By Chris Krueger

A task force charged with considering the implications of implementing a mileage-based user fee delivered a report Dec. 16 recognizing that such a fee could be fair and flexible, but should not be implemented until concerns are satisfactorily addressed.

The report cited several issues for MnDOT to address, including privacy, administrative cost, complexity, phasing, and unfamiliarity of the concept among policymakers and the public. The task force was appointed by Commissioner Tom Sorel in April 2011.

“I appreciate the effort put forth by members of this task force to identify and evaluate issues related to MBUF,” said Sorel. “Their input is one step in a process, and these findings, along with information we gather from technology research currently underway, will provide policy makers with information needed to address future transportation funding issues.”

The task force agreed that Minnesota’s future transportation funding sources should ensure all drivers pay their fair share for building and maintaining the transportation system and should be flexible to cover all vehicles, regardless of the type of fuel used.

Additional benefits of an MBUF include sustainability, different rates for different conditions, value-added services and system management. The group identified the following concerns about a potential MBUF system: administrative cost, privacy, jurisdiction issues, feasibility, complexity, public acceptance and use of revenues.

“The task force recommended clear goals for a future funding system that moves this important conversation forward,” said Jim Hovland, mayor of Edina and vice-chair of the task force. “But we didn’t feel we had enough detailed information yet to make wise decisions about a specific approach, so we recommend that MnDOT evaluate alternative models for achieving the Task Force’s fairness and flexibility goals.”

One of the primary issues the task force explored was the fairness of the gas tax during an era in which less gas will be used.

Currently, a driver in a vehicle getting 20 miles per gallon pays about 1.4 cents per mile in state gas taxes. A hybrid vehicle driver getting 40 mpg pays half as much, and a driver of an electric vehicle, or another non-taxed fuel source, pays no state gas taxes. 

“We need a fair and flexible transportation funding system and the current gas tax fails on both fronts,” said Bernie Lieder, chair of the task force and former chair of the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Division. “The task force supports alternatively fueled vehicles, but feels all drivers should pay to support the transportation system they use.”

All of the 25-member task force endorsed the report, which included a minority opinion to express viewpoints not shared by the majority of members. All documents and information on MnDOT’s MBUF technology research project are also available at www.mndot.gov/mileagebaseduserfee.

By Lisa Yang

The amount of people following MnDOT on Twitter grew to 5,739 in 2011. Those followers are dispersed among five separate Twitter accounts that cover various transportation-related topics:

• @mndottraffic—Twin Cities Metro Area traffic incidents—3,319 followers
• @mndotnews—news releases and major updates—1,329 followers
• @mndotoversize—updates for truckers regarding oversized and overweight loads—42 followers
• @mndotresearch—the latest MnDOT research projects and news—893 followers
• @minnesotago—information on statewide planning efforts for all modes of transportation—156 followers

“We know that the public takes in information in many different ways,” said Kevin Gutknecht, Communications director. “Twitter is one of those ways. Not everyone uses it, but many do, so we need to make sure we use that channel.”

Bob Filipczak, social media coordinator, manages @mndotnews and tweets on a daily basis.

“Last count, we’ve got 206 news media professionals from all over the state following our tweets and someone from the White House, but I don’t know what that’s about,” Filipczak said. “It’s not only a good way to tell this audience what we are doing, but I also use it to monitor what others are saying about MnDOT.”

@mndottraffic tweets crashes, debris spills, stalled vehicles—anything that blocks a lane unexpectedly—on trunk highways in the Twin Cities Metro Area. These tweets are automated from the Condition Acquisition and Reporting System, the program MnDOT uses to provide travel information (construction, maintenance, driving conditions) on state highways for 511mn.org and the 5-1-1 phone service.

Ted Coulianos, Oversize and Overweight Transportation Permits supervisor, manages @mndotoversize. He recently had the Twitter feed added to the Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operation's Permit web application login page.

“Many of our customers don’t use Twitter, but still need to get the information,” Coulianos said. “Adding our Twitter feed to the login page helps our customers tremendously because that’s where they go to apply for a permit, so the information is right there for them. All our web customers see the Twitter feed, not just the ones who signed up to follow us.”

