Do you know someone who's contribution to the transportation industry has put North Dakota and the region on the fast track? Do you know someone who has been a leader, a builder, a facilitator, a planner, or a visionary working on behalf of transportation? Please introduce them to us. That individual may deserve one of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's annual awards. Award nominations are due by May 6.
National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving through highway work zones. The key message is for drivers to use extra caution in work zones. NWZAW is April 15-19, hosted by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). Learn all about the 2024 theme and poster, find the schedule of events, access event and promo guides, and more.
This inaugural event, May 14 – 16, will bring together Tribal road maintenance practitioners and staff from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Transportation and BIA Regional Tribal Transportation Program. The event will provide essential support for Tribal transportation directors, supervisors, planners, office staff, equipment operators, project managers, and others. Registration is open and there are opportunities for sponsors and vendors.
Asphalt is a petroleum product used extensively in some construction work. When asphalt is heated for use, it releases fumes that can be harmful to workers.
Carbon monoxide is an invisible gas with no taste or smell. It is especially dangerous if it builds up indoors. It is slightly lighter than air, so it can hang around in enclosed spaces.
Trucks are an important mode of economic connectivity in rural states like North Dakota. The size/mass difference between 80,000-pound trucks and 4,000-pound passenger vehicles, along with operational differences such as acceleration/deceleration times and turning radiuses, heighten risk for crash events.
UGPTI State Judicial Outreach Liaison and retired judge John Grinsteiner has recently been named as a faculty member for All Rise (formerly the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP). As faculty, Judge Grinsteiner will join the All Rise staff on the road as a facilitator or specialized presenter and subject matter expert.
Researchers at North Dakota State University’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute are using data from autonomous and connected vehicles to learn how to improve evacuation in the event of disasters like wildfire.
Kimberly Vachal, Jaclyn Andersen, and Doug Benson This report represents a continuation of analysis concerned with the patterns and methods of distributing grains and oilseeds from North Dakota.
Kimberly Vachal, Jaclyn Andersen, and Doug Benson The objective of this report is to provide a benchmark for elevator managers in assessing performance, and supply a source for recognizing trends in the characteristics of North Dakota elevators.
Thanks to University of Utah research, traffic cameras coupled with the power of artificial intelligence tools like deep learning and computer vision are giving traffic managers more reliable tools for managing traffic flow on interstate highways.
Ranjit Godavarthy and Jill Hough
Technology-enabled, emerging, shared-use mobility services have significantly transformed the transportation ecosystem in urban communities and are beginning to enter more and more rural communities.
Jeremy Mattson and Bright Quayson This research examines the many ways that public transportation affects health, with a focus on rural and small urban areas. The study examines transportation to health care services in rural and small urban areas, the role of public transportation in improving access to care, and the effects of missed or delayed health care trips.
Aleks Paskett, a master's degree student in civil engineering at Utah State University, has been named the 2023 Student of the Year for the Mountain-Plains Consortium. He will be honored with other award winners from across the country during an awards ceremony January 6 in Washington, D.C.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation, in partnership with Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, is pleased to announce the 2024 ND Transportation Conference. The conference theme is Moving North Dakota Forward and will be held March 5-6 at the Bismarck Event Center. Register Now!
Alan Dybing and Raj Bridgelall received the awards from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program. The researchers were nominated by Seguy Tchakounte-Wakem, a research specialist at UGPTI and a captain in the Minnesota Army Reserve.
The latest issue of the North Dakota Impaired Driving Newsletter touches on a summary of the 2023 top four major trends in impaired driving. Also included are a list of upcoming training and events along with a training resource listing.
Mark Wolter, UGPTI’s truck industry liaison, joined other volunteers from the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association to teach students at the event about the “No-Zone,” the areas behind and beside a commercial truck where the truck driver has limited or zero visibility.
Research at North Dakota State University’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute offers a roadmap for companies and agencies looking to profitably implement the use of autonomous aircraft.
In this issue, Judge Grinsteiner discusses the current status of cannabis (legalization, derivatives, and
cannabis use disorder). Including resources and links of interest.
Researchers at Colorado State University developed a system for evaluating the risk of critical infrastructure system disruption from tree damage during windstorms. The research findings can potentially to be applied in future risk assessment and mitigation of urban trees before windstorms.
Researchers at Colorado State University are studying new traffic control strategies for signalized intersections that may improve traffic safety, reduce congestion, and cut wait times for motorists at intersections impacted by crashes and other traffic disruptions.
Potential implementation of autonomous trucks in North Dakota and the northern Great Plains is the focus of a new UGPTI research project. The two-year project is funded by a grant from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and will explore various deployment options, routes, and practices and quantify the safety, regulatory, energy, environmental, and economic impacts of autonomous trucking.
Brenda Lantz, associate director of UGPTI and director of its Commercial Vehicle Safety Center was recently named to the board of directors of Heartland Express, a trucking company based in North Liberty, IA.
