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November 2020

I Miss That Maybe it’s a sign of age, but I can’t help but think about "The Good Old Days." Is it the vintage red pickup on Christmas decor? Could it be my wood-hungry buddies? Vintage chainsaws are cool.  No, it’s something else.  What is that image from the past that keeps gnawing away at all of us? Quite simply, it’s February, when life was normal. I miss that.  Shaking hands, smiling without cover, talking face to face, going out with friends, sharing info at classes, traveling to county shops, taking photos of local innovations -- we miss that. Aristotle the legendary Greek philosopher said, “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual.” No one can break the shackles of mutual dependence. So the forecast that this "new normal" may extend well into 2021 is painful. Despite that pain and the accompanying changes, our current situation has brought many new opportunities. Our virtual outreach is now mainstream and is a significant improvement over the traditional conference-call interactions of the recent past. Our database of learning modules is increasing at an exciting rate. Knowledge transfer, for some topics and areas, has rapidly advanced. We are planning better, developing new work environments, and focusing on simple life and health basics. It’s been a time to be thankful for the little things. On behalf of the NDLTAP team, know that we look forward to using our new learning to improve our outreach in the future. What will it look like? That is an exciting chapter that we get to write together. We miss you!

We've moved! The UGPTI/NDLTAP team has relocated from downtown Bismarck to the second floor in the NDDOT Central Office. It’s the building just east of the Capitol. We hope that you stop by and check out our new home the next time you are in the area. When you enter the east door of the Central Office, Mandy or Gloria will greet you at the information desk, give you a visitor’s badge, and guide you to the elevator. Head to second floor and take a left out of the elevator. Our new address is 608 East Boulevard Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58505-0700

NDLTAP introduces R.E.D. Book

NDLTAP recently released the RED (Recognize, Eliminate, and Discuss Safety) Book, a new resource designed to help road workers and managers eliminate accidents and injuries. NDLTAP Road and Bridge Engineer Kelly Bengtson adapted the Minnesota publication for North Dakota workers. The R.E.D. Book program is designed to eliminate unsafe acts by requiring employees to immediately identify and discuss hazards that can hurt them. By recognizing these hazards in advance, our employees are less likely to commit unsafe acts. The R.E.D. Book was introduced in webinars and live presentations across the state in July in conjunction with Denise Brown's efforts to elevate safety this year in a "Safety Switch" push to get everyone (workers and road users) home safely every night.

NDLTAP hiring to provide enhanced outreach in ND oil counties

Two transportation experts were recently added to the NDLTAP staff to assist with local transportation planning and investments in Dunn, McKenzie, and Williams Counties and with the Mandan Hidatasa Arikara Nation. Matthew Johnson and Ed Ryen will be located in Williston and affiliated with UGPTI's ND Local Technical Assistance Program in Bismarck. The new western outreach is a NDDOT-sponsored effort with a broad range of tasks that provide a wide array of support, with the focus of providing a "seamless and coordinated service across county lines.”

Matthew Johnson is the Western ND Transportation Liaison. He has more than 26 years of experience in the transportation industry, serving as a project engineer with Wold Engineering in Bottineau. He operated his own construction engineering firm, MJ Consulting from 2018 to 2020. Johnson will help local officials plan and enhance their regional efforts and transportation investments. Some of Johnson's duties will include: ·       Advance transportation planning, project scheduling, asset management, and operations-based technology-transfer concepts in western North Dakota. ·       Coordinate initial transportation issue resolution discussions with the state, county, city, township, and/or tribal entities to determine logical resolution steps and strategies. ·       Enhance the current western ND UGPTI tribal efforts with MHA Nation.

Ed Ryen is the Western Transportation Liaison. He has more than 40 years in transportation engineering, bringing valuable knowledge in construction, bridge inspections, planning, emergency operations and highway technology. In his role he will assist in further implementation of the Wise Road Weather station and the Toward 365 project. He will also assist with project and regional planning, help with the Geographic Roadway Inventory Tool (GRIT) data entry, and share best practices with local governments in the region.

Update on UGPTI Legislative road needs study

More than 85 county and township leaders participated in a July 21 webinar to receive an update on the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's 2019‐2021 Legislative Road Needs Study. The statewide virtual meeting, "Sharing the Vision for North Dakota's Transportation System," provided an overview of the methodology and results of the study of the 20-year investment needs to maintain the unpaved and paved roads and bridges of the North Dakota county, township, and tribal road network. Researchers also described the method for submitting questions and comments on the draft report and findings. Download the presentation or view the recorded webinar from the UGPTI webpage. The draft report is also available for download. Researchers are currently updating the report based on comments so that the final draft can be ready for the upcoming legislative session.   The comment period for the current study closed on October 12, but we encourage you to continue to share roadway information. Your input allows us to better understand the local roadway network and continue to best tell your story. UGPTI researcher Al Dybing can be reached at (701) 231-5988 or [email protected]. Your comments will be helpful as the UGPTI team is currently developing the study plan for the next biennium, Team members are Alan Dybing, Brad Wentz, Dale Heglund, Kelly Bengtson, Satpal Wadwha, and Tim Horner.

Satpal is a new and valuable addition to the study team. He is UGPTI’s newest transportation analyst and is helping with regional travel demand model and freight models. He will examine transportation and land use and emerging technologies and their impacts on the transportation system. Satpal will also work on methods to enhance transportation modeling systems. He has experience in predictive analytics, optimization, agent-based modeling, and stochastic programming, with an application in the freight supply chain. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering, a master’s in business administration, and a Ph.D. in industrial and manufacturing engineering, all from NDSU. Satpal had been working as a postdoctoral researcher with UGPTI, primarily in the areas of traffic safety and agriculture.

Pending COVID-19 levels and restrictions, the NDLTAP/WDEA Western Energy Roundtable is planned for Thursday, December 17, in Halliday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. NDLTAP and WDEA have partnered to provide this unique environment for local road and industry officials to get together and better understand roadway developments and needs. We hope you can join us to learn about new roadway technologies, county road plans and oil industry updates.

LaMoure County wins innovation contest

Congratulations to Tim Geinert and the LaMoure County Highway Department as the first-place winner for the 2019 Innovation Champions Contest (previously known as You Show Us.) Their innovation, “Spring Load Arm Enhancement” for a gravel saver disc, went on to compete regionally at the Local Roads Conference in South Dakota. Competing with contest entries from four other states in the region, the "Spring Load Arm Enhancement” also took first place at the regional level.  In 2019, there were two N.D. entrants in the Innovation Champions contest. The Steele County Highway Department contest entry was the “Snow Bank Buster.” One of the competition judges commented that the uniqueness of the innovations made it difficult to select a first-place winner. Thank you LaMoure and Steele Counties for sharing your innovations so other jurisdictions may benefit from your creativity. Detailed information about these innovations, photos, detailed schematics, and videos can be found on the NDLTAP website at https://www.ndltap.org/events/showus/. If you have questions about an innovation, contact information is included in the PDF document. Submit your ideas for the 2020 Innovation Champions competition! Leanna will be happy to assist in putting your innovation on paper. Not only is this program a means to share your ideas with others so they may benefit from your concept, it is also a way to encourage team work within your department.

Training emphasizes real benefits of ADA requirements

Teaching with real-life experience, pedestrian engineering expert Ron Eck brought home that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements are more than just federal bureaucracy, but bring real benefits to those with disabilities. Eck, a professor emeritus of civil engineering at West Virginia University with more than 40 years of engineering experience, provided a three-day training for more than 50 attendees February 11-13 in Bismarck. While the event could have been laboriously long and dry, Eck’s presentation included many real-world examples and experiences to help the audience relate to the topic. Also, the class was given the opportunity to submit local examples of ADA implementation issues. The highlight of day two was the opportunity to experience what people with disabilities experience. NDLTAP director Dale Heglund constructed some real-life obstacles where students had the opportunity to sit in a wheel chair and propel themselves up and down a ramp, roll over a half-inch fault in the pavement surface, experience a side slope and different surfaces. Attendees also had an opportunity to partake in an exercise of being blindfolded and using a cane to maneuver through obstacles. The North Dakota League of Cities published a related article in the June Issue of its Cityscan Magazine (page 30) and published a reprint of a research review that Eck authored with assistance from NDLTAP.

Biggest Load Ever!

In March, the Stark County Highway Department authorized LoadPass Permits to issue permits to Mammoet USA South Inc. for two loads, each weighing nearly 1.5 million pounds. The approved routes authorized travel for three miles on county and township roads. The loads were reactors being hauled to the Marathon refinery west of Dickinson. Two self-propelled modular trailers with 56 axles and 224 tires were used to haul each reactor from the railhead to the refinery. Remote controls were used to steer the trailers. Not only were these loads excessively overweight, they were also very over dimensional. Permits were issued for up to 26’ 3” in width, 24’ in height and 210’ 4” in length. NDLTAP's truck weight expert Leanna Emmer provided an article on the big move and the permitting process for the Western Dakota Energy Association's July 24 newsletter. The WDEA also provided access to a PDF of the article with additional photos. The newsletter also highlighted UGPTI's presentation of initial results of its Road Needs Study. NDLTAP staff, along with UGPTI graphic designer Bev Trittin prepared a poster (below) on the effort. The poster was entered in a contest held in conjunction with the National LTAP Association's National (virtual) Conference in July.

Taming dust with soybean oil

NDSU developed and patented a soybean-based dust control product that is being produced by BioBlend, an Illinois-based manufacturer of biodegradable lubricants and industrial products. The product was placed on several test strip gravel road locations in the Upper Midwest including North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Thanks to NDSU researcher Jim Bahr, BioBlend sales representative Todd Allison and NDLTAP's Kelly Bengtson for helping to arrange test sites in the region. The soybean-based product is non-corrosive and can be applied with standard equipment. This product looks very promising and could be ready to roll out to the retail market in the spring of 2021! AGWEEK recently featured a test of the product in Stutsman County. Listen to Sarah Henrich's podcast of an interview with researcher Jim Bahr on the Growing Harvest Ag Network about how NDSU is looking into how soybean oil can help reduce dust on roadways.

Wise Roads project highlighted

The Wise Roads project was recently featured in the Fall 2020 Basin Bits Magazine. "The Wise Roads project (The Weather Information System to Effectively Reduce Oilfield Delays & Disruptions) will see the installation of 50 research-grade weather stations in the oil-rich Bakken