Katie Johnson

The March/April 2023 issue of Innovator, the bimonthly newsletter of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), recognized the efforts of a number of No Boundaries member states.

To demonstrate the power of using data to improve safety, FHWA has developed case studies featuring 20 different states. Among these are South Carolina and Indiana DOTs, which have leveraged data to identify crash-prone roadways in need of improvement as well as appropriate solutions for making these areas safer. South Carolina DOT was also recognized for its innovative use of asphalt overlays to reduce hydroplaning on high-traffic roads.

The newsletter also featured the State Transportation Innovation Councils (STIC) of Ohio and Idaho for building relationships to address challenges. Ohio’s STIC has worked to diversify its membership and revise its project selection process as part of a larger program overhaul, while, Idaho’s STIC has created a workforce development program to attract and prepare workers for jobs in transportation.

Finally, Colorado DOT’s use of concrete overlays on interstates and rural roadways was noted as a cost-effective solution to increase pavement life.

Sign up to get the next issue of Innovator delivered to your inbox.

Image source: FHWA

If you attended the Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC) Virtual Summit in February, you no doubt learned about Ohio DOT’s massive LED highway lighting conversion project.

By the end of this summer, Ohio DOT will replace all of the high-pressure sodium lightbulbs along the state’s highways – more than 19,000 bulbs – with more efficient LED alternatives. The results will be better roadway illumination for greater safety and less maintenance, with a long-term savings projection of nearly $27 million.

Learn more about Ohio’s project.

Image source: Ohio Department of Transportation

To help Midwestern state departments of transportation (DOTs) understand how and where to share their research results for maximum effect, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) launched Project 20-44(28), which identified several high-impact research projects and innovative strategies to disseminate the research and findings.

The project produced four short videos highlighting recently completed state DOT research with high potential for implementation across the region:

• Michigan DOT – Making Ultra High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) Affordable for All
• Iowa DOT – Extending the Life of Iowa’s Low-Volume State Roads
• Missouri DOT – Applying State-Specific Safety Data to Roadway Designs
• Ohio DOT – Streamlining Ohio’s Sustainable Channel Maintenance Practices

These videos, each running 3 to 5 minutes, feature interviews with investigators and state DOT staff and highlight how the research results will improve DOT operations and improve the transportation system for all users.

Two of these projects will also be featured in upcoming webinars that will allow stakeholders to learn about research findings and technology transfer channels in greater depth.

• Michigan DOT’s UHPC project will be featured on March 27, 2023, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
• Ohio’s sustainable channel maintenance practices project will be featured on March 29, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern.

To attend either of these webinars, please email Chris Kline at chris.kline@ctcandassociates.com for a Zoom link.

Though moving slowly, an active landslide near Branson, Missouri presents an ongoing maintenance challenge to the four-lane highway nearby. To assess the land’s movement and predict future road maintenance needs, the Missouri Department of Transportation initiated a research project to use modern technology to monitor the slope’s movement.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles and LiDAR to measure the terrain’s surface, and several high-tech instruments to better understand conditions below ground, the agency was able to identify patterns in the movement that can be used to develop near- and long-term mitigation solutions.

Read the two-page brief: Landslide Monitoring Methods: Application of Existing Technologies to Long-Term and Real-Time Monitoring of Slope Movements, February 2023

Image source: Missouri Department of Transportation

 

 

When it comes to preserving and extending the life of asphalt pavements, maintenance managers have a variety of surface treatment options to choose from. But as each treatment comes with different benefits and costs, choosing the most cost-effective option can be challenging.

To help inform and simplify the decision-making process for its maintenance managers, the Arizona Department of Transportation developed an analytical framework to identify a range of pavement performance indicators and appropriate short-, medium- and long-term treatment solutions.

Read the two-page brief: Evaluating the Performance of Pavement Surface Treatments on Arizona Highways, December 2022

Image source: Arizona Department of Transportation