MnDOT District 6 Freight Plan

Welcome to the District 6 Freight Plan virtual open house! Many of you may have visited our last online open house or you may be just learning about this project for the first time.

This study is looking at the freight transportation system in Southeast Minnesota to better understand the trends, issues and needs of the area.

About this online open house

Today you will learn more about the District 6 Freight Plan, our initial findings about this area and our project prioritization recommendations. You will also have an opportunity to provide your feedback.

The entire session should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.

• Navigate: Continue clicking through to learn more about the District 6 Freight Plan. Use the navigation bar on the left side of the screen by clicking on the text to advance to the next slide or use the arrows along the bottom of the screen to go back and forth between slides.
• Comment: Provide a comment at any point by clicking the “Comment” button at the top right of your screen. Once finished, please make sure to hit "Submit" to confirm that your comment is sent to the project team. Close the form to continue through the slides.

How do you use this area of the state?

Let's start by getting to know you a little better! Please take a minute to answer the following survey questions to help us understand how you use this area of the state.

See the study area

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 Your feedback — Survey questions

MnDOT is divided operationally into eight regional Districts

Each District plans, designs, constructs, and maintains the state and federal highways within that respective District. Additionally, the Districts manage the aid and assistance provided to local governments that qualify for state and federal transportation funding for roadways, bridges, trails, and transit systems.

Learn more about MnDOT District 6

District 6 is in Southeastern Minnesota and consists of the following counties: Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona.

Rochester, the state's third-largest city after the Twin Cities, is in District 6. The city also contains the largest Mayo Clinic campus, an internationally recognized medical center.

Facts about District 6

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is currently in the process of creating a Freight Plan for Southeast Minnesota that will identify opportunities to improve freight infrastructure for all modes that use the system in this area. These future investments will increase the economic competiveness of the region. The Plan will prioritize freight-related projects and develop initial designs and cost estimates for high priority projects.

Study Recommendations

The District 6 Freight Plan recommendations will:

Integrated Freight Planning

The Plan also needs to integrate and align with statewide freight planning efforts. Take a look at the flow chart below to see how recommendations from this plan could advance to become part of the Minnesota Highway Freight Program.

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Our team has been virtually engaging with the communities and stakeholders in Southeast Minnesota to gather input that helped our team develop the Plan. Information about our engagement efforts is shown below.

Project advisory committee

We have a committee of freight and public stakeholders serving as advisors to the project team to learn about the study, review planning documents and provide feedback on the plan development. The group is also acting as ambassadors for sharing information about the study and encouraging participation.

The PAC has met virtually four times:

• April 2021
• July 2021
• January 2022
• March 2022

Stakeholder interviews

We conducted nine stakeholder interviews to identify current freight needs and issues in this area.

Questions included:

• Type of industry
• How their business uses and relies on freight system
• Economic factors (types of goods, vehicle types, typical routes)
• Identifications of freight system issues that most impact their business (policy-related, pavement conditions, route restrictions)

Online engagement

• September through October of 2021
• 385+ visitors
• 245+ comments
• 1,050+ data points from our survey

Click here to see our results!

Takeaways and Understanding

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The District 6 economy is strongly supported by industries that rely on the transportation of goods, due in part to the significance of Grain and Oilseed Milling and Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing industries. Understanding statewide and regional trends will help identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for investment in the freight system future.

The District’s three largest employment categories are:

District 6's major freight transportation investments primarily focus on highways and railroads, but goods are moved by multiple modes throughout the area! Click each mode below for a snapshot of relevant information.

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Traffic Analysis

We analyzed traffic data to see where freight trips were starting and ending at. Findings showed:

• A large proportion of truck trips that start within the District also end within the District. Nearly two-thirds of the District's truck trips are “in-District” trips. Key connecting areas for inbound and outbound District 6 truck trips include Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Des Moines, Kansas City, and Madison.

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Rail Transport Analysis

Rail plays a critical role in District 6's freight system, connecting ports on the Mississippi River with major industrial centers around the state. There are nearly 500 miles of rail line in the District and over 700 highway-rail grade crossings. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) makes up the largest share of both track miles and grade crossings.

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Waterway Transport Analysis

Water cargo is a uniquely important freight feature for District 6 with the Mississippi River comprising the eastern border of the District. There are two major ports located in District 6 on the Mississippi River at Red Wing and Winona Commercial Harbors. The water cargo system along this stretch of the Mississippi River consists of 15 individual freight-handling docks and 7 lock chambers. Of these dock locations, three are located across the river in Wisconsin at Genoa, La Crosse, and Alma. The Mississippi River at this location is designated as Marine Highway M-35. There are 4 intermodal terminals around the port of Winona that provide key connections between water cargo and the CP rail line that runs adjacent to the Mississippi River along US 61.

Water cargo movements are highly concentrated around the ports at Red Wing and Winona. In 2019, more than 600,000 tons of freight were moved through the Red Wing port. Approximately 82 percent of this freight was in the outbound direction. In 2019, more than 1.5 Million tons of freight was through the Winona port. Approximately 58 percent of this freight was in the outbound direction. Water cargo movement is a highly seasonal activity with most of the activity occurring between July and November.

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Air Transport Analysis

Air cargo is used primarily for high-value, low-tonnage commodities such as electronics and other equipment and is a critical component of many just-in-time delivery supply chains where fast and reliable delivery speed is important.

