Goal: Safeguard what exists

Why is this goal important?
Transportation systems support all aspects of Minnesota’s economy and quality of life. Mn/DOT’s first goal is to preserve Minnesota’s transportation assets in sound condition and preserve maximum traffic flow on our current systems. This means obtaining the greatest productivity at the best cost. Mn/DOT has a dozen measures in its 20-year Statewide Plan to track progress on this goal.

Five measures are shown here.

Measures - Pavement Ride Quality and Bridge Condition
Transportation infrastructure faces constant deterioration due to heavy use, age and weather. Mn/DOT regularly monitors and measures the physical condition of pavements and bridges.

Pavement measures include both the smoothness of ride provided to travelers – the Customer Ride Quality Index, and the integrity of the pavement structure – its years of Remaining Service Life. Ride Quality is of primary importance to travelers. Keeping pavement service life at a sound level is important to taxpayers. Good preventative maintenance minimizes life cycle costs by avoiding having to prematurely rebuild roads.
 
Similarly, if too many bridges deteriorate to Fair condition, or Poor condition ("structurally deficient"), the costs of repair and replacement rise disproportionately. If allowed to deteriorate to the point where they have weight restrictions, it imposes costs on freight and agricultural haulers. There are 2,504 highway bridges 20 feet or longer on state highway principal arterial routes and 3,581 on the entire state system.

Measure - Customer Satisfaction with Maintenance
The primary goal of Mn/DOT maintenance operations is to provide safe and efficient travel for Minnesotans. Customers have reaffirmed the importance of maintenance through periodic surveys. Mn/DOT uses an annual statewide survey of Minnesota drivers to measure any changes in their view of roadway maintenance performance. The survey reflects satisfaction with snow and ice removal, road smoothness, visibility of pavement markings, signage and roadsides.

Measure - Snow and Ice Removal.
The safety of Minnesota’s traveling public is the primary goal of Mn/DOT’s snow and ice removal operations. Citizens have reaffirmed the importance of safe trips and snow and ice removal in customer surveys. Mn/DOT continuously seeks new and better methods for snow and ice removal and it is important to gauge their success using the established measures and targets. Mn/DOT's performance measure is the time it takes to achieve bare lanes on state highways after the end of each snow and ice event.  Mn/DOT groups roads into five classifications based on traffic levels. Each classification has a specific performance target.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Mn/DOT uses a variety of money-saving technologies to monitor roadway conditions, prevent ice and snow build-up, and remove snow and ice. Snow and ice managers strive to find the right balance between resources and technology to work toward meeting performance targets. Performance is based on the length of time it takes to reach bare lanes at various traffic volume levels.

What is Mn/DOT's progress?
Mn/DOT achieved its overall statewide snow and ice removal targets for the last nine winters, from 1998-99 through 2006-07. However, the conditions of each specific snowstorm may vary. Weather conditions such as air and ground temperatures and time and length of snowfall greatly affect Mn/DOT's ability to meet the targets for each storm. The annual data is an average of storms and routes statewide for the entire season. The lowest average was in the relatively mild winter of 2002-03.

For the 2006-07 winter, on average, all districts were on target and statewide performance was better than the winter before. Spending was lower than last winter.

Learn more at:
View Minnesota's Statewide Transportation Plan and all of its performance measures: www.oim.dot.state.mn.us/StatePlan/index.html
To see a list of current Twin Cities Metro freeway incidents, click on: www.dot.state.mn.us/tmc/trafficinfo/metrocams/incidents.html
For more information on how incidents disrupt traffic and on activities to reduce their impact, click on: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/tmc/incmgmt.html
To get current information on construction projects and travel conditions by region, click on: www.511mn.org
 

Goal: Make the transportation network operate better

Policies:
-Enhance mobility in Interregional Corridors linking Regional Trade Centers
-Enhance mobility within major Regional Trade Centers
-Increase the safety and security of transportation systems and their users
-Provide cost-effective transportation options for people and freight

Why is this goal important?
Reasonable and reliable travel times between Regional Centers and within Minnesota’s metropolitan areas are vital to travelers and shippers. Providing safe and efficient connections will ensure competitive access to markets and services and good connections to tourist and recreational areas. Options to automobile travel are essential to those who cannot drive, and these options can contribute to reducing congestion. Mn/DOT supports transitways, bus travel on highway shoulders, park and ride, telecommuting, biking, and other methods of reducing demand on highways. There are 19 measures for this goal in the 20-year Statewide Transportation Plan. Six measures are covered here.

