By Kevin Gutknecht

Minnesota’s first venture into tolling, the MnPASS I-394 Express Lane, passed its one-year anniversary in May with indicators of success.

“We are happy with the progress of the MnPASS I-394 Express Lane,” said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau.

“This is a demonstration project, and it has shown that a tolling operation is a viable alternative for some drivers,” she said. “It also allows us get better use out of the capacity on the roads in the corridor, which means we make the most of taxpayer dollars spent to build and maintain this road.”

John Doan project manager for the I-394 Express Lane, added that the dynamic pricing system, which adjusts toll rates based on the amount of traffic in the MnPASS lane, has served to keep traffic flowing at or above the speed limit in the corridor for more than 95 percent of the time that the lane is open.

“This is doing two things,” he said. “First, it ensures that we are continuing to provide an advantage to transit and car pools by keeping the HOV lanes free flowing. Secondly, it ensures that the MnPASS transponder user is also able to move through the corridor more quickly than those who are in the general purpose lanes.”

Doan added that other data collected in the past year on the operation indicates other successes. He said the Express Lane is moving more cars through the corridor during rush hours than it did before the lane opened last year.

“Up to 33 percent more vehicles are moving through the corridor in the MnPASS lanes during the rush hours,” he said. “That adds up to between 100 to 1,000 more, depending on where in the lane you look. And we have found congestion has reduced a little in the general lanes during the peak hours, due in part to traffic that has moved into the Express lane.”

Doan said there are two ongoing evaluations, a technical evaluation and a public opinion survey, that will conclude in June. Mn/DOT will provide final reports from that work later this summer.  

He added that the I-394 MnPASS project has garnered national and international attention for its innovative design and use of technology for enforcement. Visitors from more than 10 states and 16 countries have toured the facility since its opening.

In addition, the project has won awards for its innovations from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

By Jeanne Aamodt

Mn/DOT's Transportation Revolving Fund is back in business providing an alternative source of funding for cities, counties and other governments for transportation projects.

"The TRLF was established in 1997 by the Minnesota Legislature and funded initially with a federal appropriation of $3.96 million," said Sue Thompson, Office of Investment Management.

"It operates much like a bank, providing low interest loans to cities, counties and other governmental entities for eligible transportation projects."

The agency recently announced TRLF funding to support the Sauk Rapids Bridge Replacement, the construction of interchanges and overpasses on Hwy 65 in Blaine and the purchase of new buses for the Metropolitan Council.  

Stearns County is borrowing $10.5 million to replace the existing two-lane Sauk Rapids bridge with a new four-lane bridge over the Mississippi River, eliminate an at-grade rail crossing, and reconstruct several adjacent local roads. The funding will be used for right of way, construction and construction engineering/inspection. The loan is to be paid in 30 years with federal funding and property taxes.

The Metropolitan Council is borrowing $10 million to replace 86 aging buses and adds 20 buses for service growth. Thirty of the 106 buses will be hybrid fuel vehicles. Repayment terms are 10 years with property taxes.

Mn/DOT Metro District is borrowing $4.6 million for the new interchange at Hwy 65 and Hwy 242 and new overpasses at 121st Avenue and 129th Avenue in Blaine. The project addresses three of the region’s intersections with the most costly crashes, and is one of the Pawlenty-Molnau administration’s 2003 Safety & Preservation Projects. The borrowed funds will be used for right of way acquisition and construction. Mn/DOT will use state Trunk Highway funds to repay the loan over a 15-year term.

Thompson said in addition to the three recipients just announced, $100 million in TRLF funds have been applied to 13 other projects. Payments on these earlier projects are freeing up funds for new projects.

"As these loans are repaid, the funds are returned to the TRLF and used to finance additional transportation projects. The fund is self-sustaining and healthy; it appears the TRLF will have funds available for another solicitation in 2007," she said.

For more information, see the TRLF Web site, http://www.oim.dot.state.mn.us/TRLF/index.html.

By Kevin Gutknecht

The winter of 2006 was a challenging one for Mn/DOT.

“We had some significant ice storms in northwestern Minnesota early in the year that required a great deal of sand and salt,” said Bob Winter, District Operations Division director. “And the Twin Cities region also got hit pretty hard with two heavy snow falls in March.

“The districts did an excellent job of effectively using their resources and they all met the time targets for clearing the roadways to bare lanes,” he said, noting that the statewide average this year for clearing roads to bare pavement was 7.2 hours—an improvement over the previous year, which averaged 10.3 hours.

“We have a well-trained and dedicated group of maintenance employees who do a great job when it snows.”

