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The traveling public increasingly relies on navigation systems, either as part of their vehicles or through their handheld phones or mobile devices. Currently there is not a consistent system, tool, or process being used by cities and counties in Minnesota to report road or bridge closures that local transportation agencies can use to display to the traveling public or provide to third-party mapping/navigation companies (e.g., Waze, TomTom, HERE Technologies, Google, Apple) so that these companies can display the information to the public. To move toward an approach for reporting road and bridge closures by local counties and cities, the Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) initiated this project, Using Apps to Notify the Public of Local Road and Bridge Closures. The objectives of this project were to identify and describe an approach the Minnesota LRRB could use to implement a user-friendly road closure reporting system and develop a guide on how local agencies could currently report closures to third-party mapping and navigation companies.

This Federally-funded study aimed to identify and document advanced tools which have potential to be utilized for transportation technology transfer (T2) in Minnesota With.in the study, the existing and future needs for T2 in the state were considered. Profiles were then developed of the customer groups that T2 activities are targeted toward. Guided by this information, a series of advanced tools for T2 in transportation were identified and documented. The study concentrated on tools that had not yet been utilized for T2 in Minnesota, though they may be in use at other locations or within other domains. It was determined that various technologies exist or are in development which could be used for T2. Using the findings of the study, it is recommended that outreach activities involving Minnesota's T2 stakeholders be undertaken to determine the most appropriate tools for local use, and to plan for pilot testing of one or more of these tools. Although the study concentrated on the Minnesota T2 programs, it is hoped that the findings will be applicable to other areas with similar T2 needs and activities.