By Rich Kemp

After a bridge operator detected a frayed cable on the Stillwater Lift Bridge June 16, the normal lift schedule was suspended. The MnDOT Bridge Office wasn’t sure how long it would take to fix.

“We don’t replace the cables very often and there were a lot of unknowns,” said Tom Styrbicki, bridge construction and maintenance engineer.

The staff was able to find the replacement cable locally for the bridge, and announced that the bridge would close at noon June 19 for repairs.

Mike Ramberg’s Forest Lake bridge maintenance crew and Pat O’Brien from the Maplewood bridge maintenance crew, went to work replacing the cable. The team successfully installed the cable, made adjustments, tested the bridge and was ready to open the river crossing less than four hours later.

“It was a nice success and people were pretty happy,” said Styrbicki. “As we walked off the bridge, it was nice to hear people saying ‘Thanks’ and ‘Nice Job.’ It was almost like getting high-fived when you run off the football field.”

By Bobbie Dahlke, Metro District Public Affairs

Four coordinated construction schedules this summer will offer reprieve to the thousands of motorists who will use Hwy 169 to reach their destinations.

The end result will be an interchange at an intersection that has a crash rate that is higher than similar intersections in the Twin Cities metro area; 7.2 miles of resurfaced roadway that was last repaired more than 10 years ago; routine repairs to three bridges spanning Hwy 169; and improved safety and traffic flow on a renowned Minnesota bridge.

In April, crews began removing the signal lights at the Hwy 169 and County Road 30 intersection and began building an interchange. The removal of traffic signals to the north and south will increase the current safety and relieve congestion problems while making Hwy 169 a true freeway between Shakopee and Champlin. During the six-month project, crews will close lanes only during non-peak hours as they build auxiliary lanes and construct loops and ramps. For project updates: www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy169brooklynpark/

The Hwy 169 resurfacing project kicked off in May. The stretch of highway between 77th Avenue in Brooklyn Park and Hwy 55 in Plymouth was last repaired in 1998. Cracks in the road, declining pavement ride quality indexes and drainage issues necessitate pavement reconstruction. The start of this $12.2 million project enticed several Minnesota drivers to call the Metro District public affairs office to thank MnDOT for making the much-needed road repairs. The construction schedule includes eight full-road closures of northbound and southbound Hwy 169 – four weekends southbound and four weekends northbound. All lanes of traffic will be open during the July 4th holiday weekend. For project updates: www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy169resurface/

As motorists continue driving southbound on Hwy 169, they will encounter single-lane traffic in each direction between Hwy 7 in Hopkins and Hwy 62 in Edina. The lane closures and traffic shifts are necessary as crews make routine repairs to the Nine Mile Creek, Excelsior Boulevard and 2nd Street Bridges spanning the highway. Crews are working day and night, seven days a week, in rain or shine to open all lanes of traffic within 32 days (late July). Track the Hwy 169 bridge repair projects at: www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/169bridge/

Toward the end of July, motorists traversing the south Twin Cities metro or to southern Minnesota, mayl encounter the $5.45 million Hwy 169 Bloomington Ferry Bridge improvement project that entails replacing strip seal joints on the bridge, adding drainage, and improving Hwy 13/Hwy 101 weaving concerns. Originally slated to last eight weeks, the traffic schedule was cut in half by incorporating a single-lane of traffic in each direction. Crews will complete the work on one side of the roadway before switching over to the other side of the road. The total construction time will be approximately two weeks on each side of the road. For more information on the Bloomington Ferry Bridge project: www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/169bloomington/

All of the projects are scheduled to be complete – weather permitting – by late October.

By Greg Ruhland, Office of Freight & Commercial Vehicle Operations

Providing a framework to develop a more flexible, adaptive freight transportation system was the focus of this year’s Future Freight Scenario planning workshop sponsored by the Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations.

MnDOT staff joined more than 60 colleagues from public and private industry June 13 at the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis. Participants brainstormed strategies to better prepare, adapt and respond to a range of potential futures.

Scenario planning can be used in conjunction with other methods to improve the quality of long-range planning, said John Tompkins, OFCVO project manager, adding that the workshop results will support MnDOT's upcoming Statewide Freight Plan update.

Commissioner Charlie Zelle and former Congressman James Oberstar shared their perspectives on Minnesota's dynamic transportation system. They spoke of the important roles of freight and rail, and how the Statewide Freight Plan update will intentionally engage private industry and the public.

“To be efficient, all transportation modes need to be interconnected,” Zelle said.

Oberstar emphasized the need for continued investment in a variety of transportation modes.

“Our aging transportation system is not keeping up with the pace of international trade,” he said. “We are losing our edge to competitors in the global economy.”

Oberstar noted the freight rail system’s need for expanded capacity, and the fuel efficiency and capacity advantages of river barge transportation.

“The most challenging issue, of course, is financing,” he said.

A series of facilitated breakout sessions, in which small groups were presented with one of four possible futuristic scenarios, followed the introductory remarks. Each scenario—Global Marketplace, Millions of Markets, One World Order, and Naftastique—was characterized by differences in population, industry, energy, governance structures, trade or other conditions. Each group answered the question: What could we have done to prepare ourselves for the world we are in?

To answer that, discussions focused on key implications for freight movement by truck, rail, water and air with respect to needs, costs and policy responses such as public-private partnerships, competitive advantages, environmental impacts and return-on-investment.

