April 28: MnDOT's new chief deftly walks the walk

The man who will take over as Minnesota's transportation commissioner today understands the importance of public appearance, even as he has avoided the public eye.

Tom Sorel, a low-key federal bureaucrat, has won praise for his ability to mediate contentious disputes over transportation, build support for projects and make sense of bewildering policies.

Sorel is expected to bring an engineer's expertise and a conciliatory approach that will contrast with the blustery demeanor of Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, who was pushed out of the top job at the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

"I don't think Tom's the kind of guy you're ever going to see be a cheerleader or chase the media spotlight," said Tim Worke, a director at the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. "He's just about showing up every day."

Showing up every day will soon have a vastly different meaning. Sorel leaves behind a position running the Federal Highway Administration's office in Minnesota, an operation with 22 employees, to take on a 4,400-employee agency under unprecedented scrutiny following last year's Interstate 35W bridge collapse.

For now, much about Sorel and his positions on MnDOT's hot-button issues remains unknown. Sorel, 51, did not respond to interview requests since he was named to the job last week.

But interviews with Minnesota transportation officials, advocates and industry representatives reveal a man at home in a world of arcane federal policy and regulations.

Already put out some fires

From his federal office in St. Paul, Sorel already has some practice weighing in on MnDOT's problems.

Last year Sorel was asked by highway industry officials to try to fix their chilly relationship with MnDOT. Earlier, as the agency's funding shortages became acute, Sorel advised MnDOT officials they needed to do a better job of estimating and controlling project costs.

And Aug. 1, when the bridge collapsed, Sorel was again in the middle -- rushing millions of dollars of emergency federal money to the agency, interpreting federal guidelines for local officials who wanted a new bridge to include light rail and bluntly telling associates that the collapse meant "we lost the public trust and confidence" of motorists.

A native of upstate New York who now lives in Woodbury with his wife and son, Sorel has spent virtually his entire career at the Federal Highway Administration.

Sorel was dispatched to Salt Lake City to be the top federal transportation official as the city prepared to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. John Njord, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, remembered that it was "hard to ruffle his feathers" despite the hectic atmosphere, which included a push to finish a 2-mile light-rail line extension near the site.

"His charge from the [U.S. transportation] secretary was 'make this all happen,'" said Njord. "I have high praise for Tom."

In Minnesota, Sorel impressed one transit advocate with his willingness to delve into the minutiae of a $21 million program for pedestrian and bicycle projects.

On the other end of the transportation spectrum, Sorel has been a presenter for the past three years at Minnesota's annual "Asphalt Awards" program, a trade association event.

In a July 2004 article for the Highway Administration's magazine, Sorel alluded to the need to make transportation projects less mundane -- including coming up with a nickname that is part of a "branding" plan. Though it was not his idea, the article cited the decision to take the Southeast Corridor Multimodal Project in Denver and simply call it "T-REX," which stands for the Transportation Expansion Project.

Sorel was lauded for his role in the federal transportation response to the I-35W bridge collapse, but he rarely appeared at -- or even near -- the microphone as a long list of federal, state and local officials briefed reporters in the days and weeks following the tragedy. Tina Smith, chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, described Sorel as a valuable but strictly behind-the-scenes interpreter of federal regulations in the hectic days after the collapse.

Steve Kotke, Minneapolis' director of public works, said he appreciated a personal visit from Sorel two days after the tragedy. Sorel explained "how the whole emergency relief funding from the federal government worked," said Kotke.

New job, new issues

Sorel's profile is likely to rise. When he was introduced by Pawlenty a week ago, Sorel was immediately asked whether he supported the Central Corridor light-rail line, which would link Minneapolis and St. Paul and whose funding is the subject of a heated political battle between DFLers and the Republican governor. Sorel didn't answer the question but promised to keep an open mind.

Sorel is also likely to be more directly drawn into the political wrangling over the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of the bridge collapse. The NTSB has said that the original design of the bridge's gusset plates may be the reason for the collapse and has downplayed whether MnDOT's maintenance of the bridge -- an issue that could reflect negatively on Pawlenty and state officials -- was a major factor.

In a January presentation at a conference in Washington, Sorel praised the NTSB for being able to quickly "look through the mass of steel and really pinpoint where they needed to focus their efforts."

"I thought their performance was quite amazing, and still is to this day," he said.

In the same talk, Sorel said the collapse had left many transportation officials in Minnesota "questioning whether they were accountable in some way or wondering whether they could have done more." He said the transportation community is "going through a healing process right now."

Sorel gained high marks for walking a fine line in another political battle over transportation in Minnesota: the Legislature's decision in February, over the governor's veto, to raise the state gas tax for the first time since the 1980s.

"He's been able to kind of maintain relationships with everybody despite that," said Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, a transit advocacy group. "He hasn't been seen as taking sides."

But doing that as transportation commissioner, most agree, will be much more difficult. "The spotlight has been on MnDOT," said Lea Schuster, executive director of Transit for Livable Communities, another advocacy group. "For anybody stepping into this role, there's huge challenges."

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