Institute for Transportation

About the research

The Iowa Automated Permitting System (IAPS) is an online oversize/overweight/over dimension permitting system for the motor carrier industry based on the Bentley SuperLoad® product. IAPS began production operations in December 2013. As of 2017, among the 100,000 permits issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) annually, about half of them were issued automatically. In May 2019, Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 629, an Act relating to permits for vehicles of excessive size and weight, including vehicles transporting raw forest products, and providing for fees. The Iowa Legislature requested that the Iowa DOT report on the IAPS to allow electronic processing of oversize/overweight (OS/OW) permits for non-primary roads.This includes the application, review, routing, approval, and payment(s) to the appropriate jurisdiction(s).

The Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University is tasked with preparing the report to legislature regarding implementation options of performing OS/OW permitting for local public authorities (LPA) in IAPS. The objectives of this project include:

• Review the current IAPS system capabilities
• Develop implementation options for consideration by the Iowa DOT
• Identify the barriers, possible solutions, and required resources to implement the options proposed

About the research

The Iowa Department of Transportation has received funding for an Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) project from the Federal Highway Administration to construct bridges using box beams made with ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). Through the use of this approach to accelerated bridge construction (ABC), the duration of off-site detours during the course of a project will be reduced. The reduced construction timeline is expected to translate into improved safety for the traveling public, as the shortened duration of off-site detour routes would reduce exposure and the potential for crashes to occur along those routes.

About the research

This project is part of the main Iowa Department of Transportation-sponsored project, “Iowa DOT Operations Division Cooperative Autonomous Transportation (CAT) Research Support.”

This project provides funding for CTRE support to the Iowa DOT Operations Division specific to Cooperative Automated Transportation (CAT) research, applications, data analytics, demonstrations, and discovery. This work is focused to support Iowa DOTs vision of delivering a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system by developing a supportive digitally connected driving environment.

The objective of this task is to seek out if there are existing products on the market, or products that could be modified, to automate the alerting system.

The Iowa DOT currently uses an audible warning system with their attenuator setup. However, the system must be activated manually by the attenuator driver looking in their rear-view mirror. This is a two-stage process where lights are flashed first and if the vehicle continues to approach the truck, nor change lanes, a very loud beeping sound is broadcasted.

To date, CTRE has completed a literature review of similar systems and held numerous conversations with industry. This includes sharing DOT needs and existing equipment capabilities (power, mounting, electrical, etc.) with a number of companies of which at least two were considering building or modifying a suitable device.

Depending on industry response and DOT direction, FY21 efforts could include purchase of several units for evaluation in terms of function, practicality, and costs. The DOT staff lead is Donna Matulac with support from John Hart.

About the research

This project is part of the main Iowa Department of Transportation-sponsored project, “Iowa DOT Operations Division Cooperative Autonomous Transportation (CAT) Research Support.”

This project provides funding for CTRE support to the Iowa DOT Operations Division specific to Cooperative Automated Transportation (CAT) research, applications, data analytics, demonstrations, and discovery. This work is focused to support Iowa DOTs vision of delivering a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system by developing a supportive digitally connected driving environment.

For this task, CTRE is providing pavement marking support and development of a statewide strategy consistent with other state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and national efforts to enable higher levels of autonomous driving. Pavement markings provide guidance drivers but also support Advance Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) like lane departure warning which has been estimated to potentially reduce 29% of all fatal crashes.

To date this work has consisted of developing a multi component pavement marking specification, working with DOT staff to develop drawing standards, establishing a marking approach using both wider lines, better materials, and contrast stripes for higher detection. The developmental specification has been used on a number of projects across the state.

Anticipated FY21 activities includes making refinements to the developmental specification in terms of application, materials, wet recoverable media, and grooving techniques. Working with the Pavement Marking Management team to assess and estimate the costs for the new materials across the interstate system and working with districts in using/inspecting the installation of these new materials. The DOT lead is Clayton Burke with support from John Hart.

About the research

This project is part of the main Iowa Department of Transportation-sponsored project, “Iowa DOT Operations Division Cooperative Autonomous Transportation (CAT) Research Support.”

This project provides funding for CTRE support to the Iowa DOT Operations Division specific to Cooperative Automated Transportation (CAT) research, applications, data analytics, demonstrations, and discovery. This work is focused to support Iowa DOTs vision of delivering a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system by developing a supportive digitally connected driving environment.

For this task, CTRE developed a testing procedure to be included in the material specification portion of the updated DOT arrow board specification. This includes developing a form where manufacturers identify device details for the evaluation. CTRE is currently evaluating manufacturer’s smart arrow boards and provides a report to the Iowa DOT for each evaluation.

FY21 activities are anticipated to include additional field testing of manufacturer’s devices along with some random field checks to ensure compliance. The DOT staff lead is Willy Sorenson with support from Dan Sprengeler and Adam Shell.

