Meeting transit needs in rural communities can be challenging. A new pilot study demonstrated the benefits of using mobile technologies and existing assets to enhance transit services and improve local economies.
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Impacts of Lane Conversions on Level of Service
Reconfiguring roadways, also referred to as a “road diet,ˮ can be a low-cost safety solution that makes space for different travel modes in addition to motor vehicle traffic. New guidance gives local engineers an initial indication of whether a road conversion would result in a loss of capacity given the roadway motor vehicle traffic demand.
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Connecting smart vehicles with traffic signals could reduce fuel use
Originally published in Catalyst, July 18, 2022.
Green means go and yellow means go faster—so goes a wry take on driver behavior at traffic signals. But it’s not just travel time that increases when you brake for a red: Fuel consumption does, too. Could transmitting signal data to connected vehicles (CVs) reduce stop-and-go cycles and fuel use? U of M researchers say yes.
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Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on Operation and Maintenance of Minnesota Roads
As autonomous vehicle technology evolves, transportation agencies want to understand how road maintenance and traffic operations may also need to evolve. New research begins to identify potential needs and further questions for winter road maintenance, work zones and traffic flow.
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Researchers Identify Freight Data Sources, Create Guidance to Aid Infrastructure Planning
The goods that continuously move through Minnesota by road, rail, air, water, and pipelines drive the state’s economy, making efficient freight transit—and excellent freight infrastructure—a high priority for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
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Model Helps Identify Strategic Sites for Truck Charging Stations
An influx of electric trucks is expected on our highways, but where will they charge? Few public stations today can serve large freight vehicles. The challenge? Fast chargers are expensive, and new ones need to be placed strategically to keep pace with growing demand.
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Using Rumble Strips to Encourage Stops at Rural Intersections
Vehicle crashes in rural areas often happen at intersections. Transverse rumble strips placed before a stop sign can be an effective safety measure that warns drivers approaching an intersection. Recent research has provided an increased understanding of the most effective rumble strip designs and noise characteristics to help county traffic engineers decide when and where to deploy the strips.
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Personal Stories Illustrate Transportation Inequities in Minnesota
Transportation research is often about numbers. In a recent study, however, U of M researchers looked beyond the data to hear the transportation experiences of real people from underserved communities in Minnesota.
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New Project: Development of Process to Lower Global Warming Potential of Construction Materials
Advances in science of life cycle assessment (LCA) have set the stage to develop methods that meet global warming potential (GWP) reduction targets for construction materials, specifically, using instruments such as Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).
Continue reading New Project: Development of Process to Lower Global Warming Potential of Construction MaterialsPreparing for the Future of CAVs: Cybersecurity, Winter Weather Research
Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) hold promise for improving transportation operations—but could also provide pathways for “malicious actors” to compromise vehicle security, said Rafael Stern, a U of M assistant professor, in a recent CTS webinar.
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