From October 2005 through April 2006, maintenance operations spent $49 million on snow and ice operations, which cover more than 30,000 lane miles of state roadway. Those costs cover materials such as 273,000 tons of salt, 90,000 tons of sand, and 2.5 million gallons of salt brine, as well as labor, equipment and other miscellaneous costs.

Last year, Mn/DOT spent about $43 million statewide for snow and ice operations. That compares to a five-year average of $44 million, and a three-year average of $42 million.

By Craig Wilkins and Kay Korsgaard

This year’s Center for Transportation Studies research conference reflects transportation’s continuing emergence as key national issue.

In its 17 years, the conference has evolved from one that primarily addressed highly technical subjects to one that examines broader transportation-related issues.

Gina Baas, CTS director of communication and outreach, said the research committee has widened the conference’s scope to include relevant topics of interest to researchers, transportation industry members, public policy makers and conference participants.

Conference sponsors include CTS, Mn/DOT and the Local Road Research Bureau.

This year's conference, for example, focused on topics such as data privacy, the political aspects of building the interstate highway system and a workplace that, for the first time, includes members of four generations at once.

Conference participants also explored ways to attract young people to careers as civil engineers and technicians.

Baas said she hopes participants learned how to include divergent points of view early in project planning or when seeking technical solutions to problems rather than “retrofit” them later.

“Our challenge is to understand how to learn from history and conflict and remain open to new views,” she said.  

Civil engineering career recruitment

Mike Marti, a manager with SRF Consulting, said an intensive effort similar to Mn/DOT's Phoenix Program is needed that encourages grade-school students' interest in math and the sciences and careers in engineering.

Marti said the outreach effort must be made to replace the large number of engineers and technicians at or near retirement age and to encourage young people to consider civil engineering and other fast-growing fields such as electrical and biomedical engineering.

Generational workplace differences

A new wave of young people from Generations X and Y are gaining influence in the workplace and will continue to change it, said Tom DeCoster, executive director of AASHTO’s Leadership Institute.

DeCoster describes the four generations as Traditionalists, those born between 1900 and 1945; Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964; Generation X, the generation born between 1965 and 1980, and Generation Y, people born between 1981 and 2000.  

Each generation brings its own set of experiences, expectations and values to the workplace, he said; the challenge for managers is to blend each generation’s qualities to produce the best results for the organization and to focus on motivation and retention rather than fret over their differences.

“No one set of generational values is better or worse than another,” he said.   “Most disagreement comes from different ways of operating, not lacking the capacity to work.”

Data privacy use in transportation

Collecting personal data related to transportation-related services (e.g., toll lane users, airline passengers, GPS systems that track rental cars, subscribers to in-vehicle location services such as On-Star) was examined with increasing concern about public use and access to private data in the post-9/11 era.

Colin Bennett, political science professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, led a panel on the risks to privacy when data collection practices to measure and plan transportation programs conflict with a growing concern about data privacy among Americans.

Bennett said 70 percent of Americans value privacy over technological advancement as compared with 26 percent of Europeans. He and the other the panelists said Americans value privacy highly, citing the Fourth Amendment which puts limits on the power of the state.

Bennett and his fellow panelists concluded there is no simple answer to a host of privacy concerns, but did agree citizens' trust can be earned only when the purpose of data collection and use is clearly understood.

Panel members said lack of effective controls on the collection and use of data for commercial purposes erodes public trust in legitimate data-gathering activities.

"People will accept collecting data when they believe we are gathering information by the right people for the right purpose," Bennett said.                   

Political influence on building the interstate system in the Twin Cities

Patricia Cavanaugh, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, examined the political history of building the Interstate Highway System in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. She studied seven local cases to analyze how decisions are made regarding freeway development.

The projects she studied fell into three distinct eras.

The “mega-projects era,” 1956 through the late 1960s, she said, was a time when public sentiment strongly favored the interstate system. There was strong support of gas tax increases to further fund highway projects and disputes about them were relatively minor. Projects completed during this era include I-94 from downtown St. Paul to Minneapolis and the I-35W/Hwy 62 commons area known as the Crosstown Highway.

She calls the decades from 1970 to 1990 the “expanding the debate era.” Projects changed or dropped include I-35E south of St. Paul , I-394 west of Minneapolis , I-94 from the beltline to the St. Croix River and the never-completed I-335 segment to connect I-35W and I-94 in the north ring of Minneapolis. During this time there was more legislative and citizen involvement and a general disenchantment with government. Citizens, Cavanaugh said, were growing more skeptical and aware of the costs and benefits of interstate highway programs.