• Three airports in District 6 currently handle freight or have handled freight in the previous five years. These include the Rochester International Airport, Houston County Airport, and Winona Municipal Airport. Of the three, Rochester makes up most freight shipments handled, with a monthly average of approximately 2 million pounds handled in 2019, amounting to nearly 12,000 tons per year.
• The key origin and destination for air cargo is Memphis (10,000 tons per year), with FedEx shipments making up most of those trips. Other connecting cities include Indianapolis (FedEx Hub), Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Fort Wayne (a medical device center).
• Nearly all the District's air cargo freight and passenger service is handled at the Rochester International Airport. A small amount of mail service is provided by the Houston County Airport. Relative to the other airports, the Winona Municipal Airport handles very small volumes of freight, mail, and passengers.

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Based on the results of the quantitative economic and freight system profile analysis and stakeholder feedback, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis was conducted to frame the development of the project's prioritization efforts.

SWOT Findings

Review the table here to see a summary of internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external (Opportunities or Threats) issues that should be considered when planning for the region's economic future.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Strong industries and local communities Air cargo facilities/investments Port facilities in Minnesota and Wisconsin Investment in air cargo Proper and clear signage, generally good placement for advance warning Investment in innovative safety projects Many issues identified by this plan were already in the project development pipeline	Narrow industry specialization Aging port infrastructure Limited river crossings and rail facilities Significant unmet truck parking demand Rural intersections/segments issues during harvest Substantial congestion/reliability issues in Rochester Deterioration of rural roadway pavements Short freeway entrance ramps Winter weather response and road maintenance Increased rail grade crossing incidents Conflicts between trucks/active transportation users Speed differentials in communities
Opportunities	Threats
Air cargo service (that supports Mayo Clinic) could be a catalyst for economic development Increased focus on the inland waterways by the federal government District investments align with freight needs Multimodal synergies between the Twin Cities and Rochester New funding opportunities for grade crossing safety Partnerships with local delivery companies Future “main street” redesign projects could integrate freight	Limited access to intermodal shipping containers Reliance on railroad intermodal yards elsewhere Mississippi River levels and infrastructure Connected vehicles could reduce air cargo volumes Limited funding opportunities for multimodal projects Overweight trucks accelerating the deterioration of road and bridges Increased e-commerce related deliveries in residential and downtown areas Insufficient shoulder widths threatening bicycle traffic

The results from the Freight Profile highlight the importance of infrastructure to the economy and related businesses operating in southeastern Minnesota. Key takeaways from our analysis:

• 37 percent of District 6 jobs are in freight-related industries.
• Specialized industries in the District include Scientific Research and Development Services, Grain and Oilseed Milling, and Farm Product Material Wholesalers.
• Albert Lea has the highest concentration of truck parking activity and capacity in the state. Truck parking needs are greatest in the area between Faribault and Northfield.
• Water cargo is an important mode, particularly for grain and oilseed shipments at ports in Red Wing and Winona.
• Winona is a hotspot for highway-rail grade crossing crashes with four fatal crashes in five years.
• Air cargo out of the Rochester airport supports shipments of high value goods like electronic components and precision instruments.

The identification of freight needs in the region relies on a variety of sources including the work completed and summarized in our Working Papers, interviews with freight area businesses, coordination with the Project Advisory Committee and public engagement. The intended purpose of this approach is to combine our data with more qualitative methods (interviews and survey) to develop a comprehensive list of freight needs and issues within the region.

Freight need categories

The list of freight needs identified during the data analysis and stakeholder outreach was categorized into three categories.

• Safety:
• Safeguard Minnesotans
• Mobility:
• Improve Minnesota's mobility
• Condition:
• Preserve Minnesota's infrastructure

By comparing needs and programmed projects, this analysis identifies areas where freight needs are not currently being addressed. The map below overlays the locations of all identified freight needs with the locations of programmed transportation improvements.

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Using the information outlined on the last slide, the 50 top ranked locations were reviewed to assess whether they should be considered for conceptual analysis and cost estimation. A total of 12 issues were selected from this list. Explore the map below to see selected locations for additional analysis.

Explore the map below to see selected locations for additional analysis.

Map Legend

Pin	Issue ID	Issue Type	Proposed Concept(s)
	D46	Safety - Intersection	Left turn lanes; Roundabout
	D54	Safety - Intersection	Roundabouts
	D64	Safety - Intersection	Advance signing/access modifiation
	D65	Safety - Intersection	Geometric improvements
	D98	Safety - Segment	Lengthen acceleration lanes; Additional weaving lanes
	D108	Safety - Segment	Lengthen acceleration lane
	D110	Safety - Segment	Revise lane striping
	D112	Safety - Segment	Access modification/frontage roads
	D113	Safety - Segment	Access modification/frontage roads
	D257	Mobility - Truck Travel Time Reliability	Access modification/frontage roads
	S49	Stakeholder Issue	Conversion to all-way stop
	S59	Stakeholder Issue	SB left turn lane

Not sure what to say? Here’s what we want to know from the community.

• Tell us what you think about these issues/locations?
• What are your thoughts on our findings?
• What did we miss?

 Your feedback — Comment Form

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Please pass along the link to this virtual open house to family, friends and coworkers who live or work in the area.

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Follow the plan

Contact MnDOT

Heather Lukes, MnDOT District 6 Planning Director
heather.lukes@state.mn.us | 507-286-7552

Kurt Wayne, MnDOT District 6 Planner
kurt.wayne@state.mn.us | 507-259-8074