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Minnesota LTAP Web site: resource pages, redesign

Minnesota LTAP has added more resources to its Web site and reorganized it to improve usability.

The Technical Topics page lists topics ranging from bike paths to work zones. Two new topics were recently added: pavements and vegetation management. Clicking on one of the topics takes you to a listing of selected resources about that subject. Resources may include publications and Web sites, videos, and training, plus links to pre-defined searches in TRIS Online and TLCat.

The left column of the home page shows recent entries in the LTAP blog. The blog (short for “Web log”) lets you see what’s new from LTAP or your peers, ask a question, or share a tip.

The Design Tools page includes selected design tools from the Mn/DOT State Aid for Local Transportation Division, the Minnesota Local Road Research Board, and Minnesota LTAP.

The search page lets you search LTAP & TTAP Centers, University transportation centers, state DOTs, and transit agencies.

Please take a look and let us know if you have any comments about the site or ideas for how we can make it even stronger to meet your needs.

Gravel Road Maintenance toolkit

Minnesota LTAP's gravel road toolkit is now available for download. Gravel Road Maintenance: Meeting the Challenge provides instruction on proper gravel road maintenance techniques, either as a stand-alone tutorial or as an instructor’s tool to introduce the topics. The toolkit consists of a six-part DVD and two PDF instructional resources.

Subsurface drainage manual for pavements

A new manual created by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering will help maintenance agencies select the right subsurface drainage treatments for their particular needs. The research was sponsored by the Minnesota Local Road Research Board and the Minnesota Department of Transportatio

The manual—Subsurface Drainage Manual for Pavements in Minnesota (Mn/DOT 2009-17)—collects and synthesizes information from many sources. It includes an overview of subsurface drainage structures as well as guidelines for selecting, designing, constructing, and maintaining drainage structures. Additional appendices provide recommended procedures, design plans, charts and tables, and additional examples. The information is intended to address pavement types and situations commonly found in Minnesota.

Storm water maintenance BMP resource guide

The use of storm water treatment strategies, often referred to as Best Management Practices (BMPs), has increased significantly due to new storm water regulations. The Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) Research Implementation Committee has created a resource guide to help local government agencies with their BMP inspection and maintenance activities. City staff and policymakers can use the guide to evaluate various BMPs based on anticipated long-term maintenance requirements.

The Stormwater Maintenance BMP Resource Guide (2009RIC12) focuses primarily on BMPs that have been heavily used in Minnesota and concludes with a brief section covering BMPs that are newer to Minnesota and have been less commonly used to date.

Cost analysis of alternative culvert installation practices

A report released this summer by Mn/DOT summarizes statewide fish passage concerns related to culvert road crossings on public waters and compares costs between conventional and alternative culvert designs.

Various factors associated with conventional culvert design can cause difficulties for migrating fish and affect their genetic diversity and long-term survival. Conventional culvert design has traditionally been based on hydraulic conveyance, safety, and cost. Alternative designs provide unimpeded passage of aquatic life, reduce maintenance costs, and improve erosion control. Currently, some of these new designs are being implemented in Minnesota.

The report— Cost Analysis of Alternative Culvert Installation Practices in Minnesota (Mn/DOT 2009-20)—addresses concerns about costs associated with these alternative designs as well as whether they are really needed at some road crossings.

Warm-mix asphalt educational module

The National Asphalt Pavement Association has developed a free interactive Web-based educational module providing an overview of warm-mix asphalt technologies. Types of technologies, benefits, and potential challenges in use are covered. This on-demand program takes about 15 minutes to review. It is available at http://store.hotmix.org/index.php?productID=694.

Guide to concrete overlays

The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University has developed a Guide to Concrete Overlay Solutions to help designers and agencies with their concrete overlays. This guide was developed with oversight and support from the concrete paving industry, state DOTs, and FHWA.

A quick check of your highway network

A newly updated brochure available from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Center for Pavement Preservation, A Quick Check of Your Highway Network Health (Pub. No. FHWA-IF-07-006), provides a tool for highway agency managers to assess the needs of their pavement networks and determine if their resource allocations are adequate. The updated brochure includes "A Quick Highway Network Evaluation Worksheet," which is a detachable worksheet that agencies can use to perform a pavement network evaluation.

Alkali-silica reaction reference center

The FHWA alkali-silica reaction (ASR) site provides users with one-stop access to ASR-related information. The site features an overview of ASR as well as research reports, specifications, guidance documents, case studies, and links to other useful Web sites.

Guide to prefabricated bridge elements and systems

The FHWA's Connection Details for Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems manual (Pub. No. FHWA-IF-09-010) provides transportation agencies, contractors, and consultants with information on the state of the practice for accelerated bridge construction across the country. The manual features 150 connection details from a range of accelerated bridge construction projects.

Information on prefabricated bridge elements and systems is also available at www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/accelerated/index.cfm and on FHWA's Highways for LIFE Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl.

Enhanced version of SafeRoadMaps.org

The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) at the University of Minnesota has launched an enhanced version of SafeRoadMaps.org to help drivers identify the most dangerous portions of upcoming trips.

The online service flags the nation’s Top 100 “Hot Zones,” the rural areas that have experienced the most fatalities over the past five years. The hot zones are presented in a Google Maps-based format, where viewers can zoom from a national map showing all 100 zones down to a photo of each individual section of the road.

