CTS Webinar: Freight and Commercial Vehicle Safety in Roundabouts

About the Event

This webinar highlighted a recent MnDOT effort to evaluate the safety of heavy commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) at roundabouts. The project specifically investigated whether CMV rollover crashes are more likely to occur at roundabouts—a concern often raised by citizens, CMV drivers, and other stakeholders. It also identified the most common characteristics of CMV crashes at roundabouts and compared roundabouts to signalized intersections. The project's findings indicate that roundabouts are one of the safest forms of intersection control for CMVs, especially when compared to traffic signal control. 

In addition, speakers from SRF presented their freight-related work, including the importance of supply chains in Minnesota for medical technology, agriculture, forestry, and minerals industries. They also discussed the MnDOT Freight Network Optimization Tool and the Commerce Mobility Initiative.  

This webinar was held as part of CTS's 2025 "Unpacking Freight: From Producers to Front Doors" thematic focus and in conjunction with a CTS Transportation Planning and the Economy Council meeting.

Watching the Recording

Speakers

Mark Berndt is the project director of multimodal freight transportation planning at SRF. Berndt began his career with the State of Minnesota, where he worked for more than 20 years at several agencies, including MnDOT. In 1998, he was instrumental in forming the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee, the first such state-sponsored committee in the nation. Since 2011, Berndt has worked as a freight planning consultant, facilitating public and private discussions on important freight issues, using data to identify and implement transportation efficiency initiatives, and seeking opportunities to support economic development through transportation across the US. 

Justin Scott is a freight planner at SRF. He has 17 years of multimodal freight planning and policy experience working with federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate large and small freight planning and policy projects. He is passionate about engaging private-sector stakeholders in planning processes and understanding the far-reaching influence freight movements have on the global economy.  He has led project programming, intensive industrial area planning, freight bypass and freight traffic studies, investment management, and stakeholder outreach efforts throughout the US and is an experienced project manager, technical and data analyst, writer, and presenter.

Mark Wagner has worked in MnDOT’s Office of Traffic Engineering Safety Section since early 2020. His work includes administration and distribution of Highway Safety Improvement Plan funding, county and statewide systemic safety planning, safety research and evaluations, and various crash analyses. Prior to joining the Safety Section, Wagner served in another role at MnDOT and spent 10 years in consulting.