Researchers at the University of Utah studied a section of roadway that deteriorated prematurely to learn how to improve road construction where soft subgrades are involved. The researchers studied a geogrid-reinforced pavement system on the section of Utah State Route 10 between Muddy Creek and Emery.
Researchers with the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at NDSU surveyed local road managers across North Dakota and with a special emphasis on the oil-producing region of North Dakota to learn about road safety activities.
The survey is designed to collect the data needed for the gravel road needs assessment. The survey form contains questions about component costs, road maintenance practices and other techniques that are being used. The responses to the survey are important as the data collected will be directly used to estimate the roadway needs in your county. Please submit the survey by November 20, 2023.
We are all bound to slip and fall at some point in our lives. You can chalk it up to just being clumsy, or there may be more environmental factors at play. In regards to the latter, this is more pertinent during the winter season. Trying to traverse surfaces that have been frozen solid by ice is a delicate process.
UGPTI researcher Pan Lu was recently named to rail-related committees with the Transportation Research Board and the American Society of Civil Engineers. As a member of the committees, Lu will help identify research needs and set priorities for rail researchers across the country.
Kimberly Vachal, Andrew Kubas, and Jaclyn Andersen The statewide driver traffic safety survey provides baseline metrics for the North Dakota Department of Transportation Safety Division and others to use in understanding perceptions and self-reported behaviors related to focus issues.
Researchers at the University of Utah are improving analytical and numerical methods to estimate the amount of permanent ground displacement associated with liquefaction-induced lateral spread.
Researchers at North Dakota State University and the University of Utah studied traffic in the Salt Lake City area to learn more about how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted traffic and traffic safety. Most transportation research to date has focused on the early stages of the pandemic, but this study examined traffic patterns and crash trends throughout the pandemic.
Teamwork keeps works safety and production high on any job. Teamwork prevents accidents. All we have to do is think of the other person's safety as well as our own.
Congratulations to MPC researcher Ying Huang on being named the 2023 winner of the NDSU College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award. Huang is professor and Welch Faculty Fellow of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Her teaching focus covers surveying, materials and transportation infrastructure design. She has developed two new courses at NDSU, broadening the offerings in transportation engineering available to students.
Brad Wentz, director of UGPTI's Department of Transportation Support Center and Advanced Traffic Analysis Center has been named to the Transportation Research Board's Low Volume Roads Committee.
Recent research at North Dakota State University to quantify freight flow disruption risks from railroad accidents shows that five U.S. metropolitan areas are at least five times more likely than others to experience a railroad accident.
Plan to join us Tuesday, September 26 at 3:30 Eastern Time. Presenters from the Colorado DOT and the Colorado State Patrol will discuss the partnerships to educate truck drivers on the challenges of driving in Colorado’s mountains.
The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute will award five scholarships at its annual awards banquet October 12 to outstanding students at NDSU who have interests in transportation, agriculture, and logistics.
When do people pay the most attention to signs? It seems to be while driving a car! Have you ever wondered why that is? Most likely it's because signs are the simplest way to direct, instruct, and warn people.
This third issue
of 2023 contains information on the available treatment services in our communities. Included are links to programs licensed to provide addiction treatment services in the state and all the programs licensed to provide substance use disorder assessments to identify if early intervention
or treatment is needed and what intensity of service is most appropriate for the individual to receive.
In a study of snowplow routes in northern Utah, researchers at the University of Utah proposed routes that improved the efficiency by an average of 4.87% in terms of vehicle miles, 13.95% in terms of deadhead miles, and 15.38% in terms of turnaround time.
This conference, scheduled for Oct. 23-25 in Sioux Falls, is a valuable investment, providing an opportunity to learn and share ideas about building and maintaining safe local roadways. Register by Oct. 17.
On August 24, 2023, Shawn Currie, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discussed key findings in investigations related to commercial vehicle crashes; provided insights into specific, common factors that contribute to the crashes; and described subsequent recommendations.
Jill Hough, Jeremy Mattson, and Del Peterson, all with UGPTI's Small Urban and Rural Center on Mobility, were contributors to a recent issue of TR News focusing on Transportation Accessibility. TR News features articles on innovative research development activities in all modes of transportation and is produced by the Transportation Research Board. Hough also served as co-editor of the issue.
UGPTI researcher Raj Bridgelall recently published two journal articles outlining how technology like data mining, machine learning, and geographic information systems can be used by early cargo drone adopters to identify the most profitable products, origins and destinations, and potential routes for initiating service. The articles were published in Algorithms and Standards.
Mark Wolter recently joined the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University as a part-time industry liaison focusing on the Rural Truck Safety Education and Outreach Partnership Demonstration Project.
With more than 47,000 culverts under highways in Utah, researchers at the University of Utah developed a culvert management system and manual for the Utah Department of Transportation to help prioritize its inspection and maintenance efforts.
Researchers at Colorado State University are developing improved computer models to better predict precipitation-induced landslides, particularly those in mountainous areas, which can pose risks to property and infrastructure such as roads and bridges and result in injuries and deaths.