Measure: Travel Speed on Interregional Corridors (IRCs).
The IRC system includes about 3,000 Interstate and State highway miles connecting the fifty largest Regional Centers in Minnesota with each other and neighboring states. High-Priority IRCs connect the Twin Cities with the largest out-state centers, such as St. Cloud, Duluth, Rochester, and Fargo-Moorhead. The performance target for these routes is an average speed of 60 mph for a typical trip of an hour or more. Medium-Priority IRCs connect medium-size centers to the Twin Cities and other Regional Centers, and have a performance target of an average speed of 55 mph for a typical trip of an hour or more.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Preservation of pavements and bridges is the highest priority, but Mn/DOT is making investments in selected segments of the IRC system to achieve or maintain the travel speed targets of 55 mph and 60 mph. In addition, corridors are being actively managed with local community participation to address safety concerns and minimize the effects on travel speed of access points, local road connections, and development.

What is Mn/DOT’s progress?
Mn/DOT’s 20-year plan established a target of 90 percent of the IRC system meeting corridor target speeds by the year 2023. Currently 84 percent of the system meets target, down from 87% in 2003. Performance gains from recent construction projects are being outweighed by performance declines on some corridors with growing traffic volumes.

Measure: Twin Cities Urban Freeway Congestion.
Congestion plays an increasing role in the daily lives of people who live and work in the Twin Cities area, and is beginning to affect other large Regional Centers. Mitigating congestion affects safety, economic vitality, air quality and the quality of life. For the Twin Cities Urban Freeway System, Mn/DOT monitors travel speed constantly on most routes. Annually, it measures the percentage of the 324 mile system that is congested on an average weekday rush hour. Congestion is defined as traffic that falls below 45 mph in weekday peak periods (6 to 9 am and 2 to 7 pm).

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Methods of mitigating freeway congestion include relieving bottlenecks, adding highway lanes, developing cost-effective transit options, I-394 MnPass, incident clearance, traveler information signs and services, managing demand, and other effective traffic management. Based on current funding projections, some $3 billion is anticipated over the next 25 years to expand and reconstruct portions of the Twin Cities area highway system. Bottleneck relief and lane expansion projects are targeted to the highest priority locations. They will relieve congestion in project areas, but overall system relief will be less noticeable.

What is Mn/DOT's Progress?
Miles congested on the Twin Cities Urban Freeway System during rush-hour peak periods dropped for the third straight year in 2006, to 20.6 percent. Recent construction projects contributed to the gains, meeting Mn/DOT’s target to contain congestion growth. Because of finite resources and the exceptional growth in Minnesota's economy and population, current efforts can temporarily retard the growth of congestion but not reverse it.

Measure: Bond Accelerated Construction Projects

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve this goal?
The 2003 legislature provided $400 million in highway bonds enabling the state to leverage over $400 million in advance federal funds for 2004-07. This funding allowed the state to accelerate eleven construction projects by a combined total of 60 years. These Bond Accelerated projects are expected to improve the performance of selected Interregional Corridors and to moderate congestion growth in the Twin Cities area. Mn/DOT met its goal to let the projects on or very close to schedule.

What is Mn/DOT's progress?
Projects under construction are an interchange on Highway 52 in Oronoco north of Rochester, four interchanges on TH 101 between Rogers and Elk River, and  the "Unweave the Weave" rebuild at I-694 and I-35E in Vadnais Heights, TH 34 through Park Rapids and TH 10 through Detroit Lakes.

