All posts by Christine Anderson

Aviation, research

Research assesses roles and impacts of Minnesota’s local airports

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Reprinted from Catalyst, January 22, 2025

To better understand how Minnesota’s small public airports affect their local economies, researchers from the Transportation Policy and Economic Competitiveness Program (TPEC) at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs chose three to profile from across the state. They shared their findings at the 2024 CTS Transportation Research Conference in a presentation highlighting the complex roles and community impacts of local airports.

The profile study built on a 2018 TPEC project that explored the value of airfreight networks for Minnesota’s medical supply chain. In addition, the researchers aimed to update information from a 2019 Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) study that examined the economic impact of 126 of the state’s 133 public airports.

“We were prompted by questions from several stakeholders, including TPEC advisory board members, to see if there were any travel changes or other impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic or high levels of inflation that had happened since those other studies were completed,” said Frank Douma, director of state and local policy and outreach at the Humphrey School’s Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) and the project lead. The research team also included Barbara Rohde, IURIF researcher and licensed pilot, and Audrey Clark, an urban/regional planning graduate student.

Data for the three airport profiles was gathered through interviews with airport and city officials in February and May of 2024.

Granite Falls Municipal Airport

Plane mounted at entrance to Granite Falls Airport

Unique among the three airports studied, the Granite Falls Municipal Airport in west central Minnesota receives no federal funding and attributes its ongoing success to the support of MnDOT and the local business community. A primary user for this 152-acre, one-runway airport is one of the biggest energy and ethanol firms in the Midwest—Fagen, Inc. The company hosts visitors from all parts of the US who travel to Granite Falls in corporate jets for meetings and tours.

The airport is also an active UPS hub—vital for supporting local resident and business needs—and draws tourists with a local bi-annual airshow held in association with the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum that showcases a collection of working aircraft from the era.  

Mankato Regional Airport

“It may be a surprise to some, but the Mankato Regional Airport is the second busiest in the state, following Minneapolis-St. Paul International,” Douma said of the airport located in south-central Minnesota. 

Most of the operations on the airport’s two runways support and serve student pilots; North Star Aviation, a major US flight school, trains 700 aviation students who log more than 40,000 flight hours annually.  “As a person who has taken many flight school lessons, I was so impressed,” said Rohde. “These kids fly until 11 at night to get their time in.” The school provides a direct recruitment pipeline to Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines.

The airport also serves the area’s retail, agriculture, and health care industries, which include:

  • A 450,000-square-foot Walmart Distribution Center that opened in 2015 and is undergoing a major expansion.
  • Veterinarians who board planes every morning to travel the country for swine testing.
  • Mayo Clinic helicopters, based here to take advantage of the central location.

Roseau Municipal Airport

Ten miles south of the Canadian border, Roseau Municipal Airport mostly serves the Polaris company’s 1,500-employee manufacturing facility, ferrying executives and researchers across the US from the airport’s single paved runway. Additionally, the airport focuses on supporting community development and health care access with medevac transportation.

Conclusions and next steps

Local airports contribute significantly to the economic competitiveness, community pride, and identity of the Minnesota cities that host them, the researchers found. However, the nature of those contributions is different for each airport, encompassing transportation links, business facilitation, tourism, and emergency services.

A subgroup of TPEC advisory board members recently formed to further expand this research and seek national, state, and institutional partnerships.

—Jacqueline Bass, CTS program editor

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Environment, Maintenance Operations, research

Updated stormwater guide reflects new research, experience

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Reprinted from Catalyst, December 16, 2024

Effective stormwater management is essential for maintaining healthy urban environments, but it requires consistent monitoring and maintenance to prevent costly failures—something that municipalities across the state have struggled with for years.

At a recent CTS webinar, Andy Erickson, research manager at the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory and CTS scholar, guided more than 160 attendees through recent changes made to the Minnesota Stormwater Inspection and Maintenance Resource Guide. The original guide, published in 2009, has been revised to incorporate more than a decade’s worth of field applications, research, and practical experience. The updated resource aims to improve the inspection, operation, and maintenance of stormwater management practices across the state, providing practitioners with essential tools to optimize stormwater management and increase cost-effectiveness.

Stormwater management is crucial for controlling urban runoff, and systems such as green infrastructure and low-impact development reduce pollution before stormwater is sent to lakes, rivers, and streams. However, these systems require regular upkeep to remain effective, and maintenance challenges arise from their passive nature and logistical issues in large urban areas. One key problem is the lack of on-site staff for monitoring and making the proactive inspections vital for preventing failures. Regular maintenance can reduce costs by avoiding the need for major repairs, but municipalities may still struggle to stay within their maintenance budgets, as funding for upkeep is often inadequate compared to the cost of new infrastructure.

“Since there are no operating staff on-site to see when these things fail or see what’s causing them to fail, we have to be proactive in our inspections,” Erickson said. That means inspectors must travel multiple times to locations spread out across the metro region—which significantly increases costs. “Depending on the size of the practice, your total maintenance cost might become more than your original construction cost within five years of the life of that practice,” he said. 

