I-535 Blatnik Bridge

Meet the team

Pat Huston, assistant district engineeer for major projects

Pat Huston joined MnDOT District 1 - Duluth in 1990. He has worked in many different positions during his tenure gaining a wide range of experience. He has led the MnDOT District Major Projects Team for the last 10 years for the development and construction of the Highway 53 Relocation project in Virginia, the Twin Ports Interchange project in Duluth and now the Blatnik Reconstruction project. Prior to MnDOT, Pat worked two years for the BNSF Railroad in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. Pat is a Duluth native, holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and is a licensed civil engineer in Minnesota.

John Krysiak, project manager

John Krysiak joined the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2017 after spending 20 years in the consulting industry with Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH). He has spent his career as a project manager and highway designer overseeing and designing highway projects including three of the largest projects in northeastern Minnesota. Those projects are the Trunk Highway 53 relocation in Virginia, MN that was necessitated by regional mining efforts, the Twin Ports Interchange (Can of Worms) project in Duluth, Mn comprised of the intersections of I35/I535/TH 53, and now the replacement of the Blatnik Bridge that crosses the St. Louis River between Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. He is a 1993 graduate of Lake Superior College (Civil Technology) and a 1998 graduate of North Dakota State University (BS Civil Engineering).

Pippi Mayfield, public engagement and communications director

Pippi Mayfield joined the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2019 as the public engagement and communications director for District 1, which encompasses the eight northeast Minnesota counties. She focuses on public outreach for projects two to 10 years out from construction and corridor planning studies. Some of the larger, more in-depth projects include London Road, Two Harbors, Central Entrance, Twin Ports Interchange and Cloquet. She earned a mass communications degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Stephanie Christensen, major projects communications

Stephanie Christensen joined the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2018 and works as public relations specialist with a focus on major projects. During that time, she has been involved with multiple projects including the recovery and restoration of Highway 23 at Mission Creek and construction of the Twin Ports Interchange. Prior to living in Minnesota, she spent 7 years at the office of Colorado Legislative Council as an admin and communications representative. With a focus on engaging diverse communities, she brings an abundance of creativity and experience to the MnDOT communications team.

Paul Conlin, project development chief engineer

Paul Conlin is leading Wisconsin Department of Transportation team in the construction of the new Blatnik Bridge. He did the same on the construction of the St. Croix Crossing, a joint Minnesota-Wisconsin bridge project that opened to traffic in 2017. Paul is the WisDOT Northwest Region project development chief engineer. He joined WisDOT as a student engineer in 1989, and he was hired permanently in 1993. Prior to joining the management team, Paul had the opportunity to work on numerous high-profile projects in the Northwest Region, including the North Crossing and US 53 bypass in Eau Claire, the I-94/Carmichael Road interchange in Hudson, the River Falls bypass and the St. Croix Crossing and approaches. During the past two decades, he has had the opportunity to be a supervisor in WisDOT’s technical services, project development and planning and programming sections and went on to be the manager of the technical services and project development sections. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UW-Platteville.

Marc Bowker, planning engineer

Marc Bowker is the planning engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Northwest Region, and he has been involved in the Blatnik Bridge project since both states began planning for its rehabilitation or replacement in 2020. Bowker joined WisDOT in 1993, spending his first 13 years as a traffic engineer. He became a project manager in 2006, overseeing the planning of highway projects, such as long-range improvements along the US 53 corridor from Rice Lake to Superior that included the construction of interchanges in Haugen and Trego. Marc also provides environmental and safety analyses on WisDOT projects and works with communities in the 20-county Northwest Region, assisting with their long-range transportation planning. He is a 1993 graduate of Michigan Technological University.

Beth Cunningham, project manager

Beth Cunningham joined the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in 2000. She has been a project manager since 2011, overseeing the design and construction of highway projects ranging from highway rehabilitations to urban reconstructions to expressway/freeway expansion projects. Beth has either designed or managed the delivery of expressway/freeway projects including WIS 35 in River Falls, WIS 64 from Houlton to Somerset and segments of US 53 in Rice Lake, Haugen and Trego. She was also the WisDOT lead designer and project manager for the Wisconsin approaches of the St. Croix Crossing project. Prior to WisDOT, Beth worked for two years at TKDA, an architecture, engineering and planning firm in St. Paul, MN, as a municipal engineer. She is a 1998 graduate of UW-Platteville.

Christena O'Brien, communications manager

Christena T. O’Brien joined the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in 2019 as the Northwest Region communications manager. During that time, she has been involved in communication efforts for more than 400 projects, including the construction of the US 53/63 interchange in Trego and multiple pavement replacement projects on US 53 and I-94. The Blatnik Bridge is the third border bridge project she has worked on. A 1992 graduate of UW-Eau Claire, she spent 27 years as a newspaper reporter and editor. During that time, she covered the expansion of WIS 29 across Wisconsin and the construction of the US 53 freeway between Eau Claire and Lake Hallie.