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Project Highlights
Wyoming Research Helps Counties Determine if Roads are Legally Established
With MPC support, the University of Wyoming is helping Wyoming county officials determine if rural roads were legally established. By one estimate, Wyoming county road and bridge supervisors know only 30 percent of the time whether rural roads were legally established. Addressing that question requires that two issues be addressed: First, when and how was the road established? Second, what were the legal requirements for establishing a county road at the time and were those procedures followed?
The University of Wyoming received research funding from MPC and the Wyoming Department of Transportation to explore those issues. This project provides information to all county road programs on how to legally establish a county road in Wyoming and also how the laws have changed over the years. The history of Wyoming laws is important for Wyoming counties because the roads that were established in past years must have been created according to the laws in that year or they were not legally established.
The research was completed by Stacey Obrecht, a UW law student with an interest in rural transportation issues. She collaborated with UW College of Law professor, Alan Romero and T2/LTAP Director Khaled Ksaibati. She conducted research on the designation and development of county roads in Wyoming during the 20th century. As part of this research, UW distributed a statewide survey and received excellent feedback from all counties. In addition, UW updated and distributed a report entitled "Important Wyoming State Statutes Relating to County Highways." The report is available online at the T2/LTAP Center's website: www.eng.uwyo.edu
Half of the funding for the project was provided by the Local Government Coordinator Office of the Wyoming Department of Transportation. In addition, this project has received support from the University of Wyoming College of Law.
Workshops on the topic were held Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2 in Douglas, Riverton and Rock Springs.
Asset Management for Local Agencies
The Wyoming T2 Center, in cooperation with the Local Government office of the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the MPC, recently initiated an effort to provide assistance to several counties experiencing considerable impacts from drilling activities, particularly coal bed methane drilling.
This three-year project will develop an asset management program that would quantify the damage being done by the influx of drilling traffic, as heavy trucks associated with the drilling are damaging many of the county roads in the state. The Wyoming counties of Johnson, Sheridan and Carbon are cooperating in the project.
The program is a GIS-based system that stores information about county road networks. Road surface conditions are kept for one mile segments of all roads maintained by the counties. In addition, the organizations inventoried and evaluated signs, culverts, cattleguards, approaches, and bridges.
The GIS software allows the organizations to plot various features of the road network. By comparing conditions and maintenance expenses on roads carrying drilling traffic with other roads, the damage done to county roads will be quantified.
Beyond evaluating the effects of drilling activities, the system provides the counties with a system similar to those developed for asphalt and concrete roads. These systems allow managers to predict the overall road network condition at various funding levels. A related project developing performance curves for gravel roads will provide the models needed for these predictions.
Simple applications might include generating a map identifying all the culverts that need to be cleaned; mapping all the 36-inch stop signs; or providing a count of 16-foot cattleguards with timber bases. More sophisticated analyses will allow for better decision making, such as evaluating the initial cost of higher quality gravel compared to the long-term costs of maintaining gravel roads built with lower quality gravel.
Data is collected by teams driving county roads with a laptop computer and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. The teams generate maps of the county roads. In subsequent years the condition of one-mile segments will be entered into the GIS database.
For example, gravel roads are rated for their overall condition, top width, crown slope, loose aggregate, potholes, gravel quality and sufficiency, washboards, rutting, drainage and dust. In addition, digital photos are taken at each segment and of each feature. With this information, county employees are provided with a comprehensive and flexible view of their county road network.
Some findings of this project will be presented at the Transportation Research Board Meeting (TRB) early in 2007. At the conclusion of this pilot study, the University of Wyoming will work with WYDOT to transfer the knowledge learned from this project to other interested counties.
TLN addresses DOT training needs
The MPC and the Transportation Learning Network are launching a four-state initiative to provide technical training to department of transportation professionals.
Gary Berreth and Julie Rodriguez have met with an executive advisory group from the departments of transportation in North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming to identify training needs and challenges. A report outlining strategies for addressing those needs is expected to be complete by the end of 2006.
"We've already received indications from the DOTs that they want to proceed to the next level, to determine common training needs and find ways to cooperate in innovative and more cost effective ways of meeting those needs," Berreth says.
In the beginning, that may involve looking at training in each state to determine if it can be offered via video network or the Internet to other states. The Transportation Learning Network is already tailoring it's offerings to meet needs identified by the DOTs. A series of concrete seminars has been launched and several technical presentations have been offered.
Universities within the Mountain-Plains Consortium — NDSU, Colorado State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Utah, and the University of Wyoming — have agreed to provide additional content.
"As new training delivery technologies become available, we'll be looking at those as well," Rodriguez notes. For example, training may be offered via Internet video or as downloadable lessons that could be replayed on an iPod or computer.
"Our goal is to help the DOTs address training needs in that environment in a way that meets the needs of their staffs efficiently and effectively," Rodriguez says.
Small Urban and Rural Transportation Operations Coalition
The Advanced Traffic Analysis Center launched the Small Urban and Rural Transportation Operations Coalition to focus on the transportation operation needs of rural and small communities.
This initiative aims at identifying high priority small urban and rural area traffic operations needs, learning from and applying successful and tested practices, developing a resource for technical information and training opportunities, and providing a forum for professionals to network and share information. The initiative, with support from the Federal Highway Administration and the Mountain-Plains Consortium, was embraced as part of the National Transportation Operations Coalition.
Key transportation organizations participating on the coalition subcommittee include: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, American Public Works Association, Federal Highway Administration, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Intelligent Transportation Society of America, National Association of County Engineers, National Association of Development Organizations, and National Association of Regional Councils. Find more information at www.surtoc.org
North Front Range Summit Identifies Transportation Priorities
The North Front Range Transportation Choices Summit held June 13 in Windsor, CO, was a regional gathering to help identify priorities for the future transportation system of the region.
Participants at the summit explored a number of choices including regional bus and rail transit service, arterial and highway widenings, interchange improvements, connections between cities and activity areas, bicycle and pedestrian mobility, system maintenance, and others. The event was designed to create a stronger understanding of regional transportation trends and funding realities; explore preferences for future transportation improvements for the region; and learn how people from the region weigh choices associated with transportation planning.
The more than 200 attendees at the summit included representatives from the business community, environmental groups, local governments, elected officials and residents from the region. Participants were divided among 27 tables to represent all parts of the region and diverse perspectives. Each group was given $1.3 billion in resources to negotiate, spend and build their future transportation vision for the region. The activity opened a dialog among participants and was a consensus approach to regional transportation planning.
"We are still reaping the benefits of the event," noted John Daggett, regional multi-modal planning manager for the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. "It appears that the region now has the political will to pursue a regional transportation authority that will begin to address many of the transportation problems we've been facing for the past several decades."
Those challenges include rapid population growth, increased trips and travel times, increased inter-regional travel, and resulting congestion. A regional transportation authority would build on the summit's initial work to establish priorities and find resources to address the region's transportation issues.
The MPC and Colorado State University were among the sponsors of the summit. "Thanks to our sponsors, the event became a huge success," Daggett said.
