The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently awarded two grants totaling more than $1.9 million to the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at North Dakota State University. The awards will support two projects to enhance commercial vehicle safety and explore deployment of autonomous trucks in rural areas.
A comprehensive update with contributions from ATAC researchers includes: new stakeholders (including ATAC), refined service packages that align with MPO objectives, improved clarity and usability, new agreements that strengthen operational reliability, project architecture guidance, and an updated ITS inventory. This collaborative effort with participation from engineering, information technology, public works, and highway departments, emergency management, law enforcement, fire services, ambulance units, highway patrol, and the sheriff’s office played a crucial role in developing a robust, actionable framework to steer the region’s ITS initiatives.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver are recommending changes to how municipalities collect data on signalized intersections so that pedestrian safety can be improved. With the knowledge that pedestrian fatalities account for approximately 17% of road fatalities, and a frightening number of those occur at intersections where pedestrians have the right-of-way, the researchers studied how and where traffic signals for left-turning traffic that provided protection for pedestrians were implemented.
Efficient last-mile delivery remains a critical challenge for rural agricultural logistics, globally, particularly in cold-climate regions with dispersed agricultural operations. Truck–drone hybrids can reduce delivery times but face payload limits, cold-weather battery loss, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight regulations.