Group facilitators compared notes from the various futures. They reported back to the attendees on which transportation trends and policies consistently supported the full range of scenarios, and which strategies worked only in a limited way or not at all in some of the scenarios.

“The themes of flexible and responsive multi-modal freight transportation, energy efficiency and responsiveness to community and customer needs were clearly more effective over a wide range of outcomes than trying to pick a preferred mode, or investing in an expected narrow world outcome,” Tompkins said.

The workshop design was based on a tool kit developed through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program project 20-83. For more information, the project report can be accessed at: 
www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/168694.aspx.

By Nick Busse, Research Services

When a MnDOT employee in District 1 found himself forced to drive two hours to attend videoconferences, he thought, “There’s got to be a better way.”

He was right.

In fact, his problem led to a pilot project that’s giving MnDOT crews across the state access to iPads, webcams and other technologies designed for working remotely. It is funded through a program called Destination Innovation, which is designed to take MnDOT employees’ good ideas and make them a reality.

“Destination Innovation lets MnDOT employees help fulfill our strategic vision,” said Jean Wallace, director of the Office of Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation. “We’re looking for ideas with a high potential return on investment for the department.”

The iPad project, dubbed Connecting Employees Through Technology, is an example of one such idea. Employees participating in the project use iPads to send geotagged photos of damaged infrastructure to get instantaneous feedback on how to proceed with repairs. They’ve also used them to coordinate responses to snow events, among other incidents. Participants say it’s saved countless hours in wasted trips back and forth from the office.

CETT is just one project within Destination Innovation, which has been transforming MnDOT in ways big and small since it began in December 2009. Recent highlights from the program include:

• Building Minnesota’s first-ever diverging diamond interchange (currently under construction in St. Cloud)
• Purchasing electric-powered and compressed natural gas-powered vehicles for MnDOT’s fleet
• Implementing the managed lanes project on I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul
• Conducting a public education campaign for the zipper merge

“Destination Innovation lets MnDOT employees bring forward ideas that have the potential to transform MnDOT’s culture, process, technology and way of thinking,” Wallace said.

A total of $20 million is available for Destination Innovation projects in the new fiscal year beginning July 1. Of that, $15 million is reserved for innovative capital projects and $5 million for non-construction projects.

This year, $2 million has been dedicated to innovative pavement projects, which will be managed by Curt Turgeon of the Office of Materials and Road Research. Turgeon said he has received several good ideas from the districts and will work with them to develop more.

In addition, $1 million is going toward implementation of innovative maintenance projects. All maintenance-related proposals should be sent first to Tom Peters in the Office of Maintenance to determine whether they meet maintenance project selection criteria or whether they might be eligible for funding through the Maintenance Operations Research program.

All MnDOT employees are allowed to request funding through the program. The application form and selection criteria are available at http://ihub.dot.state.mn.us/destination-innovation/.

The Seeds program office is inviting all former Seeds participants to join current students at the annual Seeds Day, Aug. 8, to celebrate the achievements of program participants during the past 20 years. If you are a former Seeds student, and would like to be invited to the event, contact Lorianna Yang at 651-366-3378 or lorianna.yang@state.mn.us, by July 1.

By Rebecca Arndt, District 7 Public Affairs

Under the tutelage of Doris Degenstein, District 7’s Administrative Support team rarely, if ever, turns down a request for help.  Her staff of three, has been trained to be service-driven, like their supervisor.

Degenstein came to MnDOT nearly five years ago, after a career with the Chamber of Commerce Office in Breckenridge. She brought with her the necessary attributes to provide support to the district engineer and the district management team – and then some. 

What services are provided from District 7’s Admin Support Team?
Degenstein attributes the success of her area to her staff.  She currently supervises the following positions and services:

Mary Slater, receptionist at the front desk, who in addition to answering phones and waiting on walk-in customers, assists with the conference center, manages the office supplies and mail and keeps current key cards and the employee photo album.

Kathy Sailor, who provides administrative support for Program Delivery, keeps 511 current, issues permits, and manages the disaster recovery plan.

Heidi Sexton, who is administrative support for Operations, also works on District 7’s internal website, newsletter, and Adopt-A-Highway program.

They are cross-trained to help each other out and, yes, Degenstein is able to provide all of these services in their absence. She is very proud of this team.

Degenstein also works closely with and fills in for the public affairs coordinator in her absence.

What does Degenstein bring to the job that is appreciated most?
District Engineer Greg Ous was able to quickly list her talents to anticipate needs, organize (she can find anything), sense of humor (which is a must), belief in people and the ability to bring out their best.

“At the end of the day, Doris takes great pride in her work and services to others to help us be the best we can be,” said Ous.

What is your typical day like?
No two days are the same. On any given day, Degenstein can be found teaching staff new IT skills, taking messages from legislators, rearranging meeting rooms and cleaning coffee pots.

What are your challenges?
Maybe not so much as challenge, as what makes Degenstein tick?  She is very good at fixing things.  She has reorganized and developed new processes for many critical tasks in District 7.

Degenstein and Sailor took a cumbersome Disaster Recovery Plan from a hard copy to an electronic version that is easily updated every year. Degenstein and her team also worked on a backlog of permits and created a process to keep them more current. They used employees on light duty to scan in old permit documents, which allowed them to keep up on their daily demands while providing work for injured employees in recovery.

What does she dread?
She dreads the rare slow day when things are too quiet and she has to clean out the district engineer’s e-mails.

Degenstein and her administrative team are an example of the important role the administrative team plays in the districts and at the Central Office.