Gov. Mark Dayton announced Jan. 12 that Commissioner Tom Sorel will lead a Transportation Finance Advisory Group to generate new funding ideas to help improve Minnesota highways, roads, bridges and public transit systems during the next two decades.
 
“Good transportation systems are essential to Minnesota’s economic competitiveness and quality of life,” Sorel said. “In creating this advisory group, we will draw on a variety of experiences and ideas that will help us develop options for funding that will sustain our transportation systems for years to come.”

The advisory group will:

• Identify investment opportunities to support a thriving economy and a high quality of life for Minnesotans during the next 20 years
• Identify and analyze the potential of various revenue sources and non-traditional approaches to transportation financing
• Identify opportunities for public-private partnerships to invest in transportation improvements
• Help develop a strategic marketing plan to obtain public support for the investment plan

After traveling across Minnesota during the past several months and meeting with business owners, Dayton said he has been reminded of how essential transportation infrastructure is to business success.

“Workers need to be able to get to and from work, and businesses need to be able to get goods to and from their markets,” he said. “We must either improve our transportation systems or else suffer the consequences of their decline.

"I have asked Commissioner Sorel to gather the best and the brightest minds together to help us find new, innovative ways to finance improving our transportation systems.” 

The Transportation Finance Advisory Group is still being formed, but will include members from state and local government, as well as from the private sector and investment community. The advisory group’s members also will have representation from both the Twin Cities area and Greater Minnesota.

Sorel noted that a lot of the work MnDOT has done in the past year—including the Minnesota GO vision, Public-Private Partnerships task force report, mileage-based user fee policy report and Quality of Life research—will be instrumental in jump-starting this transportation financing discussion.

The advisory group is expected to submit a written report of its recommendations to the governor and the Legislature by December 2012.

For more information, read Gov. Dayton’s memo to Commissioner Sorel.

Local bridge replacement, Greater Minnesota transit facilities and MnDOT buildings in Rochester and Willmar are among the $74.1 million in state transportation infrastructure investments included in the governor’s $903 million state bonding request.

Gov. Mark Dayton released his bonding proposal Jan. 17.

“This bill is our chance to put thousands of Minnesotans back to work by investing in important projects throughout our state. My bonding proposal makes reasonable, focused investments on projects that are ready for immediate action,” said Dayton. “I hope that the Legislature will join me in growing Minnesota’s economy now by passing a bonding bill in the first month of the session. Doing so will enable many of the projects, and their jobs, to become realities this year.”

The legislative session begins Jan. 24.

Infrastructure investments in the governor’s proposal include:

• $25 million to upgrade local bridges
• $16.1 million to complete construction of the Rochester maintenance facility and district headquarters building
• $10 million to address the needs of transit facilities in Greater Minnesota, such as building or remodeling maintenance and storage facilities, transportation terminals, and office and vehicle storage space
• $7.5 million to construct an addition to the existing Willmar District headquarters building
• $3 million for the state to partner with local governments to improve freight handling on Minnesota’s commercial waterway systems
• $2.5 million to replace old and obsolete rail grade crossing safety gates and warning signals

For additional details on the governor’s bonding proposal, visit Minnesota Management and Budget at: http://www.mmb.state.mn.us.

Click here to read the governor’s news release.

By Jessica Wiens

Current frigid temperatures are finally starting to make it feel like winter after an unseasonable two-week “heat wave” that included the warmest first 10 days of January ever recorded in Minnesota history, according to Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota extension climatologist and meteorologist.

The mild season is giving MnDOT maintenance crews a unique opportunity to complete projects they normally would not dream of accomplishing this time of year.  

Crews from the Willmar Truck Station in District 8 are spending the winter clearing trees and brush from the right of way and repairing culverts.

“It’s amazing that on Jan. 17, we are still working on culverts,” said Rick Reigstad, District 8 Maintenance. “Normally, we aren’t able to work on them past October, but since there isn’t much frost yet, we can still dig.”

The unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow has allowed Metro District Maintenance to catch up on a large back log of guardrail repairs. Crews have completed about 1,500 repairs since coming back from the state government shutdown in July. This included guardrail that still needed repairs from last winter season. 

“Normally, we don’t even think about fixing guardrail from crashes in the winter until the next summer season,” said DeWayne Jones, Metro Northwest Region Maintenance superintendent. “As of today, we are completely caught up. If there had been snow, this never would have happened.”

The lack of winter weather and slippery roads also is minimizing new guardrail repair needs due to fewer winter crashes, according to Jones.  

District 7 is focusing on tree trimming, culvert inspections and repairs, crack filling and ditch cleaning.

“Not only were the past two winters very severe, we have spent both springs and one fall fighting flood waters," said Tom Zimmerman, District 7 Maintenance superintendent. “This work typically would not have gotten done until next spring or summer, so now we’ll have a jump start and be able to focus more on patching next spring,” Zimmerman said.   

