Session Speakers

In This Section



Session Speakers

Jaycee Allery Jaycee Allery, graduate from UND with bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering - worked with NDDOT for 7 years in April in the Traffic Safety Design Division.
Kris Altepeter Kris has worked at the North Dakota DOT for 15 years in the design division where he designs guardrail and concrete barrier.
Christina Bennett Christina has worked for the South Dakota Department of Transportation since 2008. She has worked in Traffic Design and Grading Design before spending the past 8 years as the Operations Traffic Engineer. She just recently became the State Construction and Maintenance Engineer.
Steve Blaufuss Steve Blaufuss worked for MnDOT in south central Minnesota as a field Maintenance employee for 9 years where he gained his first-hand knowledge & passion for traffic control. After that, he spent 3 years in a mobility position for MnDOT in the Office of Maintenance, directing their statewide Technology Transfer program which is designed to share low-cost, best practices throughout the state. In May of 2016, Steve was awarded his current position of Statewide Maintenance Work Zone & Operations Specialist. His focus is on work zone compliance, involved in the update to MnDOT’s Maintenance Manual and bringing new equipment to the state to help improve safety. Among many other various duties, he also serves on a number of committees that are committed to working closely with field personnel for a unified goal of safe work zones. He is also a contributing member of ATSSA.
Chris Cochran Chris Cochran is the Pavement Marking Condition Specialist in the MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering. He has worked for MnDOT for over 24 years in a variety of areas including maintenance, materials, construction, and traffic engineering. Currently he conducts retroreflectivity testing of pavement markings throughout the state of Minnesota using handheld and mobile retroreflectometers.
Tom Dailey Tom Dailey is the Signing Operations Specialist in the MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering. He has worked for MnDOT since 2020. Prior to coming to MnDOT, he spent nearly 6 years with the City of Minneapolis Traffic Department leading traffic related projects that worked to improve all modes of travel throughout Minnesota's largest City.
Mike Ehlert Mike Ehlert has worked for MN/DOT in Metro district as a field Maintenance employee since 1996 where he gained his experience in signing and striping. In 2011 he became assistant supervisor at Oakdale Traffic Services where he spent his time supervising sign crews, message crews, and Metro districts latex striping crew. In November of 2018 he moved to his current position of State wide striping supervisor where he supervises 2 latex striping crews, 2 epoxy striping crews, and helps out with the other 3 latex striping crews throughout the state of MN.
Robyn Fine Robyn was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2009, which advanced to stage 4 in 2012. She has endured the ravages of this disease, while undergoing multiple procedures and treatment options searching for a cure. Robyn has been No Evidence of Disease (NED) since 2014, and since made it her mission to raise awareness, while providing education, on the prevention of melanoma. She began teaching about the dangers of UV exposure to middle and high school students. From there, she has educated lifeguards, Public Works employees, MN DOT employees and Park and Recreation employees. Her personal goal is to educate as many people as possible about the dangers of the sun. Robyn doesn’t want anyone to go through what she has been through in her life. Robyn continues to tirelessly advocate for melanoma research funding on a local and national level. She travels to Washington D.C. for Hill Day and is a consumer advocate for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.
Darrin Grondel Darrin Grondel currently serves as the Vice President of Traffic Safety and Government Relations for the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. He leads national efforts to prevent underage drinking and manages various programs to eliminate drunk and drugged driving through federal and state legislation, financial assistance, programming, and technical assistance.

Grondel serves as a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Highway Safety Committee, the National Sheriffs Associations Traffic Safety Committee, the Transportation Research Board Behavioral Traffics Safety Cooperative Research Program, and the National Safety Council’s Workplace Impairment Committee.

Grondel began his career as a trooper in 1992 which led to a 25-year career with the Washington State Patrol, retiring as a Captain. He was appointed by the Washington Governor to serve as the director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission responsible for initiating and implementing proven traffic safety strategies by partnering with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies, and private/public partners to make Washington’s roadways the safest in the nation.

In 2009, Grondel was nominated to the Governors Distinguished Managers Association. He proudly served as Chair of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) from 2018 – April 2020 and GHSA Secretary from 2015 - 2018.

