Minnesota Highways, October 1954

              mm
PI1HM
VOL. 3, NO. 12
1246 University Ave., St. Paul 4, Minn.
OCTOBER, 1954
Minnesota Road Needs: $681 Million
  !
Study Commission Gets
Commissioner Gets First Copy
Highway Commissioner M. J. Hoffmann received the first copy of
the Automotive Safety foundation's report on the condition of the
state's streets and highways. Watching the Commissioner leaf through
the 106-page report is Lloyd F. Wilkes, executive secretary of the Minnesota Highway Study commission, who presented him with the copy.
The printed report was prepared after months of intensive study
of the road and street systems of the state and is the most comprehensive such survey ever conducted in Minnesota. The study was authorized
by the 1953 legislature, and 27 Highway department employees cooperated in gathering data and helping with the design and layout of the
printed report.
The Study commission's findings will be presented to the 1955
legislature when it convenes, together with the Commission's recommendations for ways and means of implementing a long-range highway
improvement program in Minnesota.
ASF Engineering Report
Minnesota's streets and highways need $681,000,000 in
new construction and improvements to bring them up to
standards adequate for today's traffic.
That is the major fact which stands out in the 106-page
engineering analysis of highway transportation in Minnesota
presented to the Minnesota Highway Study commission last
month.
The report, prepared by the Automotive Safety foundation   of   Washington,   D.   C.,
which was engaged by the Study
commission to make the analysis,
says that 39,592 miles of the
state's roads and streets are "below tolerable or accepted standards" and 2,800 bridges are "inadequate."
ASF suggests making improvements over a 5, 10, 15, or 20-year
period to bring Minnesota's roads
and streets up to standards adequate to handle present and future traffic volume in the state.
The report does not analyze
wavs of financing the improvements, however. That phase of the
problem has been left to a separate
study by the Public Administration
service of Chicago, which was engaged by the Study commission
to make a finance study of Minnesota's highway taxation and
revenue distribution. The separate
PAS study and report is being
made public this month.
The ASF report covers every
phase of the street and highway
problem in Minnesota and includes
an analysis of the least-traveled
township roads as well as of the
more heavily traveled trunk routes.
As its major recommendations,
ASF suggests that the state make
the following highway improvements:
1. Create a metropolitan expressway authority for St. Paul and Min-
(Continued on Page 2)
Bergstralh Gets Top
Personnel Position
Kermit Bergstralh, who has
been serving as acting personnel
director and administrative assistant to the commissioner since
the resignation of Robert Ferderer
June 1, was appointed to that top
personnel job by Commissioner
Hoffmann last month.
Mr.     Bergstralh's     appointment
was   effective   September   16   and
came     after     an
open   competitive
examination    was
held for the posi-
1 tion by the Civil
^Service      department.
Prior to last
June, Mr. Bergstralh had served
as Personnel Officer II, assisting
Mr. Ferderer in
handling the numerous personnel activities of the
Highway department. He had
originally come to Highway on
December 8, 1952, when he succeeded Ray Lappegaard in the
assistant personnel officer position.
Prior to that, he had been employed by the Civil Service department since 1949.
MR.   BERGSTRALH