Programs

CTS and Joint CTS Programs

Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute

Housed within CTS, the ITS Institute is a federally funded University Transportation Center (UTC). The Institute's mission is "To enhance the safety and mobility of road and transit-based transportation through a focus on human-centered technology."

Minnesota Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)

Administered by CTS, Minnesota LTAP provides critical training, information, and technical assistance for Minnesota's local transportation agencies.

Airport Technical Assistance Program (AirTAP)

Similar in mission to LTAP, AirTAP provides training and technical assistance to Minnesota airport operators and aviation personnel.

Access to Destinations Study

This study improves our understanding of travel on freeways, arterials, and other roadways and of travel by non-auto modes; develop measures of accessibility using travel and land use data, resulting in a series of maps and documents that present accessibility measures by mode for each destination activity; and assess how our existing transportation and land use system meets alternative policy goals.

Center for Excellence in Rural Safety

The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety, established by the 2005 federal transportation act, is a joint program between the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Center for Transportation Studies, and sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, to facilitate citizen-centered research, training, and outreach activities related to rural transportation safety. The Center’s research activities explore policy, behavior, and technology innovations through projects addressing safety-conscious planning, ITS and rural emergency response, integrated policy approaches, and related human factors, societal trends, and stakeholder needs analysis.

Transitway Impacts Research Program

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.

Security in Transportation Technology Research and Applications (SECTTRA)

The Security in Transportation Technology Research and Applications (SECTTRA) program is a joint effort of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota. SECTTRA works collaboratively with University of Minnesota researchers and other research programs including the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute and the public-private Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSR-RC) to support the development and application of advanced technologies to improve transportation security.

Moving Communities Forward (AIA Study on Design of Transportation Projects)

In 2006, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected CTS to conduct a pioneering research study examining the benefits that well-designed transportation projects bring to communities. Funding for the study was derived from a grant to the AIA from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), authorized by Congress in the 2005 transportation bill. This study explores the benefits of well-designed transportation projects in the areas of promoting economic development; protecting public health, safety, and the environment; and enhancing aesthetic, architectural, and cultural qualities and improving community planning.

Minnesota Traffic Observatory

The Minnesota Traffic Observatory (MTO) is the University’s next-generation traffic laboratory. The vision of the MTO is to become an internationally recognized leader in traffic science and engineering through advanced knowledge and understanding of traffic phenomena. The mission of the MTO is to be a unique resource to public, private, and academic stakeholders in the transportation community in the following research applications:

Traffic Flow Modeling/Simulation
Traffic Operations and Management
Special Event/Evacuation
Transportation Network Modeling
Travel Behavior Modeling
Safety Analysis

Intelligent Vehicles Program

The IV Program's engineering and computer science professionals work closely with an interdisciplinary team of specialists, including cognitive psychologists specializing in human factors and experts in visibility, geospatial databases, road-weather and other traveler information systems, virtual environments, image processing, and traffic-signal operations.

HumanFIRST Program (Human Factors Interdisciplinary Research in Simulation and Transportation)

HumanFIRST brings together a core staff of cognitive psychologists with a broader network of transportation researchers, focusing on innovative interventions to improve transportation safety based on a scientific understanding of driver performance and cognitive functions. The program houses VESTR, a state-of-the-art immersive driver simulation system.

Toward Zero Deaths

Toward Zero Deaths is a multi-agency partnership that includes representatives from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota State Patrol, Federal Highway Administration, and the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota. The program's goal is to raise awareness of traffic safety issues and to develop tools that can be used to reduce the number of deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents in Minnesota.

Transportation Engineering and Road Research Alliance (TERRA)

TERRA is a research governance structure formed in 2004 to foster a comprehensive road research program. TERRA brings together government, industry, and academia in a dynamic partnership to advance innovations in road engineering and construction. TERRA's partnering efforts reach beyond Minnesota to include transportation organizations in other states and in Europe.

Transportation & Regional Growth Study

Coordinated by CTS in cooperation with state and regional organizations, the TRG study was an effort to better understand the linkages between land use, community development, and transportation in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

CTS Affiliated Programs

State and Local Policy Program

A highly visible regional policy resource drawing on University faculty from a variety of specialties, with a major focus on transportation policy. Housed within the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, SLPP works with individuals and institutions from government, business, academia, labor, and nonprofits to develop improved public policy, particularly in the Upper Midwest.

Northland Advanced Transportation Systems Research Laboratories (NATSRL)

Located on the University's Duluth campus and funded in part by the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, NATSRL collaborates with Mn/DOT District 1 to carry out research on a wide range of topics including transportation for small urban centers, winter transportation issues, visual and electronic sensors, transportation data management, and inventory management of transportation infrastructure.

Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA)

An applied research and technology center that connects faculty and students with nonprofit organizations, ethnic and racial minority groups, businesses, rural towns, inner-city neighborhoods, suburban communities, local governments, and public agencies in Minnesota.

Active Communities/Transportation (ACT) Research Group

Faculty, researchers, and students conducting research on policies governing land use and transportation, and exploring programs relating to "active" transportation (such as bicycling and walking) and "active" communities. Specific research areas include household location choice, travel patterns, and planning for active modes of transportation.

Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems (NeXus)

The group is engaged in a number of projects understanding the inter-relationship of People, Places, and the evolving Social and Physical Networks that connect them. The research conducted by the group uses a variety of techniques, including agent-based modeling, database, game theory, GIS, and advanced survey and statistical techniques.

Multi-Axial Subassemblage Testing System (MAST) Lab

Created by the Civil Engineering department through a National Science Foundation grant, the MAST Lab is a next-generation structural testing facility designed to test large structures such as bridge components under static load conditions. Operational in October 2004.

Center for Diesel Research

Established in 1996 by the Mechanical Engineering department, the Center specializes in the characterization of exhaust emissions, emission controls, alternative fuels, certification of on- and off-highway engines, and control technology.

Metropolitan Design Center

An endowed center within the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture that investigates how design can be used to make the metropolitan landscape more livable and sustainable.

Center for Distributed Robotics

Operating within the Computer Science, the CDR's work with CTS focuses on distributed sensor systems and small autonomous vehicles for traffic system monitoring.

Center for Supply Chain Research

A collaborative effort by faculty from Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, Economics, Computer Science, and Mathematics. Research focuses on modeling, design and optimization of the processes through which goods and services are created and distributed.

Safety Security and Rescue Research Center

This NSF I/UCRC is focused on the emerging field of Safety, Security, and Rescue Research, which includes a variety of topics in homeland security and emergency preparedness and response. As a true cooperative venture, university researchers, member company executives, and invited public safety officials play a role in the selection of research projects the Center pursues. In fact, it is the Industrial Advisory Board that allocates funding for specific projects.

Erosion/Sediment Management and Control Program

The Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Minnesota in partnership with Mn/DOT offers this program to ensure compliance with erosion and sediment control provisions on Mn/DOT projects and to provide comprehensive training of inspectors, project managers, contractors, and designers.

Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power

The vision of the NSF Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power is to create new fluid power technology that is compact and efficient, leading to major fuel savings and new technology applications. The University of Minnesota is the program's headquarters. The other core universities participating in the center include the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Purdue University of West Lafayette, Indiana, and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Outreach universities and organizations are the Milwaukee School of Engineering, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, the National Fluid Power Association, Science Museum of Minnesota, and Project Lead the Way.