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October 2007
Federal UPA grant to fund ITS Institute research
Minnesota has been awarded $133.3 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) program for strategies to reduce traffic congestion in the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities metro is one of five communities nationwide to receive UPA designation and resources.
Craig Shankwitz
A coalition led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Council applied for the UPA funding in April 2007. CTS hosted two workshops that allowed stakeholders to provide input for Minnesota’s UPA proposal. Mn/DOT state traffic engineer Bernie Arseneau presented the draft proposal in Chicago at the Transportation Research Board summer conference in July.
As part of the funding, the Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system between downtown Minneapolis and Lakeville will be built ahead of schedule. The system uses technology developed and tested by researchers in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute at CTS. The UPA grant provides funds for additional research and deployment.
The technology, which helps bus drivers navigate narrow freeway shoulders used as part of a BRT system, is the product of the Institute’s Intelligent Vehicles (IV) Lab, led by Craig Shankwitz. His team worked with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority last year to deploy the technology on one of its buses, with a goal of field-testing a small fleet of instrumented buses on the Cedar Avenue corridor.
Another improvement eligible for the UPA funding is the addition of priced dynamic shoulder lanes, similar to the I-394 MnPASS lane, on I-35W from 46th Street to downtown Minneapolis. The University’s State and Local Policy Program, led by Lee Munnich, completed a study of the I-394 MnPASS lane in 2006 that included education, outreach, and evaluation efforts. The project, sponsored by Mn/DOT and involving a range of partners, received the 2007 CTS Research Partnership Award. Current University research is exploring ways of increasing access and throughput on I-394 as well as improving transit advantages in the corridor.