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This study describes a portion of grain production and movement patterns in Minnesota. A related study, "Where Does Minnesota's Grain Crop Go?" uses grain elevator survey data to detail the movement levels and destinations of grain and oilseeds that are grown in Minnesota. In this project, researchers identified 1999 grain and oilseed production levels, livestock populations in individual counties of the state, and required amounts of feed for the livestock populations. From this analysis, they determined net feed grain surpluses and deficits. They calculated the net movement of all grain after local feeding and processing activities to track the impacts on Minnesota roads. The report includes tables that describe the consumption of feed grains and soybean meal by livestock in each county and maps that show the levels of production, surplus/deficit levels by county, and net movement of grains and oilseeds.

A new road user charge system based on an actual miles traveled basis, or vehicle miles of travel (VMT), is recommended to replace motor fuel taxes, which are in jeopardy due to new vehicle propulsion technologies. This charge would provide a means for crediting states or sub-state jurisdictions for the miles of travel occurring within their boundaries by collecting data from vehicles equipped with intelligent vehicle and GPS technologies. Researchers conclude that a convenient and flexible road user charge system can be designed which will ensure a stable source of revenue for the highway system.

Minnesota state and local roads generate 52 billion vehicle miles of travel (VMT) annually at a cost of $2.6 billion. Spending averages 5 cents per VMT statewide, but travel on local government roads, especially low volume networks, costs more. State road aid reduces the local tax effort significantly in most high cost areas. State and local road funding is supported primarily with motor fuels excise taxes, vehicle registration and sales taxes, local property taxes, and state property tax relief. The average Minnesota household pays about $600 annually for roads, but this estimate varies widely with household characteristics. Substituting travel-dependent taxes for fixed or hidden charges could improve the tax system efficiency, and potentially distribute the road tax burden more fairly. Compared to current law, even radical tax reform may not change the road tax bill for some households.

Highway capital is a major component of public capital, both in terms of impact on productivity and magnitude of expenditures. The role of highway capital seems especially important in Minnesota, because the per capita investment in streets and highways is significantly higher than the national average. Compared to the national average, per capita spending on construction and maintenance was 58% higher in Minnesota from 1992 to 1996. This study focuses on the benefits of highway capital, especially through its effects on the productivity of Minnesota firms but also on through the benefits Minnesota consumers receive because of increased accessibility. Traditional methods of assessing the significance of investments in roads examine the costs or the use of roads, and not the benefits derived from them. Measures of costs include the size of construction and maintenance expenditure or the cost of replacing roads. Measures of use include vehicle-miles traveled or ton-miles of freight hauled. Quantifying the economic benefits derived from roads is more difficult because benefits must be inferred from macroeconomic effects or choices made by individual firms.

The future adequacy of Minnesota road funding is evaluated in a 27-year forecast of current law road taxes (motor vehicle registration tax, motor vehicle sales tax, and motor fuels excise tax). Revenue projections are compared with inflation-adjusted base costs in three economic growth scenarios (Trend, Optimistic, and Pessimistic), using two price deflators (core-CPI and state/local government costs). The Trend scenario predicts road tax revenues will lose purchasing power to inflation by 2020, but over the forecast period cumulative revenues and costs nearly balance out. According to this scenario, current tax policy can support 2003 service levels into the future, but not fund system improvements. The Optimistic scenario forecasts a surplus in purchasing power in all 27 years, providing the opportunity for significant new spending without changing current law. Under the Pessimistic scenario, tax revenues fall short of inflationary costs by 2012, with the annual loss in purchasing power reaching $1 billion by 2030. In this scenario, road tax policy changes are needed to avert significant declines in road service.

Over the past few decades, the national industry has seen the number of farms decrease with a simultaneous increase in the average farm size. With larger farms and continuously improving farming techniques, the need to increase production and efficiency has affected equipment carrying capacity and completely changed the tools being used. During select seasons, it is common to have single -axle loads on secondary roads and bridges that exceed normal load limits (typical examples are grain carts and manure wagons). Even though these load levels occur only during a short period of time of the year (fall for grain carts and spring for manure wagons), there is concern that they can do significant damage to pavements and bridges. Currently, the only limitation placed upon farm implements is a metric based upon the load per unit width of tire. This metric does not appear to be consistent with the metrics commonly used during design of infrastructure. The objective of the work presented in this report was to perform a synthesis study related to the impacts of heavy agriculture vehicles on Minnesota pavements and bridges and to identify those impacts. The synthesis and associated analyses were completed using metrics that are consistent with engineering design and evaluation concepts. The conclusion of this study validates the years of close observation of highway and bridge engineers that the heavy agricultural loads can cause potential problems in terms of both safety to the traveling public and added costs to the maintenance of the local system of highway infrastructure.

