Innovation Hour - 2025 MnDOT Innovation Awards

In this Innovation Hour webinar, we are highlighting MnDOT's Innovation Awards winners for 2025. The MnDOT Innovation Awards celebrate creativity, collaboration, and forward thinking by honoring employees across the agency who are innovating and advancing MnDOT’s goals of safety, sustainability, equity, and efficiency. Through both nominations and awards, this program provides an opportunity to highlight the creative ideas our teams turn into real improvements in the transportation field. Nominations and awards recognize and highlight the creative ideas that become real improvements in the transportation field.

During this session, you’ll hear directly from each of our Innovation Award winners. They’ll share more about their winning ideas, including the problems they set out to solve, how long their projects took to develop, and what it took to bring their innovations to life. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the 2025 award-winning innovations and the people who made them possible.

Congratulations to our 2025 Innovation Award winners:

Spark Award (New Ideas)
Project: The Use of 3-D Printer to Make Custom Parts for Traffic Signals and ITS
Team: Tom Christopherson (presenter), Ron Christopherson, Linda Heath
Office: Office of Transportation System Management & Operations
• Problem: Lack of standardized, protective components for traffic signal cabinets.
• Solution: Used 3D printing to create custom parts like surge suppressor caps and slot covers.
• Impact: Improved cabinet maintenance, troubleshooting, and component protection.

Upgrade Award (Enhancements)
Project: Project Bundling: Pedestrian Bridges in Multiple Districts
Team: Peter Davich (presenter), Paul Johns, & Luke Johanneck
Office: Office of Construction & Innovative Contracting
• Problem: Lack of project managers and delays in pedestrian bridge improvements.
• Solution: Used Design-Build and bundled contracts with a central manager.
• Impact: Delivered 4 bridge improvements across 3 districts with better resource use.

Flow Award (Process Improvements)
Project: Blatnik Bridge Permitting Process
Team: Pat Huston (presenter), John Krysiak, & Matt Meyer
Office: District 1
• Problem: Permitting delays due to lack of coordination between state and federal agencies.
• Solution: Created a technical working group for early, consistent collaboration.
• Impact: Permits approved on first submittal, saving up to $70M per year in delays and enabling environmentally sustainable solutions.

Innovation of the Year Award (Big Impacts)
Project: Enhanced Pavement Striping – Increased Life and Visibility
Team: Ethan Peterson (presenter), Ken Johnson, Mitch Bartelt, & Michelle Moser
Office: Office of Traffic Engineering
• Problem: Pavement striping was hard to see in wet-night conditions.
• Solution: Adopted wet-reflective media and set new retroreflectivity standards.
• Impact: Improved visibility, safety, and striping longevity in all weather conditions.

People’s Choice Award
Project: Controlled Modulus Columns – The Soft Soil Solution
Team: Adam Ahrndt (presenter), Alan Setrum, Kelly Brunkhorst, & Rich Lamb
Office: District 8
• Problem: Traditional pile driving was slow and environmentally unfriendly.
• Solution: Used Controlled Modulus Columns (CMCs) with local materials.
• Impact: Saved $1.4M and reduced installation time from 3 months to 3 weeks.


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