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.
From road signs and culverts to pavements and roadbeds, North Dakota’s county road superintendents and engineers must make complex decisions about how to use scarce dollars to manage, maintain, and upgrade millions of dollars of transportation assets that are critical to the livelihood and quality of life of area residents. Over the last decade, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI), with support from the N.D. Department of Transportation and the N.D. Legislature, has developed an online tool to help guide those decisions.
Local agencies across North Dakota are ensuring that bridges are safe and in service longer thanks to training provided by UGPTI’s North Dakota Local Technical Assistance Program (NDLTAP).
A closer look at truck crashes during severe winter weather in North Dakota is yielding clues on how to reduce risks and travel disruptions on the state’s interstate highways. The research was conducted by researchers at the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver found that mobile sensing capabilities found in newer iPhones can be a cost-effective way to assess if sidewalks, curb ramps, and other infrastructure are accessible to those with disabilities.
Research at South Dakota State University is leading to improved compaction of roadway base materials, resulting in time savings, safer testing procedures, and longer-lasting pavements.
University of Wyoming researchers used advanced statistical modeling, machine learning, data mining applications, safety data visualizations, high-fidelity driving simulator experiments, and traffic microsimulation modeling to evaluate CV technologies. Their work is a crucial first step in identifying the issues associated with integrating CV technology into roadway operational strategies.
This issue of the newsletter will cover screening/assessment and some of the monitoring tools available to judges to ensure compliance with supervision conditions and to ensure community safety. Also, inside this issue of the newsletter are the most recent North Dakota crash statistics along with the case law and resource/training sections. Finally, the wellness corner has a couple of new suggestions from readers that can help maintain and/or enhance your well-being.
Research at the University of Wyoming leveraged easily accessible data from roadside cameras to develop an affordable automatic road weather and surface condition detection system. The project’s results will help enhance the Advanced Traveler Information System by improving the identification of weather conditions using existing WYDOT infrastructure.
Research at the University of Utah is providing a scalable, privacy-preserving solution for improving culvert condition prediction. This method will enable transportation agencies to make more data-driven, proactive maintenance decisions.
A new method for improving measurements of soil shear stress, erosion, and scour will help engineers design bridges that are more resilient and longer-lasting.
Dr. Kari Finley, a research scholar and Director for the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University, recently gave a webinar to discover how beliefs shape driving behaviors and how to amplify protective beliefs to improve safety on our roadways. You’ll learn strategies for changing traffic safety culture and get practical guidance to address risky driving behaviors.
Bridges are critical nodes in freight networks, yet limited funding prevents agencies from maintaining all structures in good condition. This creates the need for a transparent and scalable method to identify which bridges pose the greatest risk to supply chain continuity.
The statewide driver traffic safety survey provides baseline and longitudinal metrics for the Highway Safety Division and others to use in understanding perceptions and self-reported behaviors related to focus issues. A core set of questions addresses nationally agreed upon priorities, including seat belts, impaired driving, and speeding. In addition to the core issues, questions were included to better understand views on specific programs and attitudes pertinent to North Dakota drivers. Results show that more North Dakota drivers have adopted safe driving practices, but additional efforts are needed to improve safety on the state’s roads.
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.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has demonstrated significant potential to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation industry. Multiple national and international initiatives have been launched to accelerate SAF adoption, yet large-scale commercialization continues to face technological, operational, and regulatory barriers. Industry 4.0 provides a suite of advanced technologies that can address these challenges and improve SAF operations across the supply chain.
Several researchers with the UGPTI at NDSU were recently appointed to standing committees within the Transportation Research Board (TRB). TRB’s standing committees bring together volunteers from around the world who share interest and expertise in various aspects of transportation.
Input from townships and counties across North Dakota is critical to updating local road and bridge investment needs estimates for the next legislative session, according to researchers at the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at NDSU.
With funding from the North Dakota Legislature, the UGPTI recently launched its Transportation Data Intelligence Lab, a high-tech classroom and data center that allows researchers to collect information on traffic and road conditions from a variety of cameras and sensors across the state. The goal is to provide workers and support to transportation agencies in making critical decisions on planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating the state’s roadways system.
