Featured Studies

Access Across America

Aerial view of office buildings and roads

Access Across America, a study by David Levinson, the R.P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation Engineering at the University of Minnesota, goes beyond congestion rankings to focus on accessibility: a measure that examines both land use and the transportation system. The study is the first systematic comparison of trends in accessibility to jobs by car within the U.S.

Truck Parking Availability Study: Demonstration Project

This project targets the development of an automated truck stop management system that can determine the number of occupied parking spaces at Minnesota Department of Transportation safety rest areas and commercial truck stops. The system uses a network of cameras to monitor parking availability at truck stops, automatically identifying available spaces in real time and notifying drivers and carriers about parking availability.

Sustainable Regional Development

Patterns of growth and development impact our environmental, social, economic and cultural quality of life. In order to take steps toward sustainable development that will have a positive impact on these effects, the research team worked with The McKnight Foundation to assess and finalize a set of sustainability principles.

Value Capture

Large public investments in state transportation infrastructure–such as new freeway interchanges, highways, or transit stations–can increase the value of adjacent private land, sometimes substantially. Capturing the value of this benefit through various tools is gaining interest as a finance mechanism for infrastructure investments. In this study, a team of researchers examined the policy implications of value capture.

35W Bridge

The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River on August 1, 2007, resulted in a tragic loss of life and a major disruption of the Twin Cities' transportation system. Following the collapse, University of Minnesota researchers initiated several lines of research aimed at investigating the failure of the original bridge, analyzing the effects of the collapse on the rest of the traffic network, and developing enhanced sensor systems to monitor the health of the new I-35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge.

Transitway Impacts

The Transitway Impacts Research Program answers questions about the economic, travel, and community impacts of transitway corridors in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The program was launched in 2006 by the Hennepin County-University of Minnesota partnership and has grown to include a mix of funding partners and program supporters.

Rural Intersections

Intersections account for more than two million crashes in the United States every year; over 20 percent of fatal crashes are intersection-related. In rural areas, crashes are often more severe than in urban areas because of higher vehicle speeds and longer emergency response times. By combining traffic monitoring, data processing, and human factors engineering, researchers at the ITS Institute are working to reduce collisions at rural intersections.