Matt Wallace, Office of Research Services, manages @mndotresearch, while Philip Schaffner, Office of Statewide Multimodal Planning, manages @minnesotago.

In addition to Twitter, the department also has a growing presence on YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

“We need to be strategic in our consideration of social media and make sure that the different methods we use to communicate with the public are intertwined,” Gutknecht said.

To find out more about MnDOT’s social media efforts, visit ihub/socialmedia.

Comments from Twitter followers

By Becky Dahlberg

Eric Davis has been appointed project manager for MnDOT’s new Enterprise Risk Management project, slated to run through calendar year 2012. Davis previously served as Human Resources director.

As project manager, Davis will be working with the Stewardship Council and other agency stakeholders to prioritize and communicate enterprise risk response plans and present a unified picture of risk from an agencywide perspective. He will coordinate activities that will result in a list of key risks to MnDOT’s Strategic Vision by major function/business unit.

“Using ERM, strategic decisions are made with the benefit of a unified picture of risk across the enterprise,” Davis said. “This helps our agency optimize its limited resources, better respond to public need and achieve our vision of being a global leader in transportation.”

One of the goals of the ERM project is to improve agency capability and craft coordinated, effective responses to high-priority risks. ERM also seeks to integrate with performance management to better connect each employee’s efforts to manage risks and achieve goals that are tied to targeted outcomes for a given program area.

“Ultimately, this effort improves our agency’s ability to manage and respond to a range of current and emerging risks to our Strategic Vision for the benefit of enhancing quality of life for Minnesotans,” Davis said.

The Stewardship Council will identify leaders within each division to serve on a project working team. The project will be supported by subject matter experts within the Office of Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation. The Stewardship Council also will appoint someone to serve as acting Human Resources director while Davis is assigned to this project.

By Stephany Osuji, Office of Customer Relations

After four weeks of idea sharing, E-magination JAM2 officially came to a close Dec. 8, with more than 800 employees participating and more than 200 ideas submitted.

The virtual forum allowed employees to submit and weigh in on ideas that could generate costs savings and add additional efficiency in the agency. Employees from all around the state in all work areas participated resulting in 1,106 comments and nearly 4,500 votes cast.

Common themes emerged among the ideas. Early observations from the collection of ideas include:

• Sustainability—printing on both sides of paper, turning lights off when leaving conference rooms and multimedia options for meetings
• More shared expertise throughout the organization
• Maintenance and operation equipment improvements/upgrades
• Expand and/or continue E-JAM2

Moving forward

Since the close of E-JAM2, a review team has been actively sorting through each idea. During the sorting process, the team is looking for ideas that best fit the efficiency criteria and identified for priority implementation. Some of the key criteria include:

• Number of employee votes
• Potential for cost savings
• Ease and timing of implementation

Authors of ideas that best fit the criteria may have the opportunity to join Commissioner Sorel to share their ideas with Gov. Dayton in the upcoming year. These ideas, along with many others, will be highlighted in future communications.

By Libby Schultz

Mark Vizecky, State Aid, recently received a Toward Zero Deaths Star Award in engineering for his work on the Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program and Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

Toward Zero Deaths Star Awards represent excellence in engineering, enforcement, judicial systems, education, emergency medical and trauma services, child passenger safety, the media, and distinguished public leadership. The awards are given to those who have demonstrated exceptional creativity, leadership, organizational skills and the ability to successfully motivate and collaborate with others to help Minnesota reach its goal of zero deaths on the roads. 

“It’s a great honor for me to be recognized as one of the many engineers that work hard every day to make our roads safer,” Vizecky said.

Toward Zero Deaths is a multi-agency initiative to create a culture for which traffic fatalities and serious injuries are no longer acceptable through the integrated application of education, engineering, enforcement, and emergency medical and trauma services.

For more information on Minnesota’s TZD program, visit www.minnesotatzd.org/.

