Cities

Appendix B pertains to TRS 1207, Collecting and Managing Traffic Data on Local Roads. It contains survey responses for the Greater Minnesota supplemental survey.

Appendix A pertains to TRS 1207, Collecting and Managing Traffic Data on Local Roads. It contains survey responses for the Initial Survey of Statewide Participants in MnDOT's Traffic Data Collection Program.

A study of traffic and parking in Albert Lea, Minnesota, presented to the city council for the purpose of urban planning.

This Technical Summary pertains to report 2020-25, Techno-Economic Analysis of Implementing Hybrid Electric Utility Vehicles in Municipal Fleets.

This Technical Summary pertains to report 2020-22, How Do Complete Streets Matter for Communities? The Case of Richfield, Minnesota.

The purpose of this Transportation Research Synthesis (TRS) is to provide an overview about the use of recycled materials in the base layers of pavements, and the design of these layers when using recycled materials. While the primary focus is on local streets and county roads, attention was also given to pavements constructed by state highway agencies.

The Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) is interested in increasing the awareness of cities and counties as to the importance of asset management and providing guidance to them about best practices for developing asset management plans, systems and software. The purpose of this Transportation Research Synthesis was to support this effort by conducting a literature review, consulting with national practitioners and interviewing representatives at local agencies about their practices.

This report examines traffic counting practices on local roads from five perspectives: 1. Current MnDOT traffic counting practices; 2. Traffic counting technologies appropriate for temporary deployment; 3. Literature review of traffic counting practices on local roads; 4. Surveys of statewide participants in MnDOT's traffic data collection program (initial and supplemental surveys); and 5. Survey of state DOTs' local road traffic data collection practices.

The purpose of this research was to establish the scope of social media use by local governments for transportation purposes throughout the state of Minnesota.

This research quantified fuel economy improvements by implementing hybrid electric utility vehicles in municipal fleets. The research team analyzed utility vehicle data and built computer vehicle simulations of utility trucks with three powertrain types: conventional; charge sustaining hybrid; and charge depleting hybrid plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV). Driving cycles were recorded from three vehicle groups; ¾-ton pickup trucks; ½-ton pickup trucks; and SUVs using portable onboard diagnostics loggers. Collected data were used in vehicle simulations to determine the fuel economy improvement possible when implementing hybrid powertrain architectures in municipal fleets. The magnitude of benefits from implementing hybrid vehicles was highly dependent on driving cycles and the electric motor/battery combination of the PHEV. The highest kinetic intensity (KI) values; representing urban driving; were found to lead to the greatest fuel economy improvements for hybrid vehicles over conventionally powered vehicles. The results depended heavily on the electric motor/battery combination; with the higher battery capacity plug-in hybrid vehicles yielding the highest levels of fuel economy improvement. It is recommended that fleets consider driving cycle as the primary factor for determining the economic benefits of purchasing alternative powertrain vehicles. Hybrid vehicles should be placed on routes that are more urban; while rural/highway routes would be better served by conventionally powered vehicles. Idling time was also calculated for all the drive cycles and needs to be separately accounted for when analyzing driving cycle data. Idling for over 50% of the driving cycle can lead to about a 10% reduction in fuel economy based on the modeling conducted for ¾ ton pickup trucks in this study. The research team further recommends that aggressive driving be reduced as it will negate the fuel economy advantages possible from hybrid powertrain architectures.