This week is Wildlife Casualty Count Week of Action in Minnesota. It highlights the impacts transportation systems have on wildlife and raises awareness of wildlife deaths resulting from vehicle collisions. Information about this effort can be found at: Wildlife Casualty Count Week
At MnDOT, we are committed to protecting wildlife through established practices and thoughtful planning. MnDOT works to minimize and mitigate impacts to protected fish, wildlife, and plant species in the design and construction of transportation projects. Read more about MnDOT’s commitment to protected species here: Wildlife – Environmental Stewardship
MnDOT’s Office of Research & Innovation supports research projects that advance wildlife protection and environmental conservation. These projects help inform how wildlife considerations are incorporated into transportation planning and construction. Explore projects guiding this work below:
Minimum parking requirements were established in the mid-20th century to mitigate increased motor vehicle congestion but have the potential to contribute to urban sprawl, hinder development, and curb incentives for drivers to choose alternative travel modes. Eliminating or reducing these requirements can help remove excess parking supply, increase alternative modes such as transit ridership, reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and enhance economic productivity. Decreasing VMTs directly mitigates emissions by reducing car travel distances and many VMT reduction strategies hold additional benefits such as increasing accessibility and reducing traffic congestion.
VMT reduction also plays a significant role in Minnesota’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. New legislation passed in 2023 requires reducing VMT up to 20% per capita by 2050. The impacts of parking space requirements or long-term benefits and challenges associated with modifying or removing these requirements have not been studied in Minnesota. This project will investigate, document, and advance the understanding of minimum parking requirements in Minnesota and the region and their impact on VMT reduction.
Researchers aim to establish recommended values based on differing types of land use and community context, e.g., urban, suburban, and rural within Minnesota. Specifically, this project will examine the long-term benefits and challenges presented by reducing and/or removing currently established parking space requirements with new or redevelopment projects, and opportunities for parking space reallocation with existing uses.
“This research aims to fill a critical knowledge gap, will modernize minimum parking requirements reduce vehicle miles traveled, and provide communities with more flexible land‑use options,” said Mark Vizecky, state aid operations engineer, State Aid for Local Transportation at MnDOT.
The Objectives:
Perform literature reviews of historical and current practices, policy and requirements regarding parking space requirements in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest and of current best practices regarding parking space requirements and the impact parking has on land use and travel behavior.
Interview local agencies and the League of Minnesota Cities to gain insight into current parking space practices, policies, and requirements across Minnesota.
Conduct an online survey of business stakeholders to assess the potential economic impacts of parking policy changes regarding customer behavior, business density, operating costs, opportunity cost and sunk cost, and accessibility.
Conduct a travel behavior and mode choice survey using a diverse group of daily commuters from Minnesota’s urban, suburban, and rural communities to understand the influence of parking policies on traveler behavior.
Analyze survey responses using discrete choice modeling to develop utility equations for different parking requirements, which will help predict mode shifts and associated VMT reductions.
Utilize travel demand model data from eight metropolitan planning organizations in Minnesota to assess how changes in parking requirements could impact VMT reduction.
Analyze the sensitivity and data requirements for a parking space requirement that will be effective for local use and develop a toolkit for local municipalities to assess parking needs and the economic impacts of parking policies in local communities.
The limited public transit infrastructure often found in rural areas can make it difficult for residents to access essential services such as healthcare, education, and grocery shopping—especially those without personal vehicles or who are unable to drive. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a platform that integrates multiple transportation options and booking/e-ticketing with a smartphone app. While MaaS has primarily been developed and deployed in urban areas, it also offers potential benefits for rural area residents, such as improving transportation access, reducing social isolation, and simplifying the passenger experience.
MnDOT’s MaaS platform was implemented in southern Minnesota in March 2023 to streamline and promote transit use, incorporating features such as interactive trip planning and mobile payment. The study area is served by seven different transit agencies, covering seven small cities and the surrounding rural areas.
Led by University of Minnesota Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering associate professor and CTS scholar Alireza Khani, the research team aimed to learn how residents benefited from having access to a variety of mobility options through the MaaS platform, as well as if the platform increased transit ridership and how it could be improved.
