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© 2025 Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute is a research and education center at North Dakota State University.
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MPC |
| Title: | Road Dust Suppression: Effect on Maintenance, Stability, Safety and the Environment |
| Principal Investigators: | Thomas G. Sanders |
| University: | Colorado State University |
| Status: | Completed |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Project #: | MPC-176 |
This research project will be a joint cooperative effort with the Larimer County Road and Bridge division and Roadbind America Inc. Several one-mile sections of dirt roads in Larimer County will be used as test and control sections of the research. One or more test sections will be treated with chemical road dust suppressants and the other will remain untreated. More than one road dust suppressant beside Roadbind America Inc.'s lignosulfanate suppressant may be tested if other venders are found who are willing to participate in the research. The county will provide all the labor and equipment for the preparation of the test sections and Roadbind American Inc. will provide the dust suppressant. The Colorado State University Dustometer, developed in previous research supported by the Mountain-Plains Consortium, will be used to quantify the amounts of dust released into the air from all the test and control sections. Measurements of drivability will be defined and measured (examples of drivability are breaking distance and vibrations). A record of all accidents on the roads will be kept during the research duration. In addition, Larimer County records will be investigated to see if there is relationship of the number of accidents (and fatalities) and the type of road treatment (or lack thereof) on the dirt roads. More than one county in the State may be investigated if better records are available.
