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Dear Neighbors,
I’ve heard from a lot of people in our community with questions about driver’s license testing. Yesterday Fox 9 ran a story about the backlog of over 12,500 class D road exams and 1,000 commercial driver’s license (CDL) exams. The number of people who need tests continues to grow. This is not a new problem, as many of you well know. Applicants have had to wait months to get an appointment for a road exam. The COVID-19 crisis has greatly exacerbated this problem. Road tests ended in Mid-March and have not resumed as of today.
This week, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) released their plan for how to address this backlog. They will be opening 16 regional exam stations around the state, in St Paul, Arden Hills, Anoka, Eagan, Plymouth, Rochester, Mankato, Fairmont, Marshall, Willmar, Detroit Lakes, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Duluth, Grand Rapids, and Bemidji. It is important to note that St. Paul does not offer road test exams.
These 16 sites are down from the previous 93 sites. These centers will be open starting on May 19th with these stations offering knowledge tests, permit applications, motorcycle and Commercial CDL driver road testing. Starting on May 26th these centers will start Class D driver exams. More information can be found in the DPS news release here, or on the DPS COVID-19 FAQ page.
DPS is planning to safely test people using CDC and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines including:
- Wellness screenings for staff and customers
- Social distancing between customers, plexiglass at counters
- Personal protective equipment – staff will wear masks, gloves and hand sanitizer will be available
- Arden Hills, St Paul and Mankato offices will have virtual lobby allowing you to check in when arrive and receive a text when it is your turn
- Class D drivers will have to fill out a questionnaire, have their temperature taken and are encouraged to wear a face mask
- Equipment inspections are being waived at this time
- Examiners will ride in the vehicle
- The driver test ends immediately if anything is done that fails a driver
- After passing the road test the applicant can process the paperwork to obtain their license at that center
- NOTE: Only drivers that are currently backlogged will be given road tests and new drivers are not allowed to schedule a road test at this time
Knowledge tests will resume at 15 exam stations for standard permit test, motorcycles, and commercial driver licenses (CDL) starting on May 19th.
Commercial drivers road tests (CDL) resumed on April 27th at Arden Hills and then expanded to Arden Hills, Eagan, Rochester, Mankato, Marshall, Detroit Lakes, Bemidji, and Duluth on May 4th. CDL examiners do not drive with the applicant but will instead have a camera in the cab and will be following the vehicle through the course to evaluate applicant performance.
Motorcycle road tests can also be taken at the 15 road exam stations.
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