The 2024 update to the Minnesota Stormwater BMP Maintenance Resource Guide aims to address this issue by offering detailed instructions for inspecting and maintaining various stormwater systems. The updated guide includes inspection checklists in the form of fillable PDF documents. These checklists should streamline the inspection and documentation process and help inspectors assess site conditions, including vegetation health, erosion, and drainage performance. And the forms can be easily updated and reused, providing a practical tool for ongoing stormwater management. “The forms are not static, but rather are intended to serve as a resource that can be used and adapted to fit a jurisdiction’s particular needs,” Erickson explained.

Following items from the checklist, the guide provides specific maintenance recommendations based on inspection findings, including how to address issues such as erosion, vegetation dieback, and structural failures. 

“You can go through these to really home in on what maintenance is needed and when the maintenance is needed,” Erickson said.

The updated Minnesota Stormwater BMP Maintenance Resource Guide is now available online for download.

—Emma McIntyre, CTS communications intern

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Pedestrian, research, Traffic and Safety

Tribal Pedestrian Safety

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A new video developed by the Center for Transportation Studies highlights a multiyear study of pedestrian safety at reservations that was undertaken by U of M researchers and partners from seven Anishinaabe tribes. The work was sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

Continue reading Tribal Pedestrian Safety →
research, Traffic and Safety

Lower speed limits signal a commitment to safety in St. Louis Park.

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Reprinted from Catalyst, September 5, 2024

What’s the right speed limit for local roads? Legislation passed in 2019 makes it possible for Minnesota cities to set speed limits below 25 mph without special approval. As a result, it’s a question many local transportation officials have been considering.

Continue reading Lower speed limits signal a commitment to safety in St. Louis Park. →
Environment, research

Urban trees are litterbugs. Sweeping up after them could reduce stormwater pollution.

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Reprinted from Catalyst, September 11, 2024

A U of M study determined that the leaves, flowers, and seeds dropped by trees in urban areas are a big polluter of stormwater. The project researchers recommend street sweeping as one way to address this issue—and they provide guidance on how to effectively time and target sweeping efforts.

Continue reading Urban trees are litterbugs. Sweeping up after them could reduce stormwater pollution. →
Automated Vehicle Technology, Maintenance Operations, research

Using AVL/GPS Telematics to Optimize Snowplowing

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Republished from MnLTAP News, February 2, 2022.

Automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems using GPS are creating opportunities for local agencies to improve their operations even in real time. A five-page guide and a video from the LRRB highlight the features and benefits of such systems for snowplowing. 

Continue reading Using AVL/GPS Telematics to Optimize Snowplowing →
Policy and Planning, Public Transit, research

Dedicated transit lanes help attract riders, reduce carbon emissions

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Public transit systems are instrumental for reducing auto travel and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But how much of a reduction depends in part on how transit lines operate—on dedicated right-of-way (ROW), in mixed traffic, or some variation.

Continue reading Dedicated transit lanes help attract riders, reduce carbon emissions →
Policy and Planning, Public Transit, research

Transportation challenges for aging rural populations

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Reprinted from Catalyst, June 11, 2024

During the past century, a person’s average lifespan has increased dramatically. However, this significant “longevity bonus” has also led to challenges, including how to maintain mobility for an aging population.

Continue reading Transportation challenges for aging rural populations →
research, Traffic and Safety

TZD Traffic Safety Hotdish: A Roadmap for Traffic Safety Culture Research and the Road Ahead

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Wednesday, July 17, 2024  
10:00 – 11:15 a.m. CDT

Register

About the Event

This free virtual event will highlight the Traffic Safety Culture Research Roadmap, recently released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

Wes Kumfer, who led the creation of the roadmap, will review its development and contents. Jay Otto will share example projects and show how they fit into research on traffic safety culture. Join us to learn how you can identify traffic safety culture research needs and get insights to take back to your own organizational cultures!

Speakers

Dr. Wes Kumfer is an engineering research associate at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) with a focus on crash analysis and workforce development. His primary research interest is traffic safety management through a systems-oriented approach. While at HSRC, Kumfer has worked on pedestrian crash modeling, Safe System implementation, and engineering evaluation. He uses this experience as a member of the Road to Zero Coalition steering group and as an instructor for HSRC’s Road Safety Academy.

Jay Otto is a researcher and co-director for the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering and is fascinated by human behavior, how mindsets and systems influence behavior, and ways of growing cultures within communities and organizations that foster improved health and safety.

Registration 

The webinar is free to attend, but registration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation with a Zoom link. The link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.

Credit

Attendees are eligible for 1.25 Professional Development Hours (PDHs). Download the PDH credit form (PDF) for your records.

More Information

Contact Linda Dolan at ldolan@umn.edu.

Sponsors

This event is offered by the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Program and the Minnesota Departments of Health, Public Safety, and Transportation, with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is hosted by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies.

Maintenance Operations, research

OPERA project: Benefits and limitations of liquid-treated sand

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Reprinted from MnLTAP News May 30, 2024

The Cook County Highway Department has been on a mission to combat chloride pollution infiltrating Minnesota’s pristine wilderness. To that end, the department has set a goal for chloride-free winter maintenance, starting from annual road salt use that averages 300 tons. Staff experimented with liquid-treated sand to reduce the use of granular road salt while maintaining road safety. 

Continue reading OPERA project: Benefits and limitations of liquid-treated sand →