By Commissioner Tom Sorel

Looking back on 2011, I am amazed by all that we as an agency have accomplished despite facing some incredible challenges during the past 12 months. It says a lot about the dedication, service and downright resilience of MnDOT employees. I am proud to serve and lead such a great team.

We have done so much as an agency this year to improve the way we do our work. I just want to highlight a few of these tremendous efforts.

We often say safety—to provide a safe and reliable trip for motorists—is our number one priority. Our efforts in Toward Zero Deaths this past year have supported that mission. Right now, it appears that deaths on state roads will be about 361. That is 50 fewer than last year. We have worked hard in the TZD collaboration with the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Health and a number of state and local entities to promote safety on state roadways. The program focuses on the engineering, enforcement, education and emergency medical services to reduce roadway death.

Also in 2011, we began an Enterprise Risk Management effort to improve agency operations. We conducted a risk analysis of investment levels across the categories of preservation of pavement and bridges, safety, mobility and regional and community priorities. As a result of this analysis, pavement preservation emerged as the highest risk for MnDOT and led to the development and implementation of the Better Roads program last spring. In 2012, the department will undertake a comprehensive risk-based evaluation of MnDOT operations to prioritize products and services based on their impact to quality of life.

A very significant accomplishment for MnDOT this year was the completion of the 50-year vision for transportation known as Minnesota Go. MnDOT asked Minnesotans what the transportation systems should look like and provide 50 years from now. We also consulted experts across a range of subject areas about future trends that will shape the state in that same time period. The combination of these two lines of thought defines a future transportation vision that will support the level of quality of life that Minnesotans say they want.

Regarding quality of life, MnDOT concluded an extensive effort to understand how Minnesotans think transportation affects their quality of life. Using various research methods, MnDOT learned that transportation is a key factor to most Minnesotans when they consider quality of life. We are using this information to guide operational decisions and to help develop investment criteria. We want to make sure that transportation serves as a strong contributor to quality of life.

We did a tremendous amount of work on the state’s infrastructure in 2011. Of this year’s 258 state highway and bridge projects, 180 were completed as of Dec. 20, with the remainder continuing on into 2012 and beyond. Our crews worked hard to resurface roads, replace bridges, improve drainage systems, repair guard rail, install cable barriers and complete other vital transportation projects aimed at providing a smoother ride for motorists and better accessibility for all Minnesotans, extending pavement life, improving connections between communities, and reducing highway fatalities and serious injuries.

These transportation projects received a lot of help from employees who aren’t necessarily as visible to the public as those who wear hard hats and vests—our planners, designers, accounting officers, attorneys, information technology specialists, auditors, trainers, hydrologists and so many others—but whose service has helped improve the quality of life for all Minnesotans.

Completing so many projects this year was not without its challenges—especially given the fact that for three prime weeks during the construction season (July 1-20), state government was shut down, abruptly halting all of our projects and laying off about 4,500 MnDOT employees. I was reminded a number of times during the shutdown of the importance of the work that we do to improve the safety and mobility of the traveling public, and how interconnected we are with the private sector, which also suffered the  loss of jobs that our construction projects provide.  

The shutdown came on the heels of saying good-bye to the last of the 415 of our friends and co-workers who elected to take the early retirement incentive. We lost a lot of experience with their exodus, but at the same time, found we had a lot of other employees ready to step up and take on new challenges. I look forward to seeing the new ideas and innovations they bring as they take on their new roles.

In August, we got word that all the information technology specialists in the state would be consolidated into the Office of Enterprise Technology. While all the ramifications of that legislative decision are still being sorted out, we know for sure that 206 of our former MnDOT employees now officially report to OET. I greatly appreciate the great work the employees who are part of the consolidation with OET have done and look forward to working with them in their new roles.  

I could cover many more things because this agency has been incredibly productive and innovative this year. I want to thank all of you for your flexibility and willingness to move ahead in new directions. We live in a world where the ability to adapt and overcome is vital. And, clearly, you have all shown that you are able to move this agency forward and make it more responsive and efficient. You are all tremendous servant leaders and your efforts are a tribute to the citizens of this great state.

Thank you for all you do, and Happy Holidays!