The Traffic Engineering Section of the Minnesota Highway Department undertook a three-fold study to determine (1) the extent of nonconformity with the new standards of the existing traffic control devices on the trunk highway system, (2) the estimated cost to bring all devices into conformity with the new standards, and (3) a program or schedule for modernization to achieve complete compliance with the new standards by the end of 1966.
This study is the product of a planning process that incorporates the following steps:
• Identification of the critical operational elements that influence the function under study — in this case, highway maintenance;
• Determination of the inter-relationship of these elements;
• Isolation of patterns of change;
• Identification of the future magnitude of these operational elements;
• Assessment of future external or "environmental" pressures (economic, social, technological and political);
• Development of a future posture based upon this assembled intelligence.
The projections derived from this analysis rely on both the application of historically clarified trends and their extrapolation through the use of economic indicators and other factors consistently used in determining general trends in business activities. These factors serve as a basis for predicting change. When a number of such factors are viewed simultaneously, they help to solidify the projection probability. Assembled intelligence, concerning past operations and the external environmental conditions, provides necessary knowledge required to make assumptions and decisions about the future posture of highway maintenance.
This index was created by Gemini Research in 1998 for the the Minnesota Department of Transportation. It lists the photographs appearing on each page of the Harold E. Olson albums.
This four-volume set of photo albums has a printed title page that reads Historical Markers in Minnesota. The albums were compiled circa 1942 under the direction of Harold E. Olson, who served as head of the Roadside Development Division from 1932
to 1963. They were updated circa 1954 while Olson was still head of the division.
Volumes 1 through 3 of the Olson albums depict roadside development properties arranged numerically by S.P. number. Volume 4 contains only state line markers, which are monuments that were erected in the 1 930s and 1940s at major trunk highway entrance points to welcome travelers into Minnesota. The contents of the volumes are listed below:
Volume 1 - S.P. 0000-2699
Volume 2 - S.P. 2700-6899
Volume 3 - S.P. 6900-8199
Volume 4 - State Line Markers
These four albums are the surviving volumes of a seven-volume set complied by Arthur R. Nichols, the Consulting Landscape Architect for the Minnesota Department of Highways from 1932-1940.
The four existing Nichols volumes contain about 250 black and white photographs. The photos show roadside development work in at least 130 different locations around the state. It is presumed that Nichols was involved in all of the work depicted. Most of the photographs were taken during the years 1933-1941 . Many were taken immediately after a particular roadside development project was completed, and many show newly-installed plantings. Most of the photos were taken by either Nichols himself, by Roadside Development staff, or by other highway department personnel.
The basic purpose of this report is to provide historical background for the Interstate System at the national level. Hopefully this will provide perspective for current Metropolitan system and route studies (and controversies) at more local levels.
The studies and acts at the national level generally provide information as to:
- why the system was proposed
- guidelines for planning and location
- important design principles
- the size of the system
- the relationship between federal, state, and local planning
The Minnesota Highway Department's Action Plan, prepared in response to the 197D Federal-Aid Highway Act to ensure the consideration of social, economic and environmental effects in highway decisions, will serve as a guide for citizen and agency participation in highway proposals from the beginning of planning up to construction.
The four principles which form the basis far the Action Plan are:
- Identification of potential social, economic and environmental effects of proposed projects
- Interdisciplinary approach to ensure the integrated use of natural, physical and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and development of highways
- Involvement of the public and Federal, State and local agencies in the decision making process
- Alternative considerations including alternate modes of transportation, varying degrees of highway improvements and no improvement.
