UGPTI Proposes Building

Rapidly growing programs and a campus space shortage is prompting the UGPTI to begin developing a proposal for its own building.

"A transportation building on the NDSU campus would be an enormous benefit to our program and to the entire university," notes UGPTI director Gene Griffin. "Currently, our staff members are located in three locations across campus, making interaction and collaboration a challenge. A building of our own would allow us to consolidate our programs and give us added flexibility to add staff and technology. It would be a step forward in excellence for us and the university."

With an annual budget of more than $8.2 million and research grants of more than $7.6 million, the UGPTI has established ties with faculty across campus as well as private-sector and public-sector transportation professionals. "A transportation building would be a focal point where all of those people could come together to work on transportation issues affecting the region and the nation," Griffin says. "The building would be a hub for transportation research, education, technology transfer and outreach."

The preliminary proposal calls for highly functional space with state-of-the-art equipment and furnishings. The building would compliment the NDSU campus, would feature cost-effective design, construction and operation and include technologically advanced features. The building's inviting environment would feature flexible use of space that could be reconfigured as programs and technology change.

The proposal calls for a building of about 50,000 square feet on possibly two levels. Estimated cost for the building is about $6 million. The main or ground level would provide homes for the:

• Transportation Museum and Interpretive Center
• UGPTI educational programs
• Traffic Operations Center
• Driving simulator

The upper level would house:

• UGPTI staff offices
• UGPTI labs
• Conference and meeting rooms
• Graduate and undergraduate research student areas

Currently, the UGPTI has about 50 staff members, 40 graduate students, 12 graduate research assistants and 25 undergraduate research assistants. Those staff and students are located on the fourth floor of the Industrial Agriculture and Communications Center, the basement of Hastings Hall and the upper level of the Criminal Justice and Public Policy Building.

"Right now we are exploring fundraising and early concepts for a building with university administration, potential partners such as the North Dakota Department of Transportation and the City of Fargo, as well as a few potential donors," Griffin says. "Preliminary response has been positive and the project will continue to evolve and develop as we incorporate additional ideas and thoughts."

Ripplinger Named to TRB Committee

Dave Ripplinger, associate research fellow with SURTC, has been named to the Transportation Economics Committee of the Transportation Research Board.

Committee members review papers for the board's annual meeting, plan the economics portion of the meeting and plan other events related to economics in transportation. The committee's purpose is to encourage the application of economic concepts and methods to the analysis of transportation systems and infrastructure.

Ripplinger has been with UGPTI since 2004. His work focuses on computer applications for bus routing and on GIS/GPS applications in transit.