Let’s get together! Join the SAME MSP Post for our December IN-PERSON lunch meeting December 20th 11:30-1:30 at the Machine Room at Malcom Yards in Minneapolis (501 30th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414). Brian Shekleton and Rachel Pichelmann from MnDOT will be presenting on “MnDOT’s Road to Resiliency.” Please RSVP by Friday, December 15th to Jeremiah.Jazdzewski@usace.army.mil.
Schedule:
11:30 – 12:30pm – Lunch – guests to open their own Yard Cards and chose from a variety of options
12:30pm – 1:30pm – Presentation
MnDOT’s Road to Resiliency
1.0 PDH
Climate resilience is not new to MnDOT. A cross-departmental Resilience Advisory Team (RAT) has met for several years to explore and develop strategic and tactical ways to instill climate resilience into the agency’s basic operations. Building on this, MnDOT is now creating a Resilience Improvement Plan. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act created a new fund, PROTECT, to increase transportation resilience to extreme weather and climate change. PROTECT funds are being invested across the state and are being used to explore climate hazard exposure on the Federal Aid transportation system, Trunk Highways and some local roads. The Resilience Improvement Plan uses the latest climate data, compares these data to the Federal Aid System, and will identify places where strategic investments will reduce climate hazard exposure.
The second part of this presentation will focus specifically on the agency’s past, present and future initiatives for improving flood resilience statewide. Most of the existing hydraulic infrastructure was designed based on historical rainfall or flood data, which was considered the best available information during design, but assumes stationarity. However, in recent years, MnDOT has explored new routes for considering nonstationarity in project identification and design. With substantial investments in infrastructure occurring in Minnesota right now, MnDOT is committed to continuous improvement of hydraulic design processes. MnDOT has been developing new hydraulic design guidance to consider nonstationarity, improving flood documentation to aid in project development, and collaborating with experts across the department and in other agencies and organizations to improve the hydraulic resiliency of its assets.
Presenter Biographies:
Brian Shekleton supports MnDOT’s efforts to adapt to climate change by coordinating the agency’s internal Resilience Advisory Team and leading the statewide, multidisciplinary team that is guiding the development of MnDOT’s Resilience Improvement Plan. He serves on the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership’s advisory board and prior to joining MnDOT he worked in Hennepin County’s Public Works Department where he led the development of that county’s first Climate Action Plan and Climate Vulnerability Assessment. Brian is not an engineer and his baptism into the nitty-gritty of resilience planning came during the 12 years he spent working on stormwater and water quality issues as a member of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District board.
Rachel Pichelmann serves as the Hydraulic Resiliency Engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In this role, she is responsible for leading efforts to improve the flood resilience of MnDOT’s infrastructure by developing design guidance, participating in research projects, providing expertise for flood mitigation projects, and conducting internal and external collaboration to share knowledge. Prior to joining MnDOT in February 2023, Rachel worked in private consulting at SEH for more than 13 years. She is a Professional Engineer in MN, IA, IN, and SD, and is a Certified Floodplain Manager.