Utah’s Innovative Saddle Lift Allows for Easier and Faster Roadway Sign Repairs February 1, 2022 - Maintenance crews with the Utah Department of Transportation needed a better way to repair damaged signs mounted on the median barrier of multi-lane highways. To reach the signs and supply the necessary leverage, workers often needed to use a crane and close a lane of traffic – a time-consuming, costly and potentially hazardous routine task.
The saddle lift makes the entire job easier, safer and less disruptive to traffic. Developed at a UDOT maintenance facility, the tool can be transported by a light-duty vehicle and temporarily affixed alongside the damaged sign. Using cables to connect the sign’s post to the winch on the maintenance vehicle, crews can hoist the sign upright from the service lane, without the need for heavy equipment or lane closures.
Watch UDOT’s “Innovation Station” video featuring the saddle lift.
Tennessee Streamlines Processes for Assessing Bridge Decks Using Ground Penetrating Radar January 25, 2022 - Ground penetrating radar (GPR) offers a noninvasive method for inspecting and detecting deterioration in concrete bridge decks.
To make the process faster and more efficient, Tennessee DOT developed new data collection and processing tools that increase automation. These resources use GPR scans to generate color-coded maps, allowing inspectors to visualize areas in need of further investigation.
Read the report: Concrete Bridge Deck Deterioration Assessment Using Ground Penetrating Radar, May 2021
Webinar to Discuss Benefits and Requirements of Native Roadside Plants January 18, 2022 - Planting prairie strips, or native perennials, along a field’s borders is an age-old strategy used by farmers to naturally reduce erosion. When planted along roadways, prairie strips may provide similar environmental benefits by increasing the stability of the soil, reducing runoff and pollution, and establishing habitats for pollinators.
A new three-part webinar series will explore what it takes to establish and maintain prairie strips to maximize their potential, including how to properly prepare a site, seed prairie strips and manage the plants over time.
The entire series is free to attend, with sessions on different aspects of prairie strips to be held on February 8, 15 and 22 from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. Central. The webinar is presented by Sand County Foundation, a nonprofit private land conservation organization.
Learn more and register.
Utah Advances Strategies to Reduce Highway Litter January 11, 2022 - Each year in the United State, thousands of vehicle crashes are caused by roadway debris.
To better understand the causes and potential solutions of this pervasive problem, Utah DOT conducted an assessment of the current litter-mitigation strategies across the state. In addition to identifying the major contributors of highway litter, the effort produced a list of recommendations to track, enhance and enforce Utah’s existing litter-reduction tactics.
Read the report: Highway Litter Mitigation: Executive Report, September 2021
No Boundaries Members’ Innovations Make National News January 6, 2022 - The January/February 2022 issue of Innovator, the Federal Highway Administration’s bimonthly newsletter, features the success stories of several No Boundaries member states.
Michigan’s State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) was one of two to recently win a 2021 STIC Excellence Award for its “strong leadership, involvement by diverse groups, innovation in performance tracking, and promotion of innovation implementation.” Among Michigan’s many exciting initiatives is the MDOT Innovations dashboard. This public-facing tool shares details about new materials, methods and technologies being explored within the agency and features an interactive map showing where the innovations have been deployed across the state.
In addition, Texas, California and Colorado were each recognized for their highway construction workforce partnerships. These joint collaborations, which can include stakeholders from state and local agencies and private industries, aim to tackle the workforce shortage in new and innovative ways.
Sign up to get the next issue of Innovator delivered to your inbox.
Texas Uses Lidar to Adjust Seal Coat Applications December 29, 2021 - Recognizing pavement conditions and making real-time adjustments to seal coat shot rates helps transportation agencies get the most out of their preservation treatments.
To aid engineers in the field, Texas DOT developed an automated process that uses lidar data to assess changing pavement conditions and make informed and cost-effective decisions regarding application rates.
Read the report: Seal Coat Binder Rate Adjustments Using LiDAR Data, June 2021.
Training Materials Help Agencies Comply with New Federal Regulations December 16, 2021 - A recently enacted federal rule requires all organizations that provide entry-level commercial driver’s license (CDL) training to meet certain requirements by February 7, 2022.
To help transportation agencies comply, the Clear Roads pooled fund has developed free, downloadable CDL training materials for both instructor-led classroom and behind-the-wheel training.
Learn more and request the training materials from Clear Roads.
Webinar to Explore Performance Management Impacts of Federal Infrastructure Law December 9, 2021 - Wondering how the newly enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will affect your agency’s transportation performance management (TPM) processes?
Bring your questions and join panelists from the FHWA, AASHTO and state transportation agencies for a live discussion, “The IIJA and TPM: A Dialogue,” scheduled for Wednesday, December 15 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Central.
The program will offer perspectives on the key issues presented by the $550 billion measure, as well as an open question-and-answer session to allow attendees to ask questions and share insights. The webinar is free to attend.
Leveraging Crowdsourced Images to Identify Pavement Distresses December 2, 2021 - Detecting road damage quickly is key to identifying top needs and allocating appropriate funding. However, manual pavement inspections can be time consuming and still yield incomplete results.
Research by the Safe-D University Transportation Center explored the feasibility of applying advanced computing techniques to more than 6,000 images taken by cameras mounted to vehicle dashboards, or dashcams, to recognize pavement distresses. By comparing the results with data collected manually at the same locations, researchers learned which types of distresses can be found reliably from dashcams, as well as possible avenues to improve accuracy.
Read the research brief: Detecting Pavement Distresses Using Crowdsourced Dashcam Camera Images, May 2021.
New Build a Better Mousetrap Booklet Highlights Fresh Innovations November 23, 2021 - The Federal Highway Administration's Build a Better Mousetrap program is an annual competition that challenges local and tribal transportation agencies to solve everyday problems.
The newly published 2021 booklet spotlights clever innovations that improve safety, save time and money, and increase efficiency for local communities nationwide.
Download the 2021 booklet and learn new ways to address old problems.
Image source: FHWA