Maintaining awareness of people, other machines, and obstacles is important to safe motor grader operation. Operators of small and mid-size Motor Grader also face the challenge of safe operations in traffic, given that the machines are often driven to the work site. Also, in snow removal operations, a road open to traffic is the work site.
Research at the University of Utah is addressing the disconnect between asphalt mixture tests and the inputs for the structure design of pavements. Because of its complexities, the dynamic modulus (which represents the stiffness of the asphalt material when tested in a compressive, repeated load and is required as an input into the structural design of asphalt) is seldom measured, resulting in average or default values being used.
Fuchs brings more than 25 years of transportation engineering experience to NDLTAP. He worked as a consulting engineer and with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, most recently as the assistant local government engineer for NDDOT, overseeing the rural and special program areas and serving NDDOT's Tribal Liaison.
UGPTI researcher Raj Bridgelall was inducted this week as a fellow by the National Academy of Inventors. He was among 169 distinguished academic inventors who were inducted as fellows at the NAI’s national meeting in Washington, D.C.
In 2021 in North Dakota, there were 734 crashes involving heavy trucks resulting in 11 fatalities and 273 injuries. Although those numbers are down significantly, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute is partnering with the ND Highway Patrol (NDHP), the ND Department of Transportation, and other agencies to reduce them even further.
Drive tractor mowers at high speeds can result in accidents because of the risk of overturning. Quick maneuvers in tight spaces and on slopes also cause a rollover as does using the brakes while turning. This safety talk addresses some tips to minimize risk.
Kimberly Vachal and Jaclyn Andersen The objective of this report is to provide a benchmark for elevator managers in assessing performance, and supply a source for recognizing trends in the characteristics of North Dakota elevators.
Research at South Dakota State University shows that a new bridge system made with cross-laminated timber (CLT), which exhibits desirable design strength and low environmental impacts, offers a suitable replacement for bridges on low-volume roads.
View the webinar on "The What and Why of Distracted Driving," which was held June 6. The advancement of mobile devices has resulted in constant connectivity, but at the expense of traffic safety. The goal of this study was to understand the barriers preventing drivers from driving without manipulating their devices, and what they perceived would motivate them to stop driving distracted.
Several heat-related illnesses can affect workers. Some of the symptoms are non-specific. This means that when a worker is performing physical labor in a warm environment, any unusual symptom can be a sign of overheating.
U.S. durum production is around 37 million bushels annually. North Dakota is a leader in the U.S. wheat
industry, ranking second among states in total wheat production and first in production of hard red spring
wheat.
Truck crashes on steep downgrades are often caused by brake failures resulting from overheated brakes generated by excessive braking. Research at the University of Wyoming has resulted in a better understanding of the relationship between truck weight and the maximum descent speeds necessary to prevent road crashes on mountainous downgrades.
CSU civil and environmental engineering master's degree student Daniel Sanchez earned an honorable mention in the Great Minds in Research category of the CSU Graduate Showcase in November. He received the award with Dr. Karan Venayagamoorthy, professor of civil and environmental engineering, for their presentation, "Semi-Trucks and Trailers Overturning in High Crosswinds."
Ziluo Xiong, CSU civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student, was recently awarded the Jack E. Cermak Wind Engineering Graduate Fellowship by the CSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Colorado State University Ph.D. student Mohammad Teymouri was recently awarded the Slag Cement in Sustainable Concrete Research Award from the Slag Cement Association. The work was honored April 5 during the spring American Concrete Institute Convention in San Francisco.
Yirong Zhou, a civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, was recently awarded a scholarship from the Utah Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Winners of the $500 scholarships are selected based on outstanding scholarship, work experience, and activity within their student section of ITE.
This primer provides an overview of the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence, specifically focusing on large language models. The aim is to demystify the underlying theory and architecture of large language models, providing intuitive explanations for a broader audience.
Researchers at North Dakota State University are developing an innovative computer modeling technique that can serve as an efficient decision-making system to predict crash occurrence and severity, identify contributing factors to crashes, quantify their effects, and evaluate proposed countermeasures.
The objective of this research is to compare the level of public transportation services provided in North Dakota to those of surrounding states. The study focuses on North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska (excluding the Omaha metro area), and Minnesota (excluding the Twin Cities metro area).
The North Dakota Transportation Conference hosted by NDDOT and UGPTI has become the go-to conference for local road professionals from across the state who want to network and learn about the latest in road and bridge technology and policies.
When trains and traffic meet, the result is often catastrophic and fatal. UGPTI researcher Pan Lu is leading efforts to develop an innovative computer modeling technique that can serve as an efficient decision-making system to predict both crash occurrence and severity. Transportation agencies can use the technique to prioritize where and how to spend safety improvement dollars.
A switch to automated parking systems that assess on-street parking fees for the exact amount of time parked would be fairer for drivers and would help transportation planners manage traffic and parking demand better, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Denver.
Research at the University of Utah shows that introducing connected automated vehicles (CAVs) into traffic flow can elevate safety performance, especially on freeways. CAV adoption will likely reduce rear-end and lane-change crashes.