“This work represents a collaborative effort to better understand how people, especially those in rural Minnesota without many transportation options, might engage with emerging transportation technologies, mainly mobility-as-a-service,” Khani said when accepting the award. “This project is about people, their mobility options, their choices, and how technology can support more efficient, equitable, and sustainable transportation.”
The research team worked closely with MnDOT’s project management team and the platform development team to address the unique challenges of rural MaaS. Recognizing that existing data was insufficient to capture rural transit nuances, the team developed specialized data-collection spreadsheets and protocols. By training local transit service providers to use these tools for one week for both pre- and post- MaaS deployment phases, the team obtained primary data to analyze rider behavior across both fixed-route and demand-responsive transit (DRT). They also used the data to evaluate equity and service quality for disadvantaged populations. This collaboration between the University and the providers ensured that the MaaS implementation was not only technically sound but also tailored to the specific operational realities of southern Minnesota’s transit landscape.
Analysis of booking and ride data provided a clearer picture of how people use transit and how both riders and providers felt about their experiences, informing areas for improvement by deploying MaaS. Results showed a notable ridership increase of 4.2 percent for DRT and paratransit services following MaaS deployment, compared to a marginal 0.2 percent increase in the control group. In addition, a before-and-after study of trip location data showed MaaS’s ability to boost transit service rates in areas with lower-income residents.
“This is a great example of academic partnership with the public and private sector in a really practical way,” McFadden said during the awards ceremony. “We have brought rural transit up to parity with a lot of the technology that has been common in urban settings for about the last decade. This project has been a leader and driven both the public and private sector to bring along our rural transit systems. And so everybody is getting access to the same information.”
The research results provided a thorough evaluation of the pilot and have been key in shaping future rural transit projects. The evaluation served as a proof-of-concept for MnDOT, directly informing the decision to expand the MaaS system to the entire state. Additionally, the methods and findings have been widely shared with the professional community and received national attention, “highlighting the broader relevance of what started here in Minnesota,” Khani added. By bridging the gap between a regional pilot and a statewide initiative, this research serves as a strategic roadmap for modernizing rural transit in Minnesota and beyond.
The Research Partnership Award is named in honor of former CTS director Robert Johns. The award is presented annually to a team of individuals who have collaboratively drawn on their diverse expertise to achieve significant impacts on transportation.
Clockwise, from left: Robert C. Johns with research team members Alireza Khani, Elliott McFadden, Kwangho Baek, and Hannah DeBruin
Project team
University of Minnesota: Alireza Khani, Kwangho Baek, Hannah DeBruin
To assess pavement conditions throughout the state, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) uses a van specially equipped with advanced technology that measures roughness, cracking, and other signs of distress on a roadway’s surface. That system has its limitations, however. The vans cost about $800,000 each, and the data collection requires extensive coordination, trained personnel, and sensitive equipment that is limited to operating in warmer summer months. In addition, the data collection takes place once a year on MnDOT routes and every other year on County State Aid Highways.
Mn/DOT’s Pathway Services, Inc. Digital Inspection Vehicle (DIV)
Could there be a more efficient and more timely way to assess the state’s road pavement conditions? To find out, researchers at the University of Minnesota (UMN) explored whether data already being generated by everyday vehicles could enhance MnDOT’s current method.
To test this, UMN researchers equipped study vehicles with a simple plug-in scanner that captured onboard diagnostics data, explains CTS scholar Raphael Stern, the project’s co-investigator and UMN associate professor of civil, environmental, and geo- engineering. Modern vehicles already have sensors that collect this data, which can be used to monitor and optimize vehicle performance. That same data could provide clues to how a vehicle is responding to pavement beneath it, he says.
“If we could show that this can be done in Minnesota, MnDOT or local agencies can implement this technology,” says lead investigator and CTS scholar Mihai Marasteanu. “They could have a very good idea about the conditions of pavement every day—not just once a year.”
For this project, researchers adapted methodologies from Denmark’s Live Road Assessment (LiRA) project, considered to be the most comprehensive effort to use onboard vehicle sensors for continuous pavement monitoring. That initiative provided insights into both the technical feasibility and practical challenges of extracting meaningful pavement quality metrics from standard vehicle data.