Grondel holds an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Brandman University, a Master’s in Public Administration from The Evergreen State College, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University. He is also a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command.
John Guevara John is the Brifen USA Western Regional Sales Manager based in Phoenix, Arizona covering 15 states. He has worked in the transportation industry for almost 10 years and has over 15 years of experience in the electronic sign industry throughout North America, as well as Asia and Latin America. Earlier in his career, John owned a large format printing company with major billboard companies as clients.
Joseph Gustafson Joe Gustafson is the traffic engineer for Washington County in Minnesota, where he has served since 2008. He is currently co-chair of the Minnesota County Engineer's Association Safety Committee and a county representative on the Minnesota MUTCD committee, and the author of a 2018 Transportation Research Record paper on roundabout operational frameworks and design terminology.
Dale C Heglund, PE/PLS NDLTAP Program Director has 40+ years of transportation experience ranging from equipment operator to design engineer. Career focus has been to promote a quality roadway network by helping others understand roadway engineering principles, the synergies of working cooperatively with others, leadership skills, and new technology implementation processes.
Jesse Holman Started with the SDHP in 2005 as an inspector, became a Trooper in 2007, Motor Carrier Trooper in 2014
Thomas Johnson-Kaiser Thomas is the Engagement and Project Manager for MnDOT's Connected and Automated Vehicles Office. Thomas leads CAV research and demonstration projects and helps manage the Governor's Advisory Council on Connected and Automated Vehicles. Prior to transferring to the CAV-X Office in August 2021, Thomas was a Project Coordinator in MnDOT's Office of Research and Innovation, managing MnDOT and Local Road Research Board projects on topics covering all areas of transportation.
Travis Lutman, PE Travis Lutman, PE is an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation with over 10 years of experience in ITS. He is responsible for ITS planning, systems engineering, design, deployment, and maintenance. He is also involved with the research and deployment of autonomous technology for the department.
Steve McBurney Steve McBurney is the Assistant State Signing Engineer in the MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering. He has worked for MnDOT since 2018. Prior to coming to MnDOT, he spent over 30 years in the private and public sectors doing all aspects of street and roadway design.
Ethan Peterson Ethan Peterson started with MnDOT in 2016 as the State Pavement Marking & Traffic Control Devices Engineer. Before then, he worked in the private sector for almost 5 years preparing Traffic Impact Studies, Traffic Demand Management Plans, pavement marking plans, traffic signal plans, road & utility design plans, and completing several other traffic related tasks. He’s a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and ATSSA.
Jack Powers Motor Carrier Inspector for the South Dakota Highway Patrol. Started working at the Sisseton Port of Entry in October of 2019.
Cliff Reuer, SD LTAP Cliff is a Technical Assistance Provider for SD LTAP at South Dakota State University. Cliff spent 40 years with the SDDOT and for the last 15 years of his career was the SDDOT Traffic & Safety engineer retiring in 2009.
Justin Schlosser Justin Schlosser started working with the North Dakota Department of Transportation after graduating from North Dakota State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. Justin is currently the Traffic Operations Engineer at the NDDOT where he prepares and analyzes traffic and safety studies, as well as manages the Highway Safety Improvement Program. This is the program in which the funding came from for the safety corridor projects.
Jon Stork Jon has been at his current role with Materials and Research at the NDDOT since 2019. Prior to his work for the Department, Jon came from a consultant background performing various aspects of design and construction work for road and bridge projects across North Dakota. Jon is an NDSU graduate and currently resides in Bismarck.
Ted Ulven Ted Ulven has worked 32 years for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He has worked 20 years with Metro District and more than 12 with Central Office supporting all districts.
Danny Varilek Danny has been with the DOT for 8 years after a distinguished 22 year military career with the US Air Force. One of Dan’s main focus at the DOT is working on Winter Maintenance, our MDSS System Upgrades, and Maintenance Data Collector implementation. Today, Dan is going to discuss SD DOT’s decision and process to move forward with and implement blue light installations on the snowplow fleet at SD DOT.





© 2024

Back to Top