MnDOT Innovation Focus
Happy New Year! 2021 has arrived and with it so many opportunities for every employee to continue to be innovative problem-solvers. 2020 saw so many creative ideas implemented out of necessity while working during a global pandemic. This quarterly newsletter is intended to highlight the great work happening at MnDOT, share lessons learned across the agency and, possibly, make the work you do as public servants a little easier.
In November, Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher spoke at the virtual Center for Transportation Studies Research Conference. Our team would like to share the Commissioner’s comments regarding the importance MnDOT places on research and innovation. She believes that, “innovation is for every level of MnDOT,” and so do we.
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Please take a few minutes to listen to the excerpt of her remarks highlighting innovative in our agency. You can listen to the entire CTS plenary session on YouTube.
Our office looks forward to working with you this year and hearing how you’re building an innovative culture at MnDOT. Share your ideas, creative problem-solving and experiences with us. We’d like to feature your team in a future newsletter.
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 “On what sorts of problems should MnDOT focus its innovation efforts?" (Responses from 27 Innovation TAP Members, Dec. 2, 2020)
The Innovation Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) held their first monthly meeting on Nov. 9. The TAP is composed of a multi-disciplinary group of staff from across the agency assembled to provide guidance to the innovation consultant, promote and spread innovation, and support culture change.
The first piece of the TAP’s charge is understanding “why” our agency is focused on innovation and “what” do we define as innovation. Pictured above is a word cloud representing the most common themes from the responses to the question “On what sorts of problems should MnDOT focus its innovation efforts?” Stay tuned for future opportunities to get involved with MnDOT’s innovation work!
Every winter MnDOT ensures Minnesotans can travel safely by plowing more than 30,000 lane miles with approximately 800 snowplows.
In a new research implementation project jointly funded by the Office of Research & Innovation and Office of Maintenance, MnDOT is pilot testing five new pieces of snowplow equipment: two slurry spreaders (one from Henke, one from Swenson), a two-way reversible plow, an underbody scraper and a true-float wing (all from Henke).
The purpose of this project is to vet new technologies for feasibility of widespread deployment—taking cost, effectiveness, ease of use and safety into account.
“Our winter maintenance team strives to be proactive and innovative,” said Tom Peters, Maintenance Research & Training Engineer, who is leading the project. “These new technologies can help us keep motorists safe and be more environmentally sustainable with our road salt use.”
Read the full article, Improving Winter Maintenance: Pilot Testing New Snowplow Technologies, to learn more.
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 Metro District's tunnel washer is mounted on a John Deere tractor. The washing equipment can be removed, freeing the tractor up for other duties. This photo was taken during a cleaning of the Lowry Hill Tunnel on Oct. 21. Photo by John Bieniek
Faced with the enormous cost of buying a new tunnel washing machine or contracting out the service employees in two MnDOT districts have saved the agency hundreds of thousands of dollars by building their own specialized tunnel-washing machines.
The October 20 edition of MnDOT Newsline has details on the construction of each tunnel washer.
District 1 got the idea to build their own from the Colorado DOT and constructed a plow truck-mounted version for just $6,000.
When Metro District’s old washer broke and replacement parts couldn’t be found, employees were inspired by District 1 to also build their own. They created a multidirectional, tractor-mounted washer for $40,000 – half the cost of just one contracted cleaning of the Lowry Tunnel. A new machine would have cost the agency around $800,000.
In its first cleaning this fall the new Metro District-built washer cleaned the tunnel better than a contractor previously did while also using less water.
MnDOT's wrong way driver detection system was featured in the Star Tribune on Nov. 2, 2020.
Once or twice a night motorists heading out of downtown Minneapolis mistakenly turn onto the Interstate 94 or 394 ramps at N. 4th Street and begin driving the wrong way. It happens a bit more frequently on weekends.
Now the Minnesota Department of Transportation is testing a system that detects drivers going the wrong way on ramps that handle traffic coming off the freeways and into downtown. It hopes to learn whether "Wrong Way" signs equipped with flashing lights are effective in grabbing the attention of wayward motorists and getting them to reverse course before tragedy strikes.
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Trying to make a change in the workplace? The MnDOT Library has launched a professional development e-books collection that has several tiles focused on innovation and creativity in the workplace. To suggest a title for the collection or learn more about this new service, visit library’s iHub page.
- The Changemaker Mindset: How Innovation and Change Start with Inner Transformation
- Innovating Innovation: Leadership Tools to Make Revolutionary Change Happen for You and Your Business
- Leadership for Innovation: Three Essential Skill Sets for Leading Employee-Driven Innovation
- The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation
- Thinking, Fast and Slow
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What is mind mapping? It’s a tool that increases your creativity and productivity—by allowing you to generate more ideas, identify relationships among different data and improve your memory. It includes a single concept located at the center with major and minor ideas branching out. In your next brainstorming session try using a mind map rather than a linear list.
Interested in learning more about mind mapping and other trainings that can help strengthen your creative thinking skills? Consider enrolling for MnDOT’s Leadership Development Program! Enrollment ends on January 15.
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This newsletter is produced by MnDOT's Office of Research & Innovation. Have a story idea? Let us know! If you have a question or need content in an alternative format, please contact our office at research.dot@state.mn.us or 651-366-3738.
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