In this newsletter you will find a guest piece written by Judge Leslie Maddox, with a short follow-up regarding North Dakota's definition of what constitutes a vehicle. Also an update from the recent North Dakota Impaired Driving Conference, the updated 2025 crash statistics, as well as the usual case law and training/resources sections.
Yun Zhou, a post-doctoral traffic safety associate with North Dakota State University’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI), was awarded the 2025 Data Visualization Award at the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals Traffic Records Forum held in Boston July 6–9.
The Center for Tribal Transportation and the National Transportation in Indian Country Conference Planning Committee are proud to present the 2025 National Transportation in Indian Country Conference. Get earlybird registration before prices increase, and your hotel reservation.
Research at NDSU's Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) provides an overview of the market potential for autonomous trucks in the United States as well as possible benefits and barriers to their implementation.
The evolution of autonomous trucking in North Dakota and the Northern Plains will be the focus of a September 15 and 16 conference at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D. Registration is free and is now open. For more details on the agenda and for information regarding hotel accommodations visit the Autonomous Trucking Conference page.
Hydrogen-powered aviation is gaining momentum as a sustainable alternative to fossil-fueled flight, yet the field faces complex technological and operational challenges. To better understand commercial innovation pathways, this study analyzes the claims sections of 166 hydrogen aviation patents issued between 2018 and 2024. Unlike prior studies that focused on patent titles or abstracts, this approach reveals the protected technical content driving commercialization.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among workingage adults in the United States. It deeply impacts workers, families, and communities. Fortunately, like other workplace fatalities, suicides can be prevented.
Recent research conducted at South Dakota State University shows that E. coli contamination of stormwater runoff was reduced by an average of more than 44%, and phosphate levels were also significantly reduced in a pilot stormwater filtration that used steel chips and steel slag as a filtration media.
Research at South Dakota State University to better understand stream flows will lead to improved designs for bridges, culverts, and other infrastructure elements that are subject to erosion and scour.
Researchers at the University of Utah have developed technology that can potentially conduct multi-lane roadway ice/snow coverage estimation, which is superior to the state-of-the-art single-spot measurements.
Researchers at the University of Utah are exploring local resonances, a form of ultrasonic vibration, to detect defects and thermal stress in railroad rails.
Researchers at Colorado State University developed and applied a methodology for performing a complete structural analysis of transportation infrastructure elements, moving from digital images, acquired from either hand-held cameras or uncrewed aircraft systems, through several image processing schemes into a finite element analysis of representative structures.
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.
Researchers at Utah State University studied the performance of concrete panels with embedded inductive charging systems in early near full-scale testing to learn how the panels performed under thermal stress from the charging system and load stresses from traffic.
Research at Colorado State University is a step toward improving models for simulating and representing the threats of natural hazards such as floods, landslides, and debris flows on transportation infrastructure.
With the increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), particularly in rapidly growing regions like metropolitan areas, efficient deployment of charging infrastructure is critical to avoid overloading the power grid and to meet the charging needs of EV users. Researchers at the University of Utah developed a framework capable of modeling the spatiotemporal distribution of public charging demand and provide practical support for future public charger installations.
Drivers will be less likely to experience bumps at the ends of bridges thanks to research at the University of Utah into the settlement and heaving of soils used in bridge embankments. Laboratory tests were performed on compacted specimens of 10 embankment materials specified by the Utah Department of Transportation using both standard-size and large-scale equipment.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver developed a low-cost, scalable solution for real-time monitoring of roadway conditions, reducing traditional inspection costs from $429 per mile to near zero by utilizing GPS and smartphone sensors in vehicles.
Research at the University of Colorado Denver found that paratransit trips experience more inefficient travel times than an equivalent car trip. Paratransit is assumed to be an effective door-to-door service that enables people with disabilities to travel easily. However, when using the standard benchmark of car travel as a comparison, the research shows that paratransit often fails those with disabilities.
Wes Marshall, CTIPS director for the University of Colorado Denver, continues to garner press attention for his 2024 book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies our Transportation System. Marshall was recently interviewed by Flora Lichtman for Science Friday, a program that airs on more than 500 public radio stations across the United States. Marshall’s interview aired April 18.
The University of North Dakota steel bridge team recently qualified for the Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals to be held May 30-31 at Iowa State University in Ames. The team is advised by Sattar Dorafshan, CTIPS director for UND.