For project information see: www.dot.state.mn.us/financing/ 

Learn more at:
To view current congestion levels on the Twin Cities freeway system click on: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/tmc/trafficinfo/map/refreshmap.html
To see a map of Minnesota’s Interregional Corridors click on: http://www.oim.dot.state.mn.us/irc.html
To view the Metropolitan Council Transit website, click on: http://www.metrocouncil.org/transit/
For information on Greater Minnesota transit service click on: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/transitreports/05/index.html
To see the statewide transit plan click on: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/research/index.html
 

Measure: Fatalities on Minnesota Roads

Why is this important?
Mn/DOT measures the number of fatalities on all Minnesota state and local roads and makes it a high priority to reduce fatalities and severe injuries. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that nationally, crashes are the leading cause of death among persons aged 1 to 34, and the fifth leading cause of death among all persons. The cost of one death is estimated by the National Safety Council to be $1,120,000.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Mn/DOT and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety have established a Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan (CHSP) in partnership with local governments and the private sector. It has aggressive goals for reducing life-changing injuries and reducing fatalities to 500 by 2008. To accomplish this goal the disciplines of Engineering, Enforcement, Education and Emergency Services are working together. Numerous plan strategies are now underway. Mn/DOT is continuing a Speed Management Project aimed at preventing excessive speeds by better enforcing existing limits and raising limits where appropriate. Also, the top 350 High Crash Locations are a focus of state highway safety improvements. To prevent cross-median crashes, cable median barriers have been installed on 36 miles of high incident locations, such as on I94 northwest of Minneapolis to St. Cloud, and on I494 and TH 169. 53 more miles of cable median barrier are planned and funded as of June 2007.

What is Mn/DOT's progress?
Fatalities dropped sharply in 2006 for the third straight year, to 494, meeting the target for 2008 two years in advance. Fatalities were the lowest since 1945. The 3-year average fatalities were reduced from 594 in 2005 to 540 in 2006, as shown in the graph. This makes Minnesota’s fatality rate (per vehicle miles driven) the fourth lowest in the nation.

Learn more at:
To see Public Safety's Crash Facts click on: http://www.dps.state.mn.us/OTS/crashdata/crash_facts.asp
Department of Public Safety home page: www.dps.state.mn.us

Measure: Bus Shoulder Miles Established
Both Mn/DOT’s Strategic Plan and the Metropolitan Council’s Regional Framework focus future investments on improving travel time and reliability on highly-traveled metro corridors. They support cost-effective multimodal transportation choices. The goal is to move the most people through the congestion. “Transit Advantages” such as bus-only shoulders, park and rides and HOV (High-Occupancy Vehicle) bypasses, are an important tool authorized in Minnesota law to speed bus travel time on congested roadways, improve bus reliability, and draw more automobile drivers into buses. From 6 to 250 registered buses use each bus-shoulder route each workday. They can divert to authorized shoulders when mainline speeds drop to below 35 mph, but cannot exceed 35 mph on the shoulder. The highest volume corridor, I-35W South of Minneapolis, has 250 buses per day in each direction. 

As the nation's bus shoulder network leader, available, cost-effective, opportunities are nearly all built. Limited expansion will continue. In the future "Transit Advantages" emphasis will shift to building more park and ride lots and preserving existing bus shoulders.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Within the Twin Cities area, Mn/DOT and the Metropolitan Council are expanding bus-only shoulders to allow commuter buses to bypass congestion. Through 2006, over 270 miles of strengthened bus shoulders have been established. Twenty-two more miles are planned for 2007 and 2008.

What is Mn/DOT's progress?
Bus-only shoulders were built at an average rate near or exceeding Mn/DOT’s target of 20 miles per year through 2005. Using the infusion of Bond funding, thirty five new miles were added in 2005 and 14 miles in 2006. Because a majority of the most affordable and productive locations have been developed, the target was lowered to 4 to 8 miles per year starting in 2006. Bus-only shoulders provide significant improvements in transit speed - from 5 to 20 minutes savings per trip. In a survey of riders, 89 percent said bus-shoulders saved them time on a typical morning.
 