By Becky Dahlberg

MnDOT’s historic bridge environmental review process recently received a makeover thanks to a recently held Kaizen event—one of the tools available through the state’s LEAN program to improve the efficiency of state processes by identifying waste and rapidly implementing improvements.

The event helped a group of historic bridge stakeholders address the need to expedite the alternatives decision-making process for projects that involve historic bridges.

There are numerous bridge projects in the department’s program delivery schedule that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Certain federal process requirements, including development and evaluation of a range of alternatives such as rehabilitation, must be addressed for these projects.

“These requirements add time to the project development process,” said Jennie Ross, Environmental Assessment Unit chief and Kaizen event participant. “The purpose of the Kaizen event was to assess the current state of the development process, from project initiation through selection of a preferred alternative, and how it could proceed more efficiently.”

Team members identified a number of measures to accelerate alternatives development, including early determination of whether a bridge project involves a historic bridge so that time can be built into the project schedule, as well as the establishment of a Kaizen team for individual historic bridge projects.

“The Kaizen team is a small, representative group of agency staff empowered to make decisions at key points in the process,” Ross said. “They’ll replace the time-consuming method of multiple document reviews/revisions and meetings.”

The team also discovered a need to educate project managers about the process requirements since most have no previous experience with historic bridges. They developed an implementation plan that includes strategies for mentoring project managers new to the process to help them understand what is required, and created standard templates for rehabilitation studies, alternatives evaluation criteria and other process documentation.

The Engineering Services Division sponsored the Kaizen event, which included representatives from:

• MnDOT districts
• State Aid Office
• Bridge Office
• Environmental Stewardship Office
• Federal Highway Administration
• State Historic Preservation Office
• Hennepin County Transit

For more details about the environmental review process requirements for historic bridges, contact Jennie Ross at 651-366-3636.

To learn more about Kaizen events and how you can improve the efficiency of state processes, visit ihub.dot.state.mn.us/lean/. To read about how a past Kaizen event improved other MnDOT areas, visit www.newsline.dot.state.mn.us/archive/11/Feb/16.html#Z3.

Much like U.S. ambassadors who represent American culture, history and government in their assigned foreign nation, MnDOT employees informally represent the agency in their circle of friends, families and neighbors.

A new program called We are MnDOT: A Look Inside, was created to help employees gain a better understanding of how the organization supports and enhances Minnesotans’ quality of life.

“We’ve probably all experienced the family member or friend asking a question about the latest MnDOT project or other transportation issue—and not known the answer,” said Lucy Kender, Human Resources. “The resources in this new program will help employees find answers, so they can well represent the agency.”

For instance, did you know that MnDOT:

• Receives funding from approximately 1,000 state and federal government programs
• Maintains about 12,000 miles of highway in Minnesota
• Has external and internal websites that feature A-Z search options to help employees find information on hundreds of topics

“Using these materials, both new and seasoned employees can learn something about the work we do to fulfill MnDOT's Vision of creating a safe, efficient and sustainable transportation system for the future,” Kender said.

The program offers a collection of digital and print materials each packed with MnDOT information.

The resources include:

• Web-based “eBrochure” tour of the department that provides links to more in-depth information on the topics
• Small printed brochure to get a quick overview of the agency
• 13-minute video presentation that includes a look at some transportation trivia

Each district and office recently received a supply of brochures and DVDs to distribute. Employees also can find the materials online, at ihub.dot.state.mn.us/alookinside/.

“We hope employees will find these materials useful, educational and fun,” Kender said.

Employees are invited to attend the latest Commissioner’s Reading Corner discussion Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 1:30 p.m., in the MnDOT Library at Central Office.

Fay Simer, Office of Transit, will lead a discussion of “Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders,” by Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli.

Employees also can participate virtually via Adobe Connect and should log in as a guest no earlier than 1:15 p.m. All employees are encouraged to attend, even if they have not yet read the book, according to Qin Tang, MnDOT librarian.

This will be the second CRC event of the 2012 season. Linda Draze, leadership development project manager, will lead a March 7 discussion of “Leadership From the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life,” by Kevin Cashman. 

For more information on the Commissioner’s Reading Corner, visit ihub/readingcorner. Employees with questions can contact Qin Tang at 651-366-3784.

To read an interview featuring Simer’s reaction to the latest book, visit ihub.dot.state.mn.us/readingcorner/interviews.html.

By Qin Tang

The December 2011 edition of New Library Materials is now available at www.dot.state.mn.us/library/newlibmat.html.

This issue highlights the emerging Quick Response code technology, which can be found everywhere from magazine articles, packages or business cards. Employees can check out this issue if they would like to know more about what a QR code is, why they are used and how they can be generated for free.  

Archived editions of New Library Materials are available at www.dot.state.mn.us/library/recacq-archive.html.

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

For other information requests, contact the library at 651-366-3791 or email library.dot@state.mn.us. Employees can also send requests via the “Ask a Librarian” web page at www.dot.state.mn.us/library/asklibrarian.html.