by Cassandra Isackson
Director, Minnesota DOT Office of Aeronautics
Published in Midwest Flyer – August/September 2018
Do you know that the Minnesota Office of Aeronautics is just one part of your very important state transportation organization, MnDOT. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is made up of a group of offices that handle specific modes of transportation. There is your Office of Aeronautics that handles many parts of Minnesota’s aviation, of course. But there are also the MnDOT offices that handle automobiles, bridges, trucks, buses, limo’s, and special transportation services, transit, rail, waterways, bicycles, and pedestrian safety.
I hope you will take the time to check out what MnDOT does and accomplishes for all citizens of the state by going to https://mn.gov/dot. In the interim, I’ll give you some interesting facts to think about that will hopefully peak your interest and help you learn a little more about the great state of Minnesota.
Facts: Minnesota (as of 2016) had a population of 5.5 million people. There were 6.4 million registered motor vehicles. There are 379 miles of Twin Cities area freeways. There are also approximately 12,000 miles (or 30,585+ lane-miles) of state highways managed by MnDOT.
Minnesota is a great aviation state with more than 16,000 pilots and approximately 6,000 registered aircraft. There are also 135 publicly-owned and operated airports throughout the state. And did you also know there are 4,376 miles of railroad track, along with 222 miles of navigable rivers in Minnesota? Okay, one last cool fact… There are 20,592 bridges throughout Minnesota that are 10 feet long or greater.
So now perhaps you can get a feeling for how important a multi-modal organization like MnDOT really is. We cover the state with an overriding goal to help make all transportation safe, efficient and easy to access throughout our 87 counties. When you drive to the airport to take an overseas trip, or locally just for a pleasure trip, remember, MnDOT is working hard for you no matter what your mode of travel may be.
We look forward to seeing you at one or more of the always-fun air events in the state. If you have an event coming up, please let us know so we can list it on our website and share that information with others (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/aero/events/flyins-and-events.html).