Click here for a bus  shoulder map

Measure: Greater Minnesota Bus Service Hours
As Minnesota's population ages and absorbs more transit-dependent immigrants, non-auto travel options become more important to enable people to get to work, school, family, medical services and shopping. For 80 Greater Minnesota counties, Mn/DOT measures the total bus service hours provided versus the level of service necessary to meet estimated passenger demand, based on the demographics of the counties.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
In Greater Minnesota, Mn/DOT contributes funds to local agencies for development and operation of transit systems. Mn/DOT is continuing to assist transit systems in improving efficiency to make resources available for service delivery.

What is Mn/DOT's progress?
Sixty-seven percent of estimated need for bus service was provided in Greater Minnesota in 2000 – some 870,000 hours of service. The long-term target set in the Greater Minnesota Transportation Plan is to meet 80 percent of need in all 80 Greater Minnesota counties by 2010 – 1,400,000 hours of service. Bus service hours increased in 2006 to 950,000. In November 2006 Minnesota citizens approved a constitutional amendment that dedicates Motor Vehicle Sales Tax (MVST) dollars to transit and highways. The Governor’s 2008-2009 Biennial Budget Recommendation allocates sufficient funding to provide 980,000 annual bus service hours for Greater Minnesota through 2012.

Policy:
-Continually improve Mn/DOT’s internal management and program delivery
 

Why is this goal important?
An objective in Mn/DOT’s Strategic Plan is “Building Faster.” This means developing and building transportation projects in less time. It also means delivering projects on the schedule announced to affected communities, contractors and travelers.

Mn/DOT is also committed to “continuously improve service and efficiency in order to give citizens the best value for their tax dollar.” Strategies include expanding E-government services, greater use of design-build construction, competitive sourcing of services, and other innovations. The objective is to free up resources to shift to construction projects.

Numerous measures of quality, cost and time efficiency are used throughout Mn/DOT. They include management of construction projects, contracts, facilities, fleet, information technology and human resources, to name a few. Two examples are covered here.

Measure: Construction Projects on Schedule
Putting a project out for bid is the key step toward beginning construction after completing planning, design, permits, and land acquisition. To provide accountability to the public, and its partners - construction firms and local governments - Mn/DOT measures the percentage of its projects planned for the current year of its construction program that are actually put out for bid, or “let,” in the year. It uses additional measures to keep projects on schedule in real-time and evaluate cost deviation.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Over the last several years Mn/DOT has engaged in several major process redesign initiatives to reduce steps in the development of transportation projects and put more accountability and resources in the districts, where the projects are delivered.

What is Mn/DOT’s progress?
Mn/DOT’s target is to put at least 90 percent of scheduled current-year projects out for bid. In 2006 out of 135 construction projects scheduled, 86 percent were put out for bid during the year. Because of the many variables - such as fluctuating funding, municipal approvals, permits, right-of-way acquistion - the 90 percent target is a challenging one.
 

Measure - Electronic Government Services
Electronic Government Services (EGS) are government activities that take place over electronic communications technology, such as the Internet.

As more citizens become proficient with technology, expectations grow. Mn/DOT customers and partners want to conduct business electronically in order to reduce the need to travel, and to have expanded hours of service.

The 3 categories of external electronic services and some examples are:

Government to Citizen. Traveler information on road conditions and freeway camera images on the Internet to help citizens plan their trips. Information on the location and status of construction projects.

Government to Business. Electronic bidding on transportation projects. Online applications for motor carrier permits and aircraft registration.

Government to Government. Electronic transactions with local, state and the federal government to reduce manual processing. Sharing financial data, construction project data, road plans, maps, manuals and forms with federal and local governments.

The Governor's Strategic Plan promotes EGS as a way to transform government and improve public services. To monitor progress, Mn/DOT measures the number of services that are delivered electronically versus the targeted number.

What is Mn/DOT doing to achieve the goal?
Mn/DOT offers a wide variety of electronic services to external customers through websites and electronic transactions, as well as internal services that help employees perform their jobs more effectively. Typically a dozen or more projects are underway that result in new or improved E-government services.
 
What is Mn/DOT 's progress?
In 2006 Mn/DOT exceeded performance targets with 76% of Government to Citizen, 74% of Government to Business, and 76% of Government to Government services delivered electronically versus potential.