Overweight and oversize vehicles can accelerate pavement damage, increasing the cost of maintenance and rehabilitation of road infrastructure networks.
Continue reading New Project: Economic Benefits of Truck Weight and Safety Enforcement ImprovementsA northern Minnesota mining byproduct could provide a more affordable option for a highly effective, but expensive pavement safety treatment called High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST), and help expand its usage across the state.
Continue reading New Project: Taconite as a Lower Cost Alternative High Friction Surface Treatment for Low-Volume Roads in MinnesotaExpenditures for maintenance are not keeping pace with the needs of the local transportation system. When local governments face fiscal stress, planned maintenance gets postponed to make funding available for other purposes. As deferred maintenance grows, the work and investments needed to bring an asset into a good condition grow too.
Continue reading New Project: The Impact of Deferred Maintenance in MinnesotaRoad salt and particularly sodium chloride is used for de-icing roadways during winter months in cold climates but can have a negative impact on the environment. A recently completed research project by the Minnesota Local Road Research Board investigated the use of permeable pavements that are not treated with road salt as an alternative to impermeable pavement surfaces that are treated with road salt.
Continue reading Permeable Pavements Reduce Slippery Conditions During Winter ThawWith increasing traffic volumes and greater restrictions on placing road tubes to perform vehicle classification counts, it is necessary to find innovative ways to collect vehicle class data on roadways.
Continue reading New Project: Refining Inductive Loop Signature Technology for Statewide Vehicle Classification CountsConnected Automated Vehicles (CAV) are part of tomorrow’s transportation future happening today. The evolution of vehicle technology is shifting how drivers interact with the infrastructure around them. Local agencies are beginning to respond and anticipate these changes, while CAV manufacturers request to test their vehicles on local roadways further pushing the urgency on local agencies.
Continue reading New Project: Autonomous Vehicles – What Should Local Agencies Expect?The COVID-19 crisis has affected every aspect of the transportation systems, with state DOTs and local agencies at the forefront of responding to changes, while continuing to meet core missions of providing safe, efficient, and effective transportation systems. To proactively respond and inform future decision-making related to COVID-19’s impact on the transportation sector, MnDOT is investing in research to answer questions specific to the impact of the COVID crisis on Minnesota’s transportation system.
Continue reading MnDOT Announces COVID-19 Research FundingClimate change scenarios have been fairly well-tested and vetted. Moore et al. (2015) found that one of the noteworthy impacts on upper Midwest cities is an increase of storm magnitude of 39% (moderate scenario) to 163% (pessimistic scenario). However, the impact of these scenarios on stormwater infrastructure are not well understood and documented. There are some important financial decisions that need to be made for stormwater infrastructure in the present and near-future, requiring demonstration and discussion of the impacts of climate change on stormwater infrastructure.
Continue reading New Project: Climate Change Adaptation of Urban Stormwater InfrastructureSpeeding is one of the top 5 factors in crashes in Minnesota. Prioritizing the most effective methods to encourage safe speeds is critical to maximizing effort and funding to reach zero deaths on our roadways.
In 2019, legislation passed to allow Minnesota cities to establish speed limits for city streets under the city’s jurisdiction without conducting an engineering or traffic investigation.
Continue reading New Project: Impact of Speed Limit Changes on Urban StreetsFlashing yellow arrow indicators have been deployed at many signalized intersections in recent years to control left-turn movements and improve traffic flow.
When illuminated, the flashing yellow arrow allows waiting motorists to make a left-hand turn after yielding to oncoming traffic.
The Federal Highway Administration considers flashing yellow arrows to be a significant safety improvement over traditional yield-on-green indicators, which are believed to be less intuitive. However, motorist complaints and some high-profile crashes indicate that there is still some level of driver confusion.
Continue reading New Project: Driver Comprehension of Flashing Yellow Arrows