Arman Malekloo, a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, has been named a 2025 Lifesavers Traffic Safety Scholar, one of only 29 students across the United States selected through a competitive application process. The honor gave him the opportunity to attend the Lifesavers Conference on Roadway Safety in Long Beach, California.
In this newsletter you will find a follow up to the article in the last issue on the bills before the N.D. Legislature geared toward impaired driving and traffic safety, along with related issues. In addition to two articles on judicial wellness, the usual crash statistics, case law, resources, and training sections are also included.
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors are critical for autonomous vehicles that require unparalleled depth sensing. However, traditional LiDAR designs face significant challenges, including high costs and bulky configurations, limiting scalability and mass-market adoption.
New high-resolution computational fluid dynamics simulations are providing insights into the tremendous forces that cause semi-trucks and other high-profile vehicles to topple during high-wind events.
Asphalt paving safety generally includes three major areas. These areas are general heavy equipment precautions, precautions for paving operations, and treatment in the case of an accident or emergency.
Research at Colorado State University shows that action-conveying and emotionally motivated signs are more effective at influencing pedestrian safety and decision-making at railroad crossings.
Researchers at North Dakota State University improved commercial vehicle weight monitoring accuracy by more than 90% by combining traditional weigh-in-motion systems with machine learning techniques and advanced sensor data to integrate information on temperature fluctuations, pavement surface conditions, and vehicle dynamics.
Researchers at Colorado State University have developed an automated pothole detection tool, which combines visible and thermal images to reliably identify potholes under various conditions, particularly in regions with challenging weather.
Researchers at Colorado State University studied various approaches to eco-driving in connected autonomous vehicles to learn how best to evaluate the methods for energy economy. Eco-driving is a strategy designed to reduce fuel consumption by minimizing accelerations and unnecessary braking events.
Bridges are an integral and important part of road networks, but monitoring their condition using traditional methods is expensive, dangerous, and laborious. This study examines the rapidly emerging field of drone-based transportation asset monitoring, focusing on analyzing the cost efficiency and effectiveness of drone applications in bridge condition monitoring.
Research at South Dakota State University shows that plastic from used water bottles can be turned into microfibers and used to improve the performance of asphalt.
Good housekeeping is an effective way to eliminate potential hazards in the workplace. Good housekeeping practices involve material management and storage throughout your entire workplace. It also includes a material flow plan to ensure minimal handling.
Brady Haussler, NDDOT engineer and supervisor of UGPTI’s Department of Transportation Support Center recently received the Young Engineer of the Year Award from Chapter 4 of the N.D. Society of Professional Engineers. The Award recognizes outstanding educational and engineering achievements & professional, technical, civic and humanitarian activities.
The exponential growth of patent datasets poses a significant challenge in filtering relevant documents for research and innovation. Traditional semantic search methods based on keywords often fail to capture the complexity and variability in multidisciplinary terminology, leading to inefficiencies.
Cybersecurity challenges are increasing in the rail industry because of constant technological evolution that includes the Internet of Things, blockchains, automation, and artificial intelligence. Consequently, many railroads and supply chain stakeholders have implemented strategies and practices to address these challenges. However, the pace of cybersecurity implementation in the railroad industry is slow even as cyberthreats escalate. This study uniquely integrates bibliometric analysis with a systematic literature review to provide a holistic view of cybersecurity trends in rail freight.
Research at Utah State University suggests that travelers who adjust their travel behavior in response to area-wide pollution do so as a "risk averse" reaction rather than for "altruistic" reasons.
In this issue of the newsletter you will find an article about the current North
Dakota Legislative Session; an article on changes to the Impaired Driving Task Force, and an article on the best quotes, ideas and snippets from the 2024 newsletter volumes. The usual crash statistics, case law, resources, and training sections are also included.
With pedestrian injuries and fatalities increasing, researchers at Utah State University studied pedestrian and traffic behavior near transit stops to develop recommendations for locating, designing, and operating transit stops to improve both pedestrian safety and traffic operations at signalized intersections.
An uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV)-based system developed by researchers at Colorado State University is a step toward a cost-saving system that is more efficient and reliable for vibrations of bridges and other structures that are key indicators of structural health.
