Agriculture Transport Center Working with USDA
The Agriculture Transport Center is again working with the Transportation and Marketing Program at USDA to define research project and outreach plans for the next year. The center is actively involved in several research projects, including the value of short line railroads to rural America and the differential impacts of rail rate deregulation.
The short line study is critical to local investment decisions in a time of continuing rationalization for the nation's rail system.
The rail deregulation study provides insight for those concerned with how rail rates have influenced the competitive position of captive shippers. Many studies have considered the overall effects of rate deregulation for industries or commodities, but this study looks specifically at regional variation in benefits derived from the competitive rail rate structure. The study will highlight the impact of intermodal and intramodal competition on captive shipper rates.
DOTSC's Plan Preparation Guide Website
The DOT Support Center (DOTSC) in cooperation with the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) recently completed its Plan Preparation Guide website. The purpose of this website is to provide easy access and one-stop shopping for details and notes used when developing plans for particular construction projects. The overall goal of the site is to give NDDOT designers, consultants, construction personnel and others access to the most current information available and improve the consistency of plans.
Prior to the website, finding details and notes needed for new projects was time consuming, and the user still had to make sure what was found was the most current version. The site was developed to solve these problems.
The site allows individuals to provide comments on notes or details that they feel need to be improved. With the combination of user comments and a "behind the scenes" management program, the most current notes and details will be available 24 hours a day in one central location. The website address is www.ugpti.org/dotsc/.
