Each January, thousands of scientists, researchers and other professionals from around the world attend the Transportation Research Board (TRB)’s annual meeting to learn and share cutting-edge practices and developments in transportation-related research.  
 
As an active leader and frequent participant in TRB activities, Iowa DOT will send staff members to the 2023 TRB meeting to give presentations and represent the state at the national level.   
 
This year, Iowa DOT staff will lead discussions on enterprise data life-cycle management, asset life cycles, big data for pavements, and staged bridge construction, in addition to attending a variety of panel presentations and conducting committee work. 
 
Involvement in transportation research at the national level ensures our state has a voice in national transportation discussions. Learn more about how Iowa’s long-standing partnership with TRB helps Iowans across the state.

Held every year in January, the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is always a major event in the transportation research community, routinely attracting thousands of scientists, researchers, and other professionals from across the country and around the globe. 

This year’s event, like so many others recently, will be held virtually. And while the business meetings and technical programs that comprise TRB’s 2021 Annual Meeting may be conducted a bit differently as a result, the ability to attend without traveling and incurring related expenses will mean an increase in the number of participating agencies and volume of shared expertise. 

Iowa DOT is a frequent participant and presenter at TRB’s annual meetings, contributing to the event’s valuable information exchange. Thirty-seven Iowa DOT staff members currently serve on 75 TRB committees, meaning Iowa holds a pivotal role in the national transportation scene. 

This year will be no exception, as Iowa DOT staff will lead presentations on innovative bridge design and construction projects and winter maintenance technologies, in addition to participating in several panels discussions and conducting committee work.

Involvement in transportation research at the national level helps Iowa stay abreast of cutting-edge developments and ensures our state has a voice in national transportation discussions.  

Iowa DOT staff who don’t typically attend the TRB Annual Meeting are encouraged to take advantage of this year’s unique online format. There is no charge for Iowa DOT employees to attend the TRB annual meeting, which runs throughout January, but advanced registration is required. 

Learn more about how Iowa will contribute to the 2021 TRB meeting later this month and how Iowa works with TRB.

Two ground-breaking projects championed by Iowa DOT were recently selected for awards from the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). 

Research on the Remote Controlled Hydrographic Survey System (pictured) was completed in fall of 2019.

For this project, researchers equipped a remote-controlled boat with data collection equipment to allow engineers to quickly and safely survey Iowa bridges.  

In the past, divers might have to inspect underwater bridge elements, or field staff would have to squeeze into hard-to-reach places or wade into fast-moving water.

But the comparatively small boat, which cost about $50,000 to develop, has GPS, a compass, and sonar, and can enter tight spaces with ease—meaning engineers will have more data without ever having to get into the water.

The project earned Iowa DOT an AASHTO 2020 Sweet Sixteen award, an honor selected by Midwestern state DOT research directors who deemed this project to be of exceptionally high value. 

In addition, an AASHTO 2020 Supplemental Award for Maintenance went to Iowa DOT for its Snowplow Optimization project, which increased snowplow route efficiency, saving both time and material costs.  

Iowa DOT was honored with both awards at the RAC annual summer meeting in July 2020.

Each January, Iowa DOT staff travel to the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting in Washington D.C., to share ideas and research results and learn from others in the international transportation community.    

Learn more about Iowa’s work at the 2024 TRB meeting in our new interactive Storymap.

Low-volume roads are an integral part of Iowa’s transportation network. For decades, the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) has advanced research to build and maintain these roads for optimal performance. 

The national Transportation Research Board (TRB) is bringing the 13th International Conference on Low Volume Roads to Cedar Rapids, to be held from July 23-26, 2023. IHRB is partnering with TRB and the Iowa County Engineer’s Association (ICEA) to support this great conference. 

This conference, which is held every four years, brings together hundreds of researchers and practitioners from more than 20 countries around the world. These experts will share and discuss new technologies and techniques related to planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and administration of low-volume roads. 

The agenda includes full- and mini-workshops, a site visit, lightning poster sessions, and speaker presentations. The event is typically attended by 200 to 300 practitioners and researchers from more than 20 countries.  

Early-bird registration for this conference will end on March 23.  Visit the conference website for additional details. 

Don’t forget to sign up for the “Iowa Night” event being hosted by ICEA. Visit the affiliated Offsite Events page for information on how to register. 

Iowa DOT is part of a National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project identifying high-impact communications strategies for research conducted by Midwestern state DOTs.  

Iowa’s project Holding Strategies for Low Volume State Routes rose up as one example of valuable research with potential for wide dissemination and tech transfer. 

