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January 2001
Minnesotans form relationship with Siberian officials
Front row: Tracy Bush, Natalya Stepanova (West Siberia T2 Center), Cheri Marti. Back row: Mike Marti, Anatoli Kaganov (West Siberia T2 Center), Mike Marttila and Doug Weizhaar (Mn/DOT), Anna Tsaplina (RADOR), and Alexei Belokobilski (Kemerovo Road Administration)
In December, Siberian oblast and Minnesota transportation delegates met in Kemerovo, Siberia, for a week of presentations and exchanges on cold-weather transportation technology, best practices, and mutual highway-related challenges. The delegation included Mn/DOT's deputy commissioner, Doug Weiszhaar, and director of construction and contract administration, Mike Marttila; Cheri Marti of the Minnesota Technology Transfer (T2)/LTAP Program of CTS; Mike Marti of SRF Consulting Group; and Tracy Busch and Bob Ford of the FHWA International Programs Office.
The purpose of the trip—financed by the FHWA and Russian Highway Administration—was to assess transportation and needs of Kemerovo, learn about opportunities and benefits for Minnesota, and explore an ongoing relationship to continue to learn from one another. The FHWA invited several states including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Maine, and Minnesota to provide Russia’s oblasts (the equivalent of U.S. states) with the technical and management information they need to carry out free-market reforms in the highway sector and to improve their highway networks. One primary goal is to establish and connect the Russian technology transfer centers with the U. S. technology transfer community, including the state network of T2/LTAP centers.
The week included nonstop tours of highway maintenance and construction facilities and equipment manufacturing plants, snow removal demonstrations, and discussions with the West Siberia T2 Center, as well as visits with the deputy governor and university faculty. "We found their transportation road network, technologies, and practices to be quite advanced. We also had the privilege of experiencing a community which is not just surviving, but thriving despite the challenges of its political reform," Cheri Marti says.
The Minnesotans also agreed that their Siberian hosts were the most gracious, generous, and warm people they had ever met. In the words of Weiszhaar, "We could barely speak a few words of each other's language, but we communicated beyond belief."