Federal legislation also had and impact on what was built. The 1973 Federal Highway Act allowed Interstate funds to be spent on other projects, allowing the I-335 project to be dropped and its funding used for other purposes.

The 1990s, she said, ushered in the “era of falling behind.” Finances were scarcer and there was no longer the same push; public support for an expanding interstate system was waning, she added.

Cavanaugh’s presentation was followed by three political leaders who discussed the way politics can help or hinder the highway development process and how Mn/DOT and other agencies can draw on expertise gained during the last 50 years to help make better transportation planning decisions in the future.  

Carol Flynn, who served several terms in the Legislature, said that the election process encourages a parochial approach in decision-making because elected officials must represent their constituents’ needs –and recommended jokingly that people should not run for office unless they are older and have a broader perspective.

Connie Kozlak, Metropolitan Council, said that the council works behind the scenes more than people realize to create a broader vision for transportation planning.

Curt Johnson, Citistates Group, said that public hearings, one of the traditional ways of gaining public input, come too late in the process to be effective.

“We need better ways to get public input into our decision-making processes,” he said. “Our current debate assumes the public is ambivalent about growth. But we need to decide if the Twin Cities will be an urban place or one that continues to pursue a low-density lifestyle. We need to connect the policy puzzle with the same people in the same room at the same time.”

Nancy Moore, assistant human resources manager with the Department of Corrections, was named as director of Mn/DOT's Office of Human Resources.

Her appointment begins June 26.

Moore succeeds Sue Mulvihill who was recently appointed as the Metro District’s director of program delivery. Mulvihill was serving as acting Human Resources director.

In her new position, Moore will manage functions such as staffing, workforce planning, organizational health and retention.

Moore has served with Corrections for seven years in positions that include labor relations, workers compensation, performance management and policy development.

Before joining DOC, Moore served as the human resources manager for the cities of Aurora, Colo., and Garland, Texas.

Moore’s office is on the fifth floor of the Transportation Building in St. Paul, M.S. 200.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Moore lives with her family in White Bear Lake.

By Craig Wilkins

Kim DeLaRosa and Mary Ann Hillyer work together, walk the Capitol tunnels together and share their experiences as workers, wives and mothers. Each has three children and both grew up in West. St. Paul.  

They both work in the State Aid to Local Transportation Division in St. Paul. They have a lot in common, but their generational membership isn’t one of them.

DeLaRosa is 35; Hillyer is 62.

That puts DeLaRosa in Generation X, the generation born between 1965 and 1980. Hillyer is part of the Veterans Generation born between 1900 and 1945. Their generational differences show.

DeLaRosa, a transportation specialist, will challenge authority and the chain of command; Hillyer generally wouldn’t consider doing either.

Hillyer waits patiently for performance reviews, but DeLaRosa seeks constant feedback, negative or positive, to help her assess and improve her performance.

They reflect some the generational differences examined during recent workshops sponsored by Mn/DOT’s Diversity Committee. More are planned in the future.

For the first time in the nation’s history, four distinct generations are present in the workplace. In addition to the Gen Xers and Veterans, there are the Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, and Generation Y, the generation born between 1981 and 2000.

Lynnette Geschwind, Affirmative Action officer, said the purpose of the workshops is to learn how each generation approaches various issues in the workplace.

For example, she said Generation X tends to seek independence in the workplace, but the younger Generation Y workers generally prefer a collaborative work environment.

“Our goal is to improve communication, appreciation and respect among the four generations now in the workplace,” she said.

Recognizing generational differences, she said, becomes more crucial as each generation gains or loses numbers and power in the workplace.

Most members of the Veterans Generation have retired or soon will; the first wave of the Boomers, the largest portion of Minnesota ’s population and labor, is now turning 60 and approaching retirement, according to the April 2006 issue of “Minnesota Economic Trends.”

Better understanding of values and work styles, Geschwind said, may ease future transitions in the workplace where expectations for efficiency and productivity continue to rise and better interpersonal communication becomes even more critical.

DeLaRosa and Hillyer said the workshop they attended was a valuable experience to share.

“Generation Xers—and all of us—need to be aware of generational work and value differences, and that managers and supervisors especially need to be respectful of our differences,” DeLaRosa said. “After all, we all get up in the morning—or the late afternoon—to go to work.” 

By Kay Korsgaard

The recent Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations move from Mendota Heights to the Transportation Building in St. Paul is a good reminder for employees to update their Frequent Contacts list in GroupWise, notes Anna Cady, Desktop Support.

An address may be added to the frequent contacts list any time you send an e-mail, depending on the properties set on your address book. The next time you send an e-mail to that person, GroupWise looks first in your Frequent Contacts list. This speeds up e-mail delivery by eliminating the need for GroupWise to search the entire list of Mn/DOT employees.