Across the state of Minnesota, asphalt roads under the jurisdiction of counties, cities and townships have been controlled by restrictions that limit the total weight of each truck that uses those roads during the spring thaw period. During this time, the pavement weakens and the bearing capacity of the roadway is reduced. These policies vary from county to county and from road to road, depending on the capacity of the roads - typically, 5, 7 and 9 tons. While spring load restrictions serve to extend the useful life of the road, they also add significant burdens to truckers who are forced to re-route their vehicles and/or increase the number of trips in order to adhere to the policies. This study assesses the economic impact of lifting all vehicle restrictions during the spring thaw period. Economic benefits of lifting the bans include reduced cost to carriers; potential cost includes reduced pavement life. Their research concludes that if the policy is changed, the costs of additional damage could be recovered from those who use the roads. Recovering those costs could take the form of annual fees, appropriate fuel taxes and/or user charges paid by vehicle operators.

The review of any bid depends on the reliability of the estimate it is being compared to, making estimates an essential element in the project approval process. Thus, departments of transportation (DOT) should put great effort in the estimates' preparation as under-estimating can lead to project delays, while over-estimating leads to inefficient use of funds. Since delivering more lump sum projects is an Engineering Services Division strategic initiative in MnDOT and since lump sum items are often more difficult to price, it becomes important to develop an effective practice for consistent cost estimating. Risk-based estimating combines both risk management and traditional cost estimating to develop an estimate that includes the risk in the project's cost (Anderson et al. 2007). Risk-based estimating thus serves as an excellent estimating technique that generates reliable estimates. The objective of this research is to: Conduct literature review of risk-based estimating. Conduct state-of-practice review of risk-based estimating used by DOTs and other construction organizations. Based on the state-of-practice and literature review conducted, give recommendations on how these practices can be incorporated into MnDOTs business practice. The recommendations reached through this research are anticipated to help the MnDOT estimating team get a better understanding of risk-based estimating, and how it could be employed in the MnDOT estimation process.

This project examines the link between accumulated transportation capital stocks in Minnesota counties and their annual property tax revenues using longitudinal data in the 1995-2011 period. We separated the effects of two different transportation capital stocks, one associated with load roads and the other with trunk highways. In addition, we considered not only the internal effect of transportation investments within a county, but also the spillover effect due to transportation investments made in neighboring counties. Estimations from panel-data regressions show that local-road capital stocks within a county have a positive effect on its property tax revenues, with an elasticity of 0.093, but much of the benefits may be the outcome of a zero-sum game due to inter-local competition of property tax bases. Trunk-highway capital stocks within a county also show a positive effect, with an elasticity of 0.013. The spillover effect of trunk-highway development is even higher: The average level of trunk-highway capital stocks in neighboring counties has a positive elasticity of 0.030 on a county's property tax revenues. Applying the estimations to the county data in FY2010, we calculated the ROI (return of investment) of additional transportation investments on property tax bases. The average ROI on the growth of EMV (Estimated Market values) within a county is about 1.254 for local roads, and about 0.871 for trunk highways. The regional impact would be reduced for local roads due to the inter-local competition, but significantly amplified for trunk highways due to spillover benefits.

The rolling resistance, contact forces and fuel consumption of a heavy duty truck were computed as a function of pavement type. Measurements were conducted at the Mainline MnROAD test track near Albertville, Minnesota and at two highway sections with distressed pavements. Test procedure consisted of driving the instrumented MnROAD heavy-duty truck on the selected pavement sections while recording signals from the chassis-mounted accelerometers, differential GPS, and the Controller Area Network. The truck was driven at cruise speeds of 55 and 64 MPH on roads with live traffic and at cruise speeds from 30 to 65 MPH on the Mainline. In addition, weather data from two MnROAD stations, wind velocity from two ultrasonic anemometers, road elevation, and IRI were collected during the tests. Data were analyzed with a novel and comprehensive mechanistic model of vehicle dynamics. Dynamical rolling resistance and its contribution to fuel consumption was estimated from the spectra analysis of accelerometers signals. The coefficient of rolling resistance of the truck tires varied from 0.0044 to 0.0072 on the Mainline cells. Fuel consumed by the rolling resistance force at 30 MPH varied between 0.006 liter and 0.009 liter per cell, for an average consumption of 5 liter/100 km. Rolling resistance was 0.0072 on bituminous TH 66 and 0.0061 on concrete TH 10 sections. Spectral analysis of accelerometer data revealed vibrational modes unique to either bituminous or concrete pavements. The power loss caused by the vibrations of suspensions and tires was also computed.