Researchers tested a similar approach on three routes in Minnesota to capture a diverse range of pavement conditions under real-world driving scenarios. One route was a 15-mile loop in the northeast Twin Cities metropolitan area that covered urban and suburban road segments with consistent traffic flow. Another was a 96-mile loop between Minneapolis and Northfield, comprising a mix of urban, suburban, and rural roadways. The third was the 2.6-mile loop at MnROAD, MnDOT’s research facility near Albertville.
The plug-in scanner collected data on vehicle location, speed, and 3D acceleration; the last measures the intensity and complexity of vibrations transmitted from the road through the vehicle’s suspension system.
Across the three routes, researchers collected more than 9,000 data points. Machine learning models used 694 data values to predict pavement quality using the International Roughness Index (IRI) for a given pavement section.
Researchers compared and validated predictions against data from MnDOT and a commercial pavement‑monitoring system. Results demonstrated a correlation across diverse road conditions, although accuracy decreased in areas where pavement conditions changed quickly or road surfaces had defects. Predictions were also more accurate on highway segments than local roads because of variable urban driving environments.
Of the eight learning models evaluated, one achieved 94 percent accuracy on predicting pavement roughness. The performance of each model varied based on environmental factors, data collection conditions, and road types.
The research successfully demonstrated that vehicle sensor data can effectively support continuous infrastructure monitoring, Marasteanu says. “It could save money in the long run and give a much more accurate representation of pavement conditions over the entire year,” he notes.
The project, funded by MnDOT, included implementation guidelines for large-scale deployment, equipment standardization protocols, data-processing pipelines, and risk-mitigation strategies.
MnDOT is now exploring how to extend the research beyond the study vehicles, says Curt Turgeon, director of MnDOT’s Office of Materials and Road Research. One way will be to use commercial data sources that already collect similar information from everyday vehicles. For example, NIRA Dynamics, headquartered in Sweden, partners with automakers Volkswagen and Volvo to collect anonymized sensor data from consumer vehicles. These data streams are captured continuously throughout the year.
“MnDOT has a contract with NIRA to determine how this data might enhance our pavement management decisions as well as potentially document snow and ice response,” he says. “They also have a module that may flag potholes or other in-road hazards based upon vehicles swerving.”
Did you know that the University of Minnesota has a Minnesota Transportation Finance Database that you can use to analyze trends in funding, safety, vehicles, and more in the state of Minnesota?
Geohazards generated by ground movements (e.g., landslides, subsidence, sink holes, etc.) cause substantial damage and interruptions to Minnesota’s highway network. Reactive monitoring approaches and borehole-based instrument sensing both have limited spatial coverage and are limited to sites already known to be in distress. This research explores the establishment of continuous satellite-based InSAR monitoring of ground deformations adjacent to roads on a broad geographic scale that would enable detection of pending hazards before they develop into large failures.
This warning system will combine data from high spatial resolution InSAR measurements, optical remote sensing data, and deep learning algorithms to automatically detect and continuously monitor deformations across large spatial regions. The research team will create MnDOT training modules to demonstrate the utility of the deformation data and automated warning system.
InSAR monitoring is expected to improve the safety and reliability of Minnesota’s transportation system and reduce costs and delays associated with emergency repairs. It would also support the state’s geotechnical asset management program by assessing the feasibility of InSAR for tracking performance of geotechnical assets (e.g. retaining walls, slopes, pavement foundations, etc.).
“This research project will help us determine if InSAR technology is ready for prime time for transportation agencies as a remote sensing tool to track performance of assets,“ said Raul Velasquez, geomechanics research & deployment engineer at MnDOT’s Office of Materials and Road Research.
The Objectives:
Develop an automated warning system that can alert MnDOT staff of areas where abnormal ground deformation (e.g., landslides, subsidence, and sinkholes) is occurring along Minnesota interstate highways, allowing them to proactively intervene.
Assist MnDOT in continuing to build its geotechnical asset management program by assessing the feasibility of InSAR for tracking performance of geotechnical assets such as retaining walls, slopes, and pavement foundations.
