MPC Wins Re-Competition

The Mountain-Plains Consortium re-competed to be designated as the regional center for Region VIII under the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Centers program. The UTC program was renewed under the federal highway bill passed last year. The designation comes with an increase in funding from $1 million to $2 million per year.

"MPC's successful re-competition within the University Transportation Centers Program is both an endorsement of our past success and a challenge to continue to build effective education, research and outreach programs," notes MPC director Denver Tolliver.

Colorado State University, North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Utah and the University of Wyoming collaborate in the consortium. The grant extends the program to 2009 and keeps MPC among the 60 University Transportation Centers operating across the United States to serve as a vital source of leaders prepared to meet the nation's need for safe, efficient and environmentally sound movement of people and goods.

New Partner — South Dakota State University brings unique strengths to the partnership. SDSU is a land grant institution with about 11,000 students. It has a strong engineering program and has about 230 undergraduates and 35 graduate students enrolled in the civil engineering program. Its Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence is a joint collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Center for Earth Resources and Observation and Sciences. SDSU is home to the South Dakota Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and houses a state-of-the-art structural testing facility that can be used to test full-scale bridge sub-assemblages and components. Other facilities include a fluid mechanics laboratory, an asphalt laboratory and a geotechnical laboratory.

Dr. Nadim Wehbe, associate professor of civil engineering, is the MPC program director at SDSU. Wehbe teaches courses in structural theory and dynamics as well as in materials, timber structures and concrete construction. His research interests include reinforced and pre-stressed concrete structures, earthquake-resistant bridges and the use of advanced composites in structural systems. He is coordinator of the J. Lohr Structures Laboratory. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

New Focus Areas — As program directors of the Mountain-Plains Consortium assessed its programs in preparation for re-competition, the Consortium's focus areas were adjusted to better match with USDOT strategic goals as well as needs within the region. Within the USDOT strategic objective of safety and security, the MPC will focus on high risk rural roads, rural transportation operations, effective safety management, human factors, low-cost safety improvements, work zones, heavy vehicle/commercial trucks, safety of unpaved roads, and hazardous materials.

Within the USDOT strategic objective of mobility and global connectivity, the MPC will focus on real-time traffic management, innovative demand management, freight management, finance and pricing, multimodal policy and investments, and promoting regional freight planning. Within the USDOT infrastructure renewal and environmental stewardship strategic objective, MPC will focus on infrastructure longevity, infrastructure that minimizes environmental impacts, infrastructure safety, and economic impacts.

UGPTI Cooperates to Produce Transportation in America Book

UGPTI researchers have been cooperating with the Eno Transportation Foundation to update the foundation's popular Transportation in America book.

"The book presents statistical data vital to understanding and monitoring transportation in the United States," notes Kim Vachal, the UGPTI advanced research fellow who has been coordinating the effort. "This is a comprehensive reference of transportation data."

This is the 20th edition of the book which was previously published solely by the Eno Transportation Foundation. "We joined with the foundation to provide additional data sources, to provide additional analysis in compiling the information and to update the look and presentation of the material," Vachal says.

Associate research fellow Doug Benson and student Junwook Chi have been instrumental in collecting and organizing data for the book.

Final revisions are in progress and it should be published later this spring. Early orders will receive a discount. For more information, go to www.ugpti.org/tia2007/

Safety and Security Summit Yields Direction for Center

More than 90 policy makers, elected county officials, emergency planners and responders, and representatives from transportation agencies and private transportation firms attended a Rural Transportation Safety and Security Summit in Bismarck Aug. 23-24.

The conference identified and increased awareness of safety and security risks in the state and region. North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and Sen. Kent Conrad provided a state and federal overview of transportation safety and security. Representatives from the NDDOT, ND Department of Homeland Security, ND Highway Patrol, ND Aeronautics Commission, Federal Transportation Security Administration, Federal Highway Administration, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, NDSU, and private industry outlined their approaches to transportation safety and security issues.

The conference was a launching point for the UGPTI's Rural Transportation Safety and Security Center. "We're taking the input from the summit and using it to refine the center's objectives and develop an outline of research and outreach activities," says Kim Vachal, director of the center. "The participation of so many diverse groups and agencies in the summit will be a real benefit to us in that process."

The conference was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, the N.D. Department of Transportation, the UGPTI and NDSU. Presentations and other information from the summit are available at www.ugpti.org/conf/rtssc/