Participate

There will be many opportunities for the public to participate in the plan development process. To receive meeting notices and an up-to-date status on what’s happening with the plan, sign up for email updates. You can also follow the plan on Facebook and Twitter.

At any time, you also may contact the MnDOT project manager, Kirby Becker, at 651-366-3740 or kirby.becker@state.mn.us with questions or comments about the plan.

Below is a summary of public engagement activities:

Stakeholder Forum 2

A second set of stakeholder forums will be held April 16th from 1:00-3:00PM in St. Cloud, and April 17th from 9:00-11:00AM in Shoreview. Concurrent web-based options for each of these meetings will also be available. Although the forums are geared toward transportation partners (those involved with organizations that have decision-making responsibilities related to transportation), members of the general public are also welcome to attend. Click here for the full invitation. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by emailing kirby.becker@state.mn.us.

The forums will consist of an informational presentation followed by breakout discussion groups. Questions for the discussion and reference materials are provided below for advance information.

• Minnesota GO Vision
• Plan Outline
• Forum 2 Discussion Questions
• Draft Objectives and Strategies

Open Houses

Between Monday, January 30th, 2012 and Thursday, February 16th, 2012, MnDOT's Office of Statewide Multimodal Planning took elements of the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan "on the road" to introduce the plan to the public and solicit feedback on draft content. Meetings were held in nine different cities across the state - Duluth, Crookston, Moorhead, St. Cloud, Minneapolis, St. Paul (Maplewood), Marshall, Mankato, and Rochester. Through these 9 meetings and one web-based meeting, the open houses drew over 200 attendees. Of those attendees, 32 percent were from Northern & Central Minnesota, 30 percent were from the Twin Cities metropolitan region, 31 percent were from Southern Minnesota, and 7 percent participated online.

Open houses were hosted from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM on varying nights of the week. Each open house consisted of display boards with station areas based on plan context and draft objectives and strategies, as well as two opportunities to listen to a 15-minute presentation on the draft plan. A brief survey was provided, soliciting specific input on draft plan objectives and strategies. Attendees were able to ask questions of members of the Office of Statewide Multimodal Planning as well District staff and members of the Project Management Team.

Attendees and online survey participants filled out over 90 surveys and comment forms. From those surveys and forms, over 500 individual comments were received. All of the comments received are being evaluated and considered in the update of the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan. Thank you for your participation!

• Open House Summary

Stakeholder Forum 1

Over 90 transportation stakeholders participated in two forums held December 1, 2011 in Minneapolis and December 6, 2011 in St. Cloud. An additional 25 people took advantage of the opportunity to participate online. Participating stakeholders included federal agencies, tribal governments, state agencies, regional development commissions, counties, cities, advocacy groups, transportation providers, and private industry, among others.

The meeting began with an informational presentation on multimodal planning, the Minnesota GO! Visioning process, and the status of Minnesota's statewide multimodal transportation plan. Participants then transitioned into breakout groups where they commented on draft objective language and brainstormed "next steps" or strategies that fit under each draft objective for the plan. The forum finished with stakeholders prioritizing strategies by voting on the lists generated. A summary of the outcome of these discussions can be found below, as well as detailed lists from the breakout groups at each forum.

The information collected at the forums will be considered as the objectives and strategies for the plan are further refined. A second forum is anticipated to be held in April 2012. Stay tuned!

Stakeholder Forum 1

• Summary