ST. PAUL - Minnesota's roads may be rougher - and some may be closed - during a partial state government shutdown.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation plans to continue making emergency road repairs, but the skeleton crew might not be able to fix everything. In those cases, some lanes may be barricaded, MnDOT's Lucy Kender said.
If Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders do not agree on a two-year budget by midnight tonight, 3,987 transportation employees would be laid off.
The remaining 864 workers would be on duty to maintain state highways, and to inspect road construction projects and provide utility location services under the Gopher One program.
The president of a union chapter wondered if the people MnDOT plans to keep on the job are qualified to fix roads.
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"You take a bunch of supervisors, how much emergency maintenance can they do?" asked Daniel Leister of Hawley, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local that represents Detroit Lakes-area road workers.
Leister said most workers who would remain on the job in the Detroit Lakes district have no maintenance experience.
Kender said local MnDOT officials decided who would remain on the job.
She said not enough people would be working to handle all incidents. For instance, in a traffic light failure, workers may put up a four-way stop sign until the signal can be fixed.
If there is a major problem, such as flooded roads, Kender said MnDOT officials may ask county and city workers to help or call in state employees from other areas.
The state's 511 telephone and Internet highway information system will be shut down.
Oversized-load permits would not be issued. That means large equipment would not get to construction sites. But a court order allows the state to issue permits for hauling equipment used in road construction.
In the last week of May, MnDOT processed 3,400 applications for oversized loads, including equipment and homes.
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Readers can reach Forum reporter Don Davis at (651) 290-0707