However, whenever employees move from one location to another, their GroupWise post office changes. This means that, although their GroupWise address remains the same, the system does not have all the information it needs and their e-mail will not be delivered.

Here’s how to update your Frequent Contacts list.

• Open your GroupWise address book
• Right click on the Frequent Contacts tab
• Click on “Synchronize” and “Current Book” from the pull-down menu

GroupWise will automatically compare the entries in your frequent contacts list to the entire GroupWise directory and update your list. You should do the same, says Cady, for any other special lists you have created.

If your office has already moved to GroupWise 6.5 the problem with frequent contacts should not be there, but it is a good idea to collect only external addresses. To check your settings:

• Right click on the Frequent Contact Address Book tab or Folder
• Choose Properties on the tab called Options
• Remove the checkmark from Internal Sources

For more information, contact Desktop Support at http://ihub.dss/.

By Craig Wilkins

The story of building Interstate 35 in Duluth follows the historic pattern related to building the interstate system in the nation, especially in its urban areas.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Duluth area residents enthusiastically welcomed the new freeway. It connected the city to the Twin Cities metropolitan area and other destinations with safe and high-speed travel. And it promised to relieve heavy traffic congestion in the city, particularly its downtown business district.

By 1968, the freeway extended north to Mesaba Avenue, the southern gateway to Duluth.

When plans were announced in 1970 to extend the freeway parallel to Superior Street and the Lake Superior shoreline, many Duluthians balked.

They had seen the hundreds of homes and businesses that were razed to build the freeway to Mesaba Avenue. Many citizens expressed concern that the elevated freeway would create a permanent barrier between downtown and the lake, affect Leif Erikson Park and require destruction of many historic buildings and other landmarks.

Stiff and well-organized resistance surfaced to extending the freeway about three miles east to 26th Avenue East or even further to 68th Avenue East where it could connect with the Hwy 61 expressway.

As it did in many other areas of the country, the resistance grew stronger, resulting in a spate of lawsuits, a divided community and political upheaval that stopped the project for nearly two decades.

In 1975, newly elected Mayor Robert Beaudin created a citizens’ panel to find a solution to the long-simmering dilemma.

The committee turned to landscape architect Kent Worley, a strong opponent of the elevated freeway design, to create an alternative that would gain community acceptance.

Worley responded with an unusual design that placed the freeway in tunnels and created parks and open spaces on top of them. The open space created a physical and visual connection to the lakeshore and spurred redevelopment of the area once filled with abandoned warehouses, piles of debris and busy railroads tracks.

Though still plagued by lawsuits, work on the project between Mesaba Avenue and 26th Avenue started in 1982. Work on the tunnels started the following year. The project was completed in 1992.

The finished freeway earned widespread praise, including some from those who had initially opposed the tunnel design or any freeway extension at all.

The accommodation reached in Duluth reflected a national trend in which freeway supporters and detractors worked out solutions to improve mobility with minimal impact on the environment.

John Sandahl, who served as district engineer at Duluth from 1984 until 1991, said Worley’s vision, coupled with support from the city, Mn/DOT, the Legislature and the FHWA, created a widely hailed urban freeway design.

“Kent’s design was to push the freeway down and bring the people up and over it, and that just what we did,” Sandahl said.

For more information about building I-35 in Duluth, visit Mn/DOT’s 50th Anniversary of the Interstate Highway System at: www.dot.state.mn.us/interstate50/.

By Craig Wilkins

Wendy Frederickson, a transportation generalist at Virginia, recently ended her third and final year as Mn/DOT’s winter maintenance coordinator with the Salt Solutions program.

The post originally started as a one-year mobility assignment, but her passion and commitment to spreading the word about ways to use less salt and advocating other changes in winter maintenance practices carried well beyond that first year.

Frederickson joined Mn/DOT in 1990 as temporary snowplow driver after previous stints as an over-the-road trucker and as a welder and oiler at a taconite mine in Virginia. She was hired as a full-time employee a year later at the Nopeming truck station, and transferred back to Virginia in 1992.

The confidence she gained in her jobs led Frederickson to join the department’s speakers bureau in 1999 and deliver messages about work zone safety to schools, civic groups and other audiences.

“I wasn’t an expert or anything, but I jumped at the chance to join the speakers bureau,” she said.

In 2003, Frederickson was selected to lead the Salt Solutions program with the Maintenance Office.

She took the assignment because of her commitment to the environment and her conviction that Salt Solutions is an effective way to cut salt use and spur other winter maintenance innovations.

