Traffic engineer Victor Lund honored for outstanding service
The County Board, as part of Board Chair Keith Nelson's initiative to highlight employees who provide outstanding customer service, recognized Traffic Engineer Victor Lund with the first "Customer Service Star" award of the year during their meeting on January 9.
Vic was joined by his family and Public Works Director Jim Foldesi, who shared the following comments about Vic:
"Vic Lund has a passion for traffic safety, and as an engineer at St. Louis County Public Works since 2007, he has made roads and intersections safer throughout the County. He has been instrumental in researching and implementing new traffic control techniques that have undoubtedly minimized the severity of accidents and saved lives.
Some examples of Vic’s work include:
- the reconfiguration of the intersection of Rice Lake and Airport Roads with the “continuous green T signal” which has been used by FHWA in promotional brochures.
- He pursued and implemented a new coordinated traffic signal timing plan for the operation of the traffic signals on the TH 53 corridor in the Duluth metro area bringing together multiple governmental agencies to accomplish the task.
- He is currently working on a new design for a less expensive dynamic warning system with Mn/DOT that may be implemented across the state.
- He helped place a ground breaking coordinated flashing chevron sign system on Haines Road around horseshoe bend in West Duluth. He helped install a number of dynamic warning systems at two-way stops where county roads cross major highways to reduce right angle crashes.
- He was instrumental in building St. Louis County’s first roundabout in Chisholm and he is currently working on the roundabout being planned in Hermantown at the intersection of Midway and Maple Grove Roads.
- A huge accomplishment is the creation and implementation of the first version of the County’s comprehensive highway safety plan. He is currently working on version 2.0. We have seen a great reduction of fatal and severe crashes on our highway system as a result of this.
- He was also instrumental in developing the County’s ATV ordinance.
Vic is involved in the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths program, and has led efforts to promote work zone safety messages and other education about the dangers of distracted driving. He is responsible for developing the first traffic sign policy for the County which we will be presenting to the Board soon for adoption, has co-chaired the Minnesota County Engineers Association Highway Safety Committee and was a founding member of the Driving for Safe Communities Coalition, on which he still serves. He also developed an adult traffic safety class for St. Louis County employees, which has since been taught in other workplaces.
He is recognized as an industry expert around the state, has published several articles and has been featured in numerous videos including a recent MnDOT video on data driven safety analysis tools. He has been invited to present at conferences around the country, including the Transportation Research Board and FHWA workshops.
Vic also acts as Mn/DOT District One’s defacto county traffic engineer, essentially leading many joint-county projects such as maintenance striping and Federal Highway safety improvement projects such as high efficiency pavement markings, lighting and signing. The other counties in our district frequently rely on Vic for advice.
In the coming weeks at our county board workshop we will be presenting some exciting new initiatives that our team has been working on. Vic has played a large role in these efforts.
He is a tireless transportation safety proponent that is focused on results, but at the same time with an eye on the budget, trying to deliver the benefits at the lowest possible cost to the county.
In conclusion, we are extremely fortunate to have Vic on our St. Louis County team and I am pleased to introduce Victor Lund, St. Louis County Traffic Engineer, as 2018’s first Customer Service Star Award recipient."
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