SafeRoadMaps.org, unveiled in July 2008, is a powerful and visually innovative crash-mapping tool that maps out every roadway fatality in the nation to the local level. Site visitors need only enter a zip code, municipality name, or street address to immediately see a map or satellite image of all the road fatalities that have occurred in the chosen area over the past five years. Details about each crash are also available, such as whether the driver was wearing a seat belt, drinking, or speeding. In addition, the tool notes which life-saving public policies, such as strong seat belt laws, are being employed in the chosen area.

'On a Crash Course'  report

The impact of the physical condition of U.S. roadways on traffic safety is the topic of a report from the Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation. To view the report, visit the Transportation Construction Coalition Web site. The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) includes 28 national associations and labor unions with a direct market interest in the federal transportation programs. It is co-chaired by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America.

Among the study’s key findings:

• Roadway condition is a contributing factor in more than half—52.7 percent—of the nearly 42,000 American deaths resulting from motor vehicle crashes each year and 38 percent of the non-fatal injuries.
• Motor vehicle crashes in which roadway condition is a contributing factor cost the U.S. economy more than $217 billion each year.

Shoulder width, median width, and guardrails

The Transportation Research Boards's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued two safety-related reports.

Report 633: Impact of Shoulder Width and Median Width on Safety explores crash prediction models and accident modification factors for shoulder width and median width on rural four-lane roads.

Report 638: Guidelines for Guardrail Implementation explores guidance on selecting the appropriate barrier performance level for the installation of longitudinal barriers.

Software for road safety audits

Road safety audit (RSA) software is available for download from the Federal Highway Administration at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsa/software. The software helps users draft RSA reports, record safety issues, and verify issues and locations entered. It also can be used in RSA training. The software supports the practical implementation of the FHWA RSA Guidelines.

Value capture for transportation finance

The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released research findings on the use of “value capture” for financing transportation projects. Value capture is a type of infrastructure financing in which increases in private land values generated by public investment are in part “captured” through a variety of approaches to help pay for infrastructure projects.

The study identified eight policies that can be classified as value-capture strategies: land value tax, tax increment financing, special assessments, transportation utility fees, development impact fees, negotiated exactions, joint development, and air rights. Some value-capture strategies target property owners, while others target developers. The strategies differ in how, when and where they may be applied. Statutory changes would be needed to use some of them in Minnesota.

Research publications on the project, including a policy summary, report to the Minnesota Legislature, and final technical report, are available at the study site: www.cts.umn.edu/Research/ValueCapture.

Costs of rough roads

Driving on rough roads costs the average American motorist approximately $400 a year in extra vehicle operating costs, according to Rough Roads Ahead: Fix Them Now or Pay For It Later, a joint report from American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and TRIP (a national transportation research group).

The publication documents that one-third of the nation’s major highways, including interstates, freeways, and major roads, are in poor or mediocre condition, and that roads in urban areas, which carry 66 percent of the traffic, are in much worse shape. Drivers living in urban areas with populations over 250,000 are paying upwards of $750 more annually because of accelerated vehicle deterioration, increased maintenance, additional fuel consumption, and tire wear caused by poor road conditions.

LRRB, Mn/DOT resources on innovative contracting

The Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) has developed a new resource—Innovative Contracting Methods (2009RIC02)—to help local government agencies learn how to use contracting processes more cost-effectively. It provides guidance on topics including Mn/DOT’s Innovative Contracting Website, Minnesota local government experience, contracting 101, best value procurement for contractors, bidder qualification, and alternate bidding.

Previous reports—Performance Effectiveness of Design-Build, Lane Rental, and A + B Contracting Techniques (2006-09) and Best Practices for Project Construction Streamlining (2005-34)—provide information about several methods and their performance.

Also on the LRRB site is a report of research sponsored by Mn/DOT and conducted by researchers at North Dakota State University. Best-Value Based on Performance  (2008-40) is intended to help users move from contractor selection solely based on minimum qualifications and low bids to a new system of best-value based on performance. The new system rewards contractors for the quality of their work; public safety; compliance with contract requirements, business and employment requirements, and environmental requirements; and for coordination with other elements of the construction process. The report includes a manual and installation instructions for software (named MnCAST) that was developed as part of this project to ease real-life implementation.

Speeding road construction with efficient contract design

A working paper and article published by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs analyze the societal benefits of innovative contracting methods. Standard contracts do not take into account the costs to commuters of construction delays and give road construction firms little incentive to minimize delays. Methods such as lane rentals and A+B bidding offer great potential to speed highway repair and increase overall social welfare, the researchers say.

Over a long project, commuter costs from construction delays (estimated by Mn/DOT at $12 per hour) can run into the millions. By getting contractors to work more quickly, the report says, it is possible to cut overall societal costs substantially while incurring moderate additional costs to the DOT.

Performance-based contracting for maintenance

TRB's NCHRP Synthesis 389: Performance-Based Contracting for Maintenance explores experience with performance-based maintenance contracting in places where it has been adopted, including such issues as whether it has the potential to reduce costs and improve maintenance levels of service. .

Cost savings of outsourcing?

An article in the June 2009 issue of Governing magazine raises questions about the assumed cost savings of outsourcing. According to the article—“Who Should Fix the Potholes?”—audits in Texas and Kentucky found work was more expensive when it was done by contract workers.

Upcoming LTAP workshops

Snow and Ice Control Material Application (CTAP)
Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation for Local Roads
Minnesota Fall Maintenance Expo
Truck-Weight Compliance Training
Toward Zero Deaths Conference
Airport Technical Assistance Program (AirTAP)  Fall Forum
Culvert Installation and Maintenance
Freight and Logistics Symposium
Minnesota Pavement Conference
Spring Maintenance Training Expo