Goats are increasingly being used in efforts to manage invasive common buckthorn in Midwestern woodlands. New research demonstrates when and how they are best used.
Improving pedestrian safety requires a deeper understanding of how people interact with roadway design and infrastructure. This webinar will highlight two recent research efforts examining how transportation infrastructure influences driver behavior and pedestrian safety outcomes.
Curtis Craig, a research associate in the Human Factors Safety Laboratory, will present findings from two complementary studies examining infrastructure at intersections. The first study explored how right turn lane configurations affect pedestrian safety using a combination of behavioral analysis and multiple research methods. The second project examined how drivers and pedestrians respond to different infrastructure treatments and how those designs influence behavior in real-world environments.
These study findings offer transportation agencies, planners, and engineers practical considerations as they work to create safer and more accessible pedestrian environments.
Registration and More
This webinar is free, but registration is required.Visit the event web page to register and for more information.
Transportation capital investment planning plays a vital role in shaping the future of infrastructure—but often leaves people with disabilities, youth, older adults, people of color, and disadvantaged communities underserved. A recent UMN research project aimed to gain a better understanding of how to include equity in planning and decision making.
To gain a better understanding of how to include equity in planning and decision making, a recent research project explored this complex topic through a literature review, statewide survey, and analysis of case studies. This research, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board, resulted in considerations and strategies, including a toolkit, to increase community engagement and guide future transportation development for Minnesota localities and Native nations.
Camila Fonseca-Sarmiento, director of fiscal research for the Institute for Urban & Regional Infrastructure Finance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a CTS scholar, led a team of researchers through a review of case studies for which equity was included in capital investment planning. As in other states and localities across the United States, the team found that the definition of equity and the goals of equity-related funding ranged widely across Minnesota’s counties, cities, and Native nations.
Incorporating equity factors in transportation investment planning in Minnesota has occurred through small, incremental changes. A few jurisdictions have already integrated equity into their planning efforts, while some others are in the process of doing so. Jurisdictions with a more comprehensive equity framework are those in which equity is part of a local initiative, compared to those who mentioned equity efforts as a response to federal funding requirements, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disability Act.+6
Minnesota brings an additional set of equity considerations through the inclusion of the state’s 11 Native nations. These Ojibwe and Dakota communities and reservations share many of the same needs and challenges as other localities but also possess unique cultural considerations, including sovereignty, sacred sites, and environmental protection. For example, on a practical level equity for Native nations means fair employment—equitable job opportunities, wages, and hiring preferences for tribal members to ensure benefits stay within the tribal nations on or near reservations. On a cultural level it means dual language signage for English and Ojibwe or Dakota on roads and highways that traverse Native lands.
“Equity is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” Fonseca-Sarmiento says. Engaging community members early in the planning process helps planners understand transportation needs beyond roadway investments—such as a community’s historical experience, culturally specific needs, and current gaps. The research findings offer guidance on how to gather local input through surveys and in-person meetings guided by trained staff.
The transportation capital investment planning and decision-making process consists of several phases where equity could be integrated: identifying projects, prioritizing capital investment projects through multi-step processes, and selecting projects for funding through community advisory committees.
A toolkit developed by the researchers could help improve communication and engagement with underserved communities. Its two key tenets are that agencies need to proactively reach out to the community, and trust-building is essential for effective relationships.
In addition, Dillon Dombrovski, deputy public works director/city engineer with the City of Rochester and the project’s technical liaison, says the community engagement toolkit “provides effective guidance to combine community input with supporting data to invest in more equitable transportation projects.”
Fonseca-Sarmiento says it’s also critical to listen and then include diverse perspectives in the final transportation plan. “Engaging local stakeholders in the planning process but then leaving them out of the finished project decreases trust and limits future engagement,” she says. “Overall, having regular community engagement for identifying transportation capital investment projects can also help prevent perpetuating past inequities.”
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 noon–1:30 p.m. CDT, Virtual
About the Event
Understanding how infrastructure materials perform over time is critical to making informed design, construction, and maintenance decisions. This webinar will feature two recent University of Minnesota research efforts that examined the real-world performance of commonly used transportation infrastructure materials.
Crossroads 