“I like working with people, I believe they are smart and willing to try new ways of doing things, and I believe my time in the trenches as a maintenance worker gave me credibility with workers, supervisors, researchers and managers,” she said.

Frederickson represented Mn/DOT at local, state and national workshops and meetings where she shared her training experience in winter maintenance issues.  

Rick Shomion, state maintenance training coordinator, said Frederickson’s ability and passion enabled her to perform a wide range of tasks from, for example, helping solve a problem with using liquid magnesium chloride in northern Minnesota to representing the department at a national conference held last year Lexington, Ky.

“Just about everywhere I went I saw a thirst for new knowledge,” Frederickson said.

Frederickson led workshops on cutting sand and salt use, and using new technologies to improve safety and service to the public.

“Wendy’s knowledge and enthusiasm earned respect and warm welcomes wherever she went,” Shomion said.

The end of her assignment coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Salt Solutions program. Program accomplishments include increased use of brine and other anti-icers and strengthened ties with other agencies. The Maintenance Office and the Center for Transportation Studies published a new snow and ice control handbook during her tenure.  

“The past three years have been an incredible experience filled with teaching and learning,” Frederickson said. “Now I’m adjusting to being in one place and using our new maintenance practices.”  

Owatonna’s Andrew Kubista appointed as new winter maintenance coordinator Andrew Kubista, a transportation generalist at Owatonna, succeeds Wendy Frederickson as winter maintenance coordinator.    Kubista joined Mn/DOT in 1999 after serving in public works positions with the cities of Claremont, Minn., and Carol Stream, Ill., a Chicago suburb. His first six months with the department at Mankato working with Randy Glaser, an early innovator in winter maintenance operations, sharpened his focus on improving the use of chemicals, equipment and processes.   Kubista served with District 6 truck stations in Albert Lea and Owatonna before starting his current mobility assignment. His goals, he said, include updating chemical and equipment use and “finding new ways to save money, using less salt and make everyone’s job easier.” Photo by Kristine Hernandez

By Rita Hutton, Central Office safety administrator                   

Anticipating Memorial Weekend travel, members of the Central Office Safety Committee were out in force early May 24 checking to see whether Mn/DOT employees were wearing their seat belt as they pulled into their parking spaces.

On this particular morning, about 95 percent of the drivers observed were wearing seat belts. Each was rewarded with a ticket for a free BUCKLE UP T-shirt as part of the “positive reinforcement campaign” the committee used to encourage seat belt use. In all, more than 300 employees received T-shirts.

In addition, Mn/DOT recently released a DVD, "Saved by the Belt," that emphasizes the importance of seat belt use. In the video, the "seat belts save lives" message is delivered by a number of Mn/DOT employees, who share their personal experiences, as well as by emergency responders, who see what happens when seat belts are not worn.

• To view the "Saved by the Belt" DVD, contact the Mn/DOT Library
• For more information about seat belt safety, see the Department of Public Safety Web page
• Click here for safety contacts in the districts and Central office

By Lucy Kender, Mn/DOT Communications director

This issue of Mn/DOT Newsline marks both a new direction and a new design for the agency’s online employee newsletter.

Five years ago, when Newsline was launched, the editorial focus was on news about transportation issues and activities affecting the department. Market research and reader input since then has shown that, in addition to transportation news, you also welcome a broader range of articles to read.

To that end, Newsline now will feature more “people stories”—articles about the employees who are the backbone of the agency and what it takes to do their jobs. We also will invite employee and management input in the form of personal commentaries on topics of wide interest to all department staff.

From a graphic perspective, the new design is fresh and more up-to-date. We’ve organized the newsletter into four distinct sections—Headlines, Variety, Business and Voices—making it easier for you to choose which stories to read first.

• Headlines. This is where you’ll find news about projects, legislative proposals and actions, modal news, new technology, etc.
• Variety. This section focuses on the people of Mn/DOT and includes features about employees on-the-job, Mn/DOT history, project- and job-related awards and health and wellness news/tips.
• Business. Here you will find information about organizational appointments, business how-to’s (tips), computer support, conferences, diversity, HR notices, organizational changes, policies and strategic initiatives.
• Voices. This section includes commentaries from folks from all levels in the organization on topics of departmentwide interest.

I am delighted to be the “voice” in this inaugural issue so I can encourage you to share yours. Healthy communications is two-way and we want you to be a part of that. If you are interested in crafting a “Voices” submission, please let us know.

Again, welcome to the new Newsline. I hope you will find useful and interesting articles in all the sections. You can make Newsline an even better employee newsletter by continuing to send us ideas for articles covering news from across the state.