About the research

The early-age thermal development in mass concrete has a significant impact on the performance and long-term serviceability of mass concrete structures, such as bridge foundations. Great efforts have been made on predicting and controlling the thermal development in mass concrete. The free computer software ConcreteWorks (CW) has been developed and increasingly used for this purpose. In the recent IHRB Project TR 712 (Phase I), the CW software was modified to include features that are suitable for Iowa’s use, particularly for the prediction of the thermal behavior of mass concrete elements with a smallest dimension of 6.5 ft or less. During this Phase I study, two related research areas were identified by the research team and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for further research, and they are:

• Improving the thermal prediction for mass concrete containing slags, and
• Predicting the temperature profile of seal coat concrete slabs of bridge foundations.

About the research

During flood events, it can be difficult finding relevant hydrologic and hydraulic information for assessing the vulnerability of infrastructure. In many cases, information is not available or can be very time consuming to obtain and evaluate. Without good information regarding the hydraulic relationship between the infrastructure and flood discharges, it is difficult to be proactive with regard to the protection of lives, property and infrastructure. Too often DOTs, and other infrastructure owners, are reactive instead of proactive regarding flood events resulting in unnecessary damages and risks to public safety.

In 2008, an extreme flood event occurred along many large stream basins in the central and eastern part of Iowa, which impacted Interstate 80 and many other primary routes. During these flood events it was critical to assess and predict which highway locations had the potential for overtopping from flood waters so that safe detour routes could be identified for the traveling public. The effort to evaluate the vulnerability of the roadway to flooding required significant DOT staff time and resources to reconcile project datums and correlate hydraulic estimates to determine accurate stage vs. discharge relationships (rating curves) at specific bridge/highway locations.

The Iowa Department of Transportation was fortunate that a bridge replacement project was under construction on I-80 over the Cedar River at the time of the 2008 floods. Since the DOT had design information regarding the low roadway and detailed hydraulic data (a rating curve), the Interstate was closed before flood waters impacted the traveling public. Traffic was proactively detoured along other primary routes preventing significant traffic delays and diversion of traffic into the local roadway system. This event was the impetus for the development of an innovative Riverine Infrastructure Data Base (RIDB).

About the research

The ability to acquire and set up work zone-related devices that are in compliance with the 2012 revisions to the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) can sometimes be difficult for smaller cities. The smaller budgets for these cities can result in a lack of inventory and/or the use of signs that are in poor condition.

The goal of the project was to provide an avenue for small cities to obtain a basic package of work zone signs and personal protection vests that could help them improve the safety of their work zone setups and increase the safety of their workers and the traveling public.

About the research

Selecting the right treatment for the right pavement at the right time has been a fundamental principle to pavement preservation success. The objective of this project is to develop “Iowa’s Pavement Preservation Guide,” a document tailored to serving the needs of Iowa practitioners who have active pavement preservation programs or plan to implement a pavement preservation program.This proposal outlines a research approach based on national-best practices for pavement preservation program implementation. Many states have developed pavement preservation manuals. The research addresses six areas including: (1) project selection, (2) anticipated benefit/costs of pavement preservation treatments at the network-and project-level, (3) implementing pavement preservation into system-wide strategic planning, (4) preservation treatment considerations, (5) construction/specifications, and (6) materials training. It is important that pavement preservation guidance include project-level and system-level selection strategies project-level decisions have a network-wide impact. Practitioners who use this guidance will be able to communicate pavement preservation benefits at the project-and network-levels, identify candidate roadways for preservation treatments, and utilize the guide to enhance project delivery of pavement preservation treatments.

About the research

Snow and ice removal operations in winter road maintenance are essential for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) as well as counties and cities in Iowa to ensure the safety, mobility, and efficiency of their transportation infrastructure systems. As an innovative snow and ice removal alternative, the researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) have developed (1) new mix design and production methods of heated concrete (dubbed electrically conductive concrete [ECON], hereafter) and (2) new structural and system design approaches for a heated pavement system (HPS) using the new ECON developed. Based on successful real-world implementation of ECON HPS recently demonstrated by the ISU research team for airport pavement and roadway construction projects, the City of Iowa City has expressed strong interest to the Iowa DOT and ISU research team in implementing ECON HPS for their new bus stop stations as well as the bus stop loading area under an upcoming pedestrian crossing and bus stop enhancement project at Muscatine Avenue in the City of Iowa City. This research is proposed in response to such keen interest by the City of Iowa City. A set of proposed research tasks (to implement ECON HPS for the bus stop station application) include the development of ECON mix design and ECON HPS system design options for construction, comprehensive performance monitoring and evaluation, as well as economic analysis of the constructed full-scale ECON HPS at least over two consecutive winter cycles, and a survey and interview on the implementation of heated pavements for winter maintenance and management practices. The primary outcome of this research will be the draft of a technical guide/specification (comparable with the current Iowa DOT specifications and Iowa Statewide Urban Design and Specifications [SUDAS]) that Iowa DOT and Iowa’s counties and cities could use for future ECON HPS implementation projects under their public works departments for enhancing sustainable and resilient winter maintenance and management practices.