Transportation

The Minnesota Local Road Research Board's Local Operational Research Assistance Program, or the Local OPERA Program, helps to develop innovations in the construction and maintenance operations of local government transportation organizations. The Local OPERA Program encourages maintenance employees from all cities and counties to get involved in operational or hands-on research. In particular, OPERA helps to develop your great ideas locally and share those ideas statewide. The Local OPERA Program funds projects up to $10,000. OPERA project selections are made as projects are submitted. OPERA-funded projects also may receive support from other sources, including cities, counties, suppliers, or manufacturers. Projects are funded in two parts. The local agency is eligible for 80 percent of the total approved project cost when initial project results are submitted. The remaining 20 percent will be paid upon submission of a final report. This report is a compilation of projects completed during the past year by local government transportation organizations receiving OPERA support.

The Minnesota Local Road Research Board's Local Operational Research Assistance Program, or the Local OPERA Program, helps to develop innovations in the construction and maintenance operations of local government transportation organizations. The Local OPERA Program encourages maintenance employees from all cities and counties to get involved in operational or hands-on research. In particular, OPERA helps to develop your great ideas locally and share those ideas statewide. The Local OPERA Program funds projects up to $10,000. OPERA project selections are made as projects are submitted. OPERA-funded projects also may receive support from other sources, including cities, counties, suppliers, or manufacturers. Projects are funded in two parts. The local agency is eligible for 80 percent of the total approved project cost when initial project results are submitted. The remaining 20 percent will be paid upon submission of a final report. This report is a compilation of projects completed during the past year by local government transportation organizations receiving OPERA support.

This report is issued to comply with Laws of Minnesota 2014, chapter 312, article 24, section 45, subdivision 4. Subd. 4. Report by commissioner of transportation. On or before February 1, 2015, the commissioner of transportation shall report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the senate and house of representatives committees and divisions with jurisdiction over transportation and human services concerning implementing the nonemergency medical transportation services provisions. The report must contain recommendations of the commissioner of transportation concerning statutes, session laws, and rules that must be amended, repealed, enacted, or adopted to implement the nonemergency medical transportation services provisions. The recommendations must include, without limitation, the amount of the fee that would be required to cover the costs of Department of Transportation supervision of inspection and certification, as well as any needed statutory, rulemaking, or other authority to be granted to the commissioner of transportation.

This report summarizes the Minnesota Department of Transportation's progress and accomplishments in achieving the transit and transportation system management (TSM) goals set forth in the 1977 legislation. Recommendations for the Department's on-going transit and TSM activities are also included.

This report documents the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (Mn/DOT) progress and accomplishments in achieving the transit and transportation system management (TSM) goals set forth by the 1977 State Legislature. Recommendations for Mn/DOT's on-going transit and TSM activities are also included. As defined by Mn/DOT, TSM is both a process to optimize the operation of existing transportation systems and a program of projects which must be implemented to achieve optimization. In using this definition of TSM, Mn/DOT recognizes that a determined effort be made to increase not only the efficiency of vehicle movement but also to increase the number of people transported by the system. Consequently, this report can all be viewed as a part of the total TSM effort.

This report documents findings and recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (Mn/DOT's) Non-Traditional Transportation Stakeholder Dialogue Project. Non-traditional transportation stakeholders were defined as people of color, low-income constituencies, community and neighborhood groups, and civic and cultural groups. The definition generally included groups and constituencies without a previous history of involvement in Mn/DOT's transportation planning and design activities. The purposes of this year and a half long project are summarized below: • To identify non-traditional transportation stakeholder groups in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. • To build partnerships with non-traditional transportation stakeholders. • To invite those groups to become involved in Mn/DOT's public participation processes. • To create a forum for dialogue and two-way learning so that Mn/DOT is better prepared to develop and facilitate effective involvement processes that reach out to non-traditional stakeholders and Non-traditional stakeholders are better prepared to effetively participate in planning and project design processes.

The 2000 Statewide Transportation Tracking Study was conducted by the University of Minnesota Center for Survey Research (MCSR) during the months of September - November 2000. This study is part of the Minnesota state survey, a statewide omnibus survey, which includes questions on a variety of topics and participation with other state agencies. This survey includes questions from the Offices of Communication, Measurement and Evaluation, and Advanced Transportation Systems. A total of 802 telephone interviews were completed. The overall response rate was 52% and the cooperation rate was 59%. The survey sample consisted of households selected randomly from all Minnesota telephone exchanges. Selection procedures guaranteed that every telephone household in the state had an equal chance to be included in the survey, as did every adult member within each household. The results in this survey will provide a top-level view of the transportation issue asked in the question. In some instances where a question has been asked in previous years and the wording was changed for better understanding by the respondents, it has been noted. Where applicable, comparisons will be shown for questions asked in previous years. Additionally, where there were significant differences in the results when comparing different years or Metro versus Greater Minnesota, the differences are noted in the analysis.

In 1999, the Statewide Transportation Tracking Study was conducted by the University of Minnesota Center for Survey Research during the months of February, March, and April. However, to determine changes due to seasonality, certain questions were repeated for the fall 1999 survey conducted during the months of September, October, and November. This study is part of the Minnesota State Survey, a statewide omnibus survey which includes questions about a variety of topics. A total of 802 telephone interviews were completed with an overall response rate of 52%. The cooperation rate of the interviews was 61%, a five percent increase from the spring 1999 survey. The sample for this study consisted of randomly selected households from all Minnesota telephone exchanges. Every household with a telephone in the state had an equal chance to be included in the survey, as did every adult member within a household. This sampling design is identical to that used for previous Minnesota State Surveys. Contributors to this year's transportation questions were: the Measurement and Evaluation Section of the Management and Data Services Office and the Office of Advanced Transportation Systems. The questions have been grouped into four sections: transportation, telecommuting, technology, and comparisons between residents of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and Greater Minnesota. Customer satisfaction trends are shown, where appropriate, at the end of each section.

The Fourth Northstar Workshop, "Transportation For Minnesota: How and How Much? What is The Transportation Future To Keep Minnesota Moving?" was held at the Thunderbird Motel in Bloomington, Minnesota, on December 1 and 2, 1987. It was attended by approximately 150 people drawn from Mn/DOT, other state departments, the Minnesota Legislature, county and municipal agencies, chambers of commerce, developers, and industry. The format of the workshop was one and one-half days of presentations of papers by individuals on subjects which had been assigned to them, with limited questions and discussion after each one. These presentations were followed by group discussions for which the attendees were divided into six groups. Reports of these discussions were made to the full conference by group leaders and a wrap-up was then made by Deputy Commissioner Doug Differt. Following the workshop. Transportation Commissioner Leonard W. Levine created a special action committee to follow up on these recommendations. The proceedings contains transcripts of the presentations made by the conference speakers and discussion group speakers, and also the wrap-up.

The Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan is Minnesota's highest level policy plan for transportation. It is a 20-year plan based on the Minnesota GO Vision for a transportation system that maximizes the health of people, the environment and our economy. The plan is for all types of transportation and all transportation partners. It is about more than just roadways and more than just the Minnesota Department of Transportation. It evaluates the status of the entire transportation system, takes into account what is changing, and provides direction for moving forward over the next 20 years. MnDOT is required by state and federal law to plan for 20 years into the future but also to update the plan every four years. The SMTP was last updated in 2012.