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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 (Phase 2) |
| Principal Investigators: | Thomas G. Sanders |
| University: | Colorado State University |
| Status: | Completed |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Project #: | MPC-197 |
This research project is a joint cooperative venture with the Larimer County Road and Bridge Division, Roadbind America, Inc., and other dust suppressant venders. The research will be conducted on ten, half-mile sections of road in Larimer County. There are two types of roadbed gravel being investigated, 2.5 miles of each and five different treatments. The treatments are magnesium Chloride, Lignon Sulfanate, a mixture of 50 percent Lignon Sulfanate and 50 percent Magnesium Chloride, a mixture of a Pennzoil and Lignon Sulfanate and a mixture of gravels while the Pennzoil mixes will be applied on only one gravel type. The remaining one-half mile section of each gravel type will be a control, receiving no applications of dust suppressants. The county will provide all the labor and equipment for the preparation of the test sections and the vendors will provide the dust suppressant. The Colorado State University Dustometer, developed in previous research supported by the MPC, 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 braking distance and vibrations). A record of all accidents on the roads will be kept for the duration of the research. In addition, Larimer County records will be investigated to see if there is a relationship between 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.
