By Mike Dougherty, District 6 public affairs coordinator

Urland Lutheran Church in Cannon Falls has been the site of many meetings with MnDOT, motorists, elected officials and neighbors of the busy and dangerous Hwy 52 and Goodhue County Road 9 intersection.

So the 152-year-old church was an appropriate spot on Nov. 21 to celebrate the completion of a new interchange at Hwy 52 and Goodhue County Road 9 seven miles south of Cannon Falls.

The event, led by MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle, also celebrated the projects in the past decade or so along the Hwy 52 corridor between Cannon Falls and Rochester that total well more than $400 million.

"The work MnDOT does is important and it's good to celebrate that work with events like this," said Jeff Vlaminck, District 6 district engineer. "A lot of people play key roles in improving the safety for thousands of motorists who use these roads daily, and that's worth taking a few moments to recognize it and celebrate it."

That corridor has seen an overall decline of 200 crashes when comparing the past five years with the previous five years. Additionally, during that same period, there were five fewer fatal crashes (15 vs. 10) and nine fewer serious injury crashes (26 vs. 17).

Earlier this year, a new $14.3 million interchange project was completed in Cannon Falls. That work includes new access roads to the nearby businesses and removed the two remaining stop lights between Rochester and St. Paul on Hwy 52.

Zelle was joined at the event by a small crowd of local residents and officials, as well as U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Congressman John Kline, state Sen. Matt Schmit and Goodhue County Commissioner Richard Samuelson.

Most touching were the words from Kathy Jacobson, the church secretary at Urland, who told the crowd about her frightening Sunday morning three years ago: her granddaughter Morgan was in a vehicle headed to Sunday School at the church when the vehicle was involved in a collision at the intersection. Everything eventually turned out okay, but not until Morgan was flown by medical helicopter to Mayo Clinic.

The story had enough drama that Zelle noted it brought a few tears to him as he listened to a grandmother talk about her worst fears and seeing her granddaughter strapped to a stretcher awaiting her medical flight.

Prior to the interchange’s construction, the intersection of Hwy 52 and Goodhue County Road 9 was the scene of 71 crashes, including five that were fatal and seven that involved serious injuries, from 2004-2013.

With the construction of this new $6.72 million quadrant interchange by contractor Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye, MnDOT used the design-build process with its partners to enhance the safety of an efficient and effective transportation system.

Tim Katchmark, age 51, Metro District transportation generalist senior, died Wednesday, Nov. 12, in Houston, Texas, where he was undergoing treatment for leukemia. He died after a two-year battle with cancer. 

Katchmark worked in the Metro District for more than 20 years in Surveys and Traffic Services units, until November 2012, when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He was unable to return to work once the treatment to battle his cancer began. 

He was a devoted husband to his wife Beth and loving father to daughters Laura and Sarah. He enjoyed the outdoors, especially hunting and fishing with his daughters. 
  
“Tim will be remembered by his co-workers for his enthusiasm and willingness to perform his job duties,” said David Torfin, Location Surveys supervisor. “He seemed to always have an idea to improve a process or suggest a piece of equipment to help the crews in the field.”

Funeral service will be held Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. at the Calvary Lutheran Church, 7520 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

By Kristin Calliguri

More than 800 traffic safety advocates from across Minnesota gathered in Duluth Nov. 13-14 for the 11th annual statewide Toward Zero Deaths conference.

During the opening ceremony, TZD co-chair Sue Groth unveiled the new TZD Facebook page and Twitter account.

“We are excited to start using social media to engage a broader audience, and spread the word about TZD and our safety messages,” said Groth, MnDOT Traffic, Safety and Technology director.

A new distracted driving video was also shown during the opening ceremony. The video reinforces the reality of distracted driving being an ongoing problem and gives Minnesotans' perspective of distracted driving and what they think should be done about it.

Representatives from the four E’s -- education, engineer­ing, enforcement and emergency medical and trauma services - learned about a wide range of topics, including how to use information from the recent traffic safety studies, highway responder safety, emerging trends of the drug world and the impaired driver, and how to establish a community safe cab program.

During the first day of the conference, the Minnesota TZD Awards were presented to traffic safety partners. During the awards ceremony MnDOT Deputy Commissioner Sue Mulvihill shared a personal story about how traffic crashes have impacted her live and why TZD is so important.

2014 award recipients are:

• Kathy Swanson Outstanding Service Award – Max Donath, director of the Roadway Safety Institute and a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota
• Engineering Star Award – Nancy Klema, traffic operations engineer for MnDOT District 6
• Enforcement Star Award – Deputy Sheriff Tim Entner of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office
• Judicial/Court Systems Star Award – Judge Shawn Floerke, chief judge in Minnesota’s Sixth Judicial District
• Education Star Award – Jennifer Hoff, Essentia Health Injury Prevention Program Coordinator and Bill Shaffer, state program administrator of the Motorcycle and Roadway Safety Programs, Office of Traffic Safety, Minnesota Department of Public Safety
• Emergency Medial & Trauma Services Star Award – Deb Horseman, a registered nurse and regional trauma coordinator at the Mayo Clinic
• Child Passenger Safety Star Award – Deborah Schroeder, CPS technician/instructor with Olmsted County Public Health
• Media Star Award – Jennifer Austin, reporter and anchor at KBJR-TV in Duluth
• Distinguished Public Leadership Star Award – Lynne Goughler, a volunteer and former chair of public policy at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Tim Held, deputy director of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care at the Minnesota Department of Health
• Traffic Safety Innovation Award – AT&T Minnesota for its work educating the public—especially teen drivers—about the dangers of texting and driving. 

For more information about the award recipients or any of the breakout sessions visit www.minnesotatzd.org/whatistzd/mntzd/awards/.

By Judy Jacobs, District 8 public affairs coordinator

Lindsey Knutson is now serving as the new planning director for District 8, which encompasses a 12-county area in southwest Minnesota.

Knutson most recently served as the senior transportation planner with the Upper Midwest Valley Regional Development Commission in Appleton since 2011. 

“Lindsey’s expertise in urban and regional planning will be critical as the district strives to meet the current, and future, needs for a vital transportation system in southwest Minnesota,” said Jon Huseby, District 8 engineer. “Her experience in working with many of our local transportation partners will allow her to be able to continue to build on those great working relationships in this new capacity.”
 
A native of Hudson, Wis., Knutson earned her Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.   

Knutson replaces Patrick Weidemann, who was recently promoted to director of Capital Planning for the Office of Transportation System Management in St. Paul.    

She will be located at the District 8 office in Willmar and can be reached at lindsey.knutson@state.mn.us or 320-214-6365.