tang

Employees curious about how many new items are added to the library, how many items are circulated and how many questions are answered can check out the latest issue of New Library Materials for 2009 statistics.

New Library Materials is a compilation of new book titles and other resources added to the library collection during the previous month. If you would like to be added to our distribution list, please contact Pam Gonzalez at 651-366-3749.  

“If there ever was a time to look at innovation, now is that time,” Commissioner Tom Sorel said in a recent interview for Innovator, a Federal Highway Administration publication.

Sorel, who worked for FHWA for 30 years before coming to Mn/DOT in 2008, was quizzed on his view on using innovation and marketing to enhance a state transportation agency’s success.

“I think the key to moving forward is respecting the past. I say that over and over again here in Minnesota. If we can respect the past and the people who have done a great job getting us to where we are today, then change and innovation become more acceptable,” he said.

By Commissioner Tom Sorel

I often have employees ask me about the books I like to read. As many of you know, I am a vocal proponent of servant leadership, and have read a great deal on that topic. But, over the years, many other books have inspired me, and I would like to share some of them with you in the upcoming months.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce the beginning of a monthly book discussion group, open to anyone who has an interest in reading and discussing books about leadership. The goal is to enhance our leadership strategic direction and empower all employees to be leaders/ambassadors for Mn/DOT.

Each month there will be a new book discussion hosted by a member of my staff.  All employees are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. Reading the book is encouraged, but not required. For those who are not available to physically attend the discussions, there will also be an Adobe Connect option.

I will be hosting the first book discussion on Thursday, April 1, at 1:30 p.m. We will be discussing “Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow's Leader from the World's Most Influential People,” compiled by Henry O. Dormann. Location is yet to be determined, but will be based on the number of people who have expressed interest in attending the discussion in-person. Please e-mail Rebecca Fabunmi to let her know if you will be attending. 

As part of the monthly book discussion, the Mn/DOT Library in Central Office has opened a Commissioner’s Reading Corner, which will have a couple of copies each of the leadership books we will be discussing. These are available to any employee for check-out. Books available in the Commissioner's Reading Corner are:

• Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow's Leaders from the World's Most Influential People
• Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations
• Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times
• A New Breed of Leader: 8 Leadership Qualities that Matter Most in the Real World: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why
• How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
• The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships that Make Government Work
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
• Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference
• That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Your Relations with Others
• The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader
• Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Teal Book of Trust: How to Earn It, Grow It, and Keep It to Become a Trusted Advisor in Sales, Business & Life

See http://ihub/readingcorner/index.html for more information about the Commissioner’s Reading Corner and monthly book discussion and http://ihub/readingcorner/interviews/sorel.html to read my interview with Qin Tang, technical services librarian in the Mn/DOT Library.

Stay tuned for more information about the location for the April 1 book discussion. In the meantime, happy reading!

By Qin Tang

Editor’s note: Qin Tang, technical services librarian, Mn/DOT Library, recently interviewed Commissioner Tom Sorel and asked him to share his insight on the Commissioner’s Reading Corner inaugural book, Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow's Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People by Henry O. Dormann.

TANG: Why did you pick Letters from Leaders as your first recommended book in the series?

SOREL: This book is a collection of letters and advice from some of the most successful leaders around the world. Each letter is very short. It’s easy to read and discuss. So I think it is a good start.

TANG: What part of this book inspired you the most? Can you share some quotes from the book that struck you personally, left a big impression and made you reread it, pause and think for a moment?

SOREL: Three individuals and their letters stand out for me.

Muhammad Ali was my hero when I was a boy. He talks about life as a journey and a great adventure. We should have fun and laugh. He says: “I worked hard and then worked some more, trying to be the best that I could possibly be at what I was doing. I learned that tough times are a part of our journey in this life, but that challenges make life interesting. Even though it can be painful and frightening at the time, the greater the obstacle, the more glorious the moment of success... It is also important to have fun. I enjoyed my life. No matter where I was or what I was doing, I took the positive from the experience and lived in the moment, connecting with the people around.”

Dalai Lama talks about love and compassion that we don’t hear much in the business world: “The key to a happier world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. What is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. We must all learn to work not just for our own self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind.”

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette talks about the benefit of changing lives. She says: “Whatever your interest is – whether science, public health, military affairs, or the environment – you can immerse yourself and have a fulfilling career that also has the benefit of changing lives.”

TANG: How has reading this book opened your mind and broadened your perspective?

SOREL: It made me think what I want my legacy to be. I want to share knowledge. I feel a sense of social responsibility and obligation to share what I have learned and know, to pass on the knowledge to the younger generation, at the same time learning from them. We are all leaders in some way, with opportunities to influence and change lives.