Bicycling, Pedestrian, Traffic and Safety

New Project: Mobile-Device Data, Non-Motorized Traffic Monitoring, and Estimation of Annual Average Daily Bicyclist and Pedestrian Flows

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Understanding pedestrian and bicyclist flows is vital to distributing a limited construction budget to new infrastructure for improved safety on specific roads. Unfortunately, statewide data collection for active transportation flows is challenging.

MnDOT and local agencies historically have lacked estimates of bicycle and pedestrian traffic on Trunk Highways and County State Aid Highways.

Since about 2016, MnDOT has begun monitoring bicycle and pedestrian flow at more than 25 locations across the state, but, given the small number of counters and the variability of flows in response to variations in weather across Minnesota, these monitoring data are insufficient for estimation of Annual Average Daily Bicyclists and Annual Average Daily Pedestrians.

One option for obtaining travel data without expensive infrastructure is relying on mobile data collection.

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Automated Vehicle Technology

New Project: Influence of Autonomous and Partially Autonomous Vehicles on Minnesota Roads

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As autonomous vehicles (AVs) become increasingly more numerous on roadways, they have the potential to substantially alter traffic flow. New vehicles today have many driver-assisting (or SAE Level 1) features—such as adaptive cruise control, parking assistance, collision avoidance, emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance—which still require a hands-on driver. However, as technology advances toward eventual SAE Level 4 automation, vehicles will be able to function without drivers, which will likely change the shape of traffic flow.

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Maintenance Operations

Evaluating Pavement Thickness With 3D Ground-Penetrating Radar

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Building on previous MnDOT-sponsored work, researchers have developed a nondestructive method of assessing pavement thickness using 3D ground-penetrating radar (GPR). A vehicle equipped with an array of transmitting and receiving antenna pairs travels at traffic speed collecting full-width GPR data for analysis, minimizing the amount of pavement coring required.

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Traffic and Safety

Improved In-Vehicle Lane Departure Warning System Approaches Commercial Use

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Using an earlier lane departure warning system (LDWS) that employs standard GPS data rather than expensive cameras or maps, Minnesota researchers have enhanced and refined the system, moving closer to an affordable product to warn drivers about dangerous lane drift and approaching curves. 

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Traffic and Safety

Separated Bike Lanes: Filling the Gaps in Design Guidance

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In recent years, many U.S. cities have been installing separated bicycle lanes (SBLs) as part of their nonmotorized transportation networks. SBLs are bicycle pathways that employ paint and a vertical element as a buffer to separate motor vehicle traffic from bicycle traffic. They reduce crash risk, increase safety and comfort, and encourage more people to use bicycles as transportation. 

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Environment

Stormwater Bioslope Site Monitoring Continues Using Local Filter Media

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MnDOT and local agencies control stormwater runoff from roadways through a range of settlement, filtration and infiltration facilities, such as wet ponds, infiltration basins, trenches and swales. Infiltration facilities have been used for more than 30 years, but a high rate of failure has been tied to inaccurate determination of soil infiltration rates. Researchers developed new tools and protocols to provide designers and engineers with the accurate infiltration measures they need, from initial site selection through construction. These tools and methods will support the development of successful stormwater infiltration facilities along Minnesota roadways.

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Traffic and Safety

MnDOT Prepares to Use Future Vehicle-to-Vehicle Messaging

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Manufacturers are developing vehicles that can “talk” to each other. “Connected vehicles” will be able to convey their position, speed and acceleration. Sending this information to other vehicles and relevant infrastructure is expected to enhance highway safety, but it also may help transportation agencies better manage traffic.

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Traffic and Safety

Smartphone App Aims to Help Drivers Switch to More Sustainable Transportation Modes

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This article was originally published in Catalyst, May 2021.

Using an innovative mobility app, U of M researchers are pointing the way for drivers to shift their travel toward more sustainable modes such as transit, park-and-ride, walking, and biking.

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Environment, Maintenance Operations

Edina Studies Snowmelt To Reduce Chlorides From Deicing Operations

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In Minnesota’s metro region, areas of shallow groundwater show increasing evidence of chloride contamination from winter road maintenance operations, particularly deicing. More than a quarter show chloride concentrations at the maximum contaminant level for municipal drinking water. In addition, 123 lakes and rivers show chloride impairment or risk of impairment for aquatic life. Chlorides are now considered the second most important threat, after phosphorus, to Minnesota’s urban waters.

The City of Edina, with funding from the Local Road Research Board, hired the University of Minnesota to analyze chloride accumulation in city snowmelt following winter maintenance operations to learn how to most effectively adjust its deicing strategies to reduce chloride contamination.

Over two winters, researchers collected data from city deicing operations and correlated it with chlorides present in meltwater runoff. A sampler box collected data continuously, and snow pile cores were also analyzed. Snowplow operators then examined the results during workshops, yielding innovative ideas for reducing salt use.

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