by Dennis Dalman
If Stearns County Highway Engineer Jodi Teich of Sartell wins many more awards, she might have to have another room built at her house to display them all.
Recently, she was honored with the William Koniarski Transportation Advocate Award. That award is bestowed from time to time to a person or unit of government for outstanding leadership and commitment to improving Minnesota’s transportation infrastructure. The award was named for Bill Koniarski, a Scott County commissioner for many years who strongly advocated for improvements in transportation far and wide throughout the state.
The award was presented to Teich in Mankato during the annual meeting of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance.
Among Teich’s other awards are Project Manager of the Year from the National Association of County Engineers; and awards from the Minnesota County Engineers Association for Highway Safety Achievement and Outstanding County Engineer (2022).
Teich was hired in 2012 by Stearns County as its highway engineer.
She is a member and past president of the Minnesota County Engineers Association and a member of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. For years, she has been actively involved in legislative processes on behalf of transportation needs at the state and national levels. She has also served on many committees and boards, including as the 2021 president of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance Board of Directors.
In an interview with the Newsleaders, Teich talked about the challenges of her highway-engineering job and maintaining and improving the 970 miles of Stearns Country roadways.
“If I could wave a wand and instantly improve all roads,” she said, “it would be to acquire enough funding to make wider shoulders on every rural road so they could be made safer for walkers, bikers and motorists too. I’d love to make them crash-proof and safer.”
Safety is the ultimate priority when Teich is designing and supervising road projects. That, she said, can be quite a challenge in Stearns County, which is largely an agricultural area. Smaller, rural roads must be able to accommodate large farm machinery, and so motorists must be very careful and slow down to avoid accidents.
But even the most scrupulous, most up-to-date road planning cannot prevent accidents, Teich noted, because all too many motorists tend to drive in excess of speed limits and/or indulge in distractive behaviors while behind the wheel – talking on iPhones, arguing with other occupants of the vehicle, eating lunch, being in a hurry and so forth.
“Speed is a big factor in so many accidents,” she said.
Teich is aware some people think there are far too many roundabouts in the county, such as in the Sartell area.
“But I love them when they are in the right locations,” she said. “They force people to slow down. Accidents at roundabouts, if they do happen, tend to be rather minor and not life-threatening. And especially in rural locations, roundabouts can remind motorists to slow down.”
Jodi (Chermak) Teich was raised in Alexandria where she graduated from that city’s Jefferson High School. She intended to become an architect, but during her studies in a pre-architectural program, she decided it was a bit “too artsy” for her, and she then changed her emphasis to engineering with an emphasis on such specialties as soils, hydraulics, roadways and traffic. Many years (and many awards) later, Teich has become one of the most admired engineers in the state – and beyond.
She and her husband, Allan, have two children – Greta and William, both in their 20s.
Stearns County Highway Engineer Jodi Teich recently received the statewide William Koniarski Transportation Advocate Award. Standing by her are Stearns County commissioners Leigh Lenzmeier (left) and Jeff Bertram.