The two-phase Iowa DOT research project evaluated the effectiveness and costs of a variety of pavement preservation techniques, giving Iowa’s engineers better decision-making power when it comes to making the state’s asphalt roads last longer with available funds. 

To help spread the word about these research findings and impacts, the NCHRP effort included the creation of a short video featuring Iowa’s research project. You can view it on the Iowa DOT Research YouTube channel. 

Learn more about NCHRP Project 20-44(28), and check out what else Iowa DOT is working on at the Ideas site. 

Each year, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) honors the best transportation research projects from each of its four regions with a prestigious High Value Research award.  

As members of Region 3, Iowa and eight other states – Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin – will face off for 2022 awards. The projects Iowa has submitted for consideration this year are:
 

• Self-Heating Electrically Conductive Concrete Demonstration Project (E-Con). This project represents the largest-to-date field study of electrically conductive heated concrete, using electrodes embedded in the concrete to melt snow and ice on the surface. The results could one day be used to target ice-prone areas like bridge decks without repeated salting.

• Bio-Based Polymers for Use in Asphalt - Phase II. In phase I of this study, researchers developed renewable materials from vegetable and soybean oil that can replace the dangerous binding material traditionally used in asphalt paving mixtures. In phase II, researchers built a pilot facility capable of producing enough biopolymers to support field demonstration projects that showcase the materials’ performance and cost-effectiveness.

• Economic Impacts of Atmospheric Rivers in the Transportation Sector: Methodology and Case Studies. As lead state of the Aurora Pooled Fund, Iowa and other state DOTs worked together to learn more about atmospheric rivers, their role in producing extreme weather and effects on transportation systems.

• Investigation of Autonomous/Connected Vehicles in Work Zones. This research, produced by the Iowa-led Smart Work Zone Deployment Initiative (SWZDI), used simulations to explore how driverless vehicles programmed to follow a lead vehicle could interact with surrounding traffic around work zones, where speed reductions and lane changes are common.

 
After reviewing all of the Region 3 submissions, AASHTO’s Research Advisory Committee will choose the winning projects to be recognized at the committee’s summer meeting in July. Winners will also participate in a poster session dedicated to high-value research projects at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC in January 2023.

Each year, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) honors the best transportation research projects from each of its four regions with a prestigious High Value Research award.   
 
This year, Iowa’s largest-to-date field study of electrically conductive heated concrete was selected for the award by the agency’s eight peers in AASHTO Region 3: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 

The research evaluated the performance of concrete heated with embedded electrodes – constructed in the parking lot at Iowa DOT’s headquarters in Ames – over the course of three years. The concrete, which can melt snow and ice without the use of deicers, could one day be a sustainable option for icy trouble spots like sidewalks that are not easily cleared during winter storms.     
 
Iowa is no stranger to the High Value Research award, having earned eight of these awards since 2013, including one just last year for its research into corn-based deicers as an alternative to traditional chloride- and acetate-based solutions for keeping snow and ice from forming on the state’s roadways.  
 
AASHTO’s Research Advisory Committee will recognize all 2022 winners during its summer meeting in July. Winners will also participate in a poster session dedicated to high-value research projects at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC in January 2023.

Each year, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) honors the best transportation research projects with High Value Research (HVR) awards. Supplemental HVR Awards are also given for research conducted on topics of special interest. 

This year, Iowa’s efforts to train and improve computer models to predict where salt or other treatments should be applied during winter weather to make roads safer was selected for the supplemental award by the agency’s eight peers in AASHTO Region 3: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Like other states, Iowa uses a mix of stationary and mobile sensors along the state’s highways to measure road friction and guide its winter maintenance activities. This research used friction models to accurately estimate where treatments are needed even in locations of the state where sensors aren’t available.  
  
This award marks the 13th HVR award (including supplemental HVR awards) that Iowa DOT Research has earned in the last 10 years.    
  
AASHTO’s Research Advisory Committee will recognize all 2023 winners during its summer meeting in July. Winners will also participate in a poster session dedicated to high-value research projects at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC in January 2024.

Iowa DOT Research’s innovative use of crowdsourced data to detect and respond to highway incidents was recognized in the May/June 2023 issue of Innovator, the Federal Highway Administration’s bimonthly newsletter. 
 
Through partnerships with high-tech companies like Waze, Iowa DOT is able to access to travel-related data that can indicate real-time changes in estimated travel times. While members of the public often use the free navigational app to avoid slow-downs, Iowa DOT can use the data to identify where crashes, heavy traffic and adverse weather are occurring and respond quickly. Thanks to this partnership, emergency response times have increased to save lives and make travel safer for everyone.  
 
Learn more about how Iowa DOT’s partnership with Waze can benefit all road users.  

Iowa DOT Research’s innovative use of virtual reality to increase community engagement was recognized in the March/April issue of Innovator, the Federal Highway Administration’s bimonthly newsletter.

Public engagement is essential to developing transportation projects that reflect the needs and interests of the local community. Traditionally, details about a project’s scope and shape are communicated through maps and artists’ renderings – 2D visuals that don’t always evoke excitement or interaction among community members. To increase participation and help members of the community become more actively engaged in the project development process, Iowa DOT Research partnered with researchers from Iowa State University to create a one-of-a-kind, virtual reality demonstration – a 3D, immersive experience of the I-74 Mississippi River Bridge replacement project. By providing users with the ability to explore the bridge and surrounding areas virtually, the technology helped to showcase project details, increase public engagement and generate valuable feedback. 

The success has inspired Iowa DOT to consider using virtual reality for a variety of interactive and educational demonstrations in the future, such as driving near work zones or flooded roadways and passing bicycles safely.

Learn more about how Iowa DOT is using virtual reality to increase safety and enhance community engagement in the new issue of Innovator.

Since early 2019, Iowa DOT has led a research-focused committee made up of state departments of transportation (DOTs) from around the Midwest. 

The nine states—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin—represent Region 3 of the Research Advisory Committee (RAC), just one of many committees within the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

Under Iowa’s leadership, the committee has identified previously unexplored opportunities for collaboration, including Region 3 peer exchanges and an innovative regional technology transfer program designed to help DOTs share research successes and avoid duplication.

Learn more about Iowa DOT’s involvement with RAC Region 3.

Iowa DOT has partnered for decades with the national Transportation Research Board (TRB), a nonprofit and nonpartisan group dedicated to advancing transportation research.  

Working together provides a variety of mutual benefits: As a leader in transportation research, Iowa DOT shares its research results with other professionals around the country and helps shape transportation research at the national level.

In exchange, Iowa DOT can access TRB’s deep well of shared knowledge and apply it to projects and programs at home in Iowa. 

Learn more about Iowa DOT’s partnership with TRB.

Culverts serve an important role in keeping water off a roadway and are often buried under or alongside a road. 

A variety of considerations go into designing the right culvert for its location and role in the broader transportation system.  

In Iowa, culverts are typically buried 5 to 10 feet under roadways. Some road projects, however, require burying culverts 20 to 35 feet beneath the surface to divert water. 

As soil characteristics and properties vary significantly across the state, the amount of weight of that a culvert must be able to support also varies. 

To better understand the complexities in determining earth pressure on a culvert, the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) conducted a research project to monitor two newly constructed culverts over several seasons. 

The results will help engineers across the state continue to design culverts that perform well for years to come.   

Learn more about this project in Iowa DOT’s new research brief, and check out other Iowa DOT research efforts on the News & Publications page.

Each year, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) honors the best transportation research projects from each of its four regions with a prestigious High Value Research (HVR) award.  

As a member of Region 3, Iowa competes with eight other Midwestern states – Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. After winning 13 HVR awards, (including supplemental HVR awards) in the last 11 years, Iowa is looking to do it again in 2024.   
 
The projects Iowa has submitted for consideration this year are:
 

• Advanced Testing and Characterization of Iowa Soils and Geomaterials. The strength and durability of a pavement’s foundational layers are critical to a road's long-term performance. However, the standard tests that have traditionally been used to assess the characteristics of subgrade materials are not always sufficient for Iowa’s aggregates and soils. This study applied advanced testing methods to produce results that more accurately reflect field conditions.
   
• Evaluation of Otta Seal Surfacing for Low-Volume Roads in Iowa: Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation and Characterization and Full-Scale Field Implementation. In a previous project, Iowa DOT constructed a low-volume road using Otta seal technology to evaluate its potential. This study evaluated the road’s performance and developed specifications for using Otta seal methods on Iowa’s roads in the future.
   
• Modernizing Utility Infrastructure Management: Early Identification and Location of Utility Facilities. As communities grow and become more connected, an increasing amount of utility infrastructure is placed below ground in the public right of way. To better manage these public spaces and improve safety and connectivity for everyone, Iowa DOT collaborated with a variety of public and private stakeholders to develop a database of these unseen pipes and cables and guidance for sharing and maintaining location information.
   
• Actionable Flood Warnings based on Ground-truth Data to Support Iowa DOT BridgeWatch Platform Functionality. With an accurate flood warning, Iowa DOT can take steps to protect the state’s bridges and minimize travel disruptions. However, many of the state’s flood-prone bridges are located outside of the current forecasting network. This research assessed Iowa’s current floodplain maps and developed a long-term plan for extending the forecasting technology to include all of the state’s at-risk bridges.

After reviewing all of the projects submitted by the Region 3 states, AASHTO’s Research Advisory Committee will recognize the winners at the committee’s summer meeting in July. The winning states will also participate in a poster session dedicated to high-value research projects at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC in January 2025.

Learn more about the HVR Awards Iowa has won over the years. 

Each year, Operation Safe Driver Week reminds us of the importance of safe driving practices.

Taking place this week, from July 9-15, the annual event aims to reduce crashes and save lives.

Road safety is a cause that’s near and dear to Iowa DOT Research. Through the Partnership for the Transformation of Traffic Safety Culture pooled fund, we’ve combined resources with 13 other similarly motivated state transportation agencies to find, fund and implement innovative strategies that increase safety for all road users.

By working together, the pooled fund has accomplished way more than an individual agency could on its own limited budget. From investigating the effects of cannabis use on driver behavior to identifying ways to reduce drivers’ cell phone use, the pooled fund has advanced the state of knowledge on dozens of road safety topics.

Learn more about Iowa DOT’s involvement with pooled funds and how it helps the agency make the most of every research investment. </p>

National Aviation Day, which takes place every year on August 19 in honor of Orville Wright’s birthday, celebrates the advancement of mechanical flight. 

Aviation has come a long way since the early flying machines; today, unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, represent the latest in aviation technology. At Iowa DOT Research, we’re exploring how we can use UAS technology to improve safety and mobility for the people of Iowa. 

One of our current research projects explores how routine environmental assessments could be conducted using drones outfitted with special cameras and other equipment. These assessments, which evaluate the impact of potential construction on a natural area, are typically done manually and require significant time in the field. By using UAS to scan the area from the air, the job could be done faster with less cost. 

It’s likely beyond what the Wright Brothers had dreamed, but thanks to National Aviation Day we have an annual reminder of where we started and how far we’ve come.  

Each January, thousands of scientists, researchers and other professionals attend the Transportation Research Board (TRB)’s annual meeting to learn and share cutting-edge practices and developments in transportation-related research. 

As an active leader and frequent participant in TRB activities, Iowa DOT will send staff members to the 2022 TRB meeting to give presentations and represent the state at the national level.  

This year, Iowa DOT staff will lead discussions on innovative bridge preservation techniques, asset management practices, and pavement technologies, in addition to attending a variety of panel presentations and conducting committee work.

Involvement in transportation research at the national level ensures our state has a voice in national transportation discussions. Learn more about how Iowa’s long-standing partnership with TRB helps Iowans across the state.

July was a busy month for Iowa to share the advancements it’s made in transportation research with peers from other states and around the world! 

From July 23-26, the Iowa Highway Research Board and Iowa County Engineer’s Association hosted the 13th International Conference on Low Volume Roads. 

The event only happens every four years, and this year’s conference in Cedar Rapids brought hundreds of attendees from more than 20 countries to exchange strategies and new technologies to address the challenges of planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining unpaved roads.  

It also offered an exciting opportunity for Iowa to demonstrate its innovations and state-of-the-art practices during a half-day tour of low-volume roads and the Sutliff Bridge in Johnson County.  

During that same week, from July 23-28, representatives from Iowa DOT Research and peers from other state transportation research programs gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Research Advisory Committee (RAC) annual meeting.  

This national event offers a forum for states to discuss cutting-edge ideas and innovations in transportation research. The AASHTO RAC meeting is also where states’ research efforts are recognized and honored; Iowa DOT shared details of its project to train and improve computer models to predict where deicers should applied during winter storms, which was selected for one of AASHTO’s prestigious 2023 Supplemental High Value Research Award.   

This award marks the 13th HVR award (including supplemental HVR awards) that Iowa DOT Research has earned in the last 10 years.     

Since our fall research cycle opened on November 1, Iowa DOT has received 8 exciting new ideas (and counting)! 

These submissions offer innovative approaches and potential solutions to a variety of challenges related to all aspects of transportation in our state: design, construction, materials, operations, maintenance, safety, the environment, and more.

You can read more about all of the recently submitted ideas on Iowa DOT’s new Research Ideas website.  

Then, share your feedback to help these ideas become even better and to improve their chances of being selected for further development. 

And if you’re inspired, submit your own idea by February 28, 2021 to have it considered as part of the fall 2020 cycle.