Minnesota Department of Transportation

511 Travel Info

Project development

About our transportation project development process

Developing projects through each phase

Transportation project development involves three concurrent tracks from concept to completion:  

  • Engagement includes those activities that involve the traveling public and any other stakeholders. 
  • Engineering consists of the technical tasks necessary to produce the plan and construct, operate and maintain the transportation facility.
  • Environment refers to the duties that consider multiple aspects of the project to ensure we are good stewards of the environment.

Most of the guidance on this site pertains to the engineering, engagement, and environmental phases that precede letting. Although construction and operations and maintenance do not take place until after letting, project managers must keep those activities, and the functional groups that perform them, in mind when developing the project and preparing the plan.

MnDOT’s work is cyclical. Once we reach the operations and maintenance phase, we begin to encounter issues and come up with new ideas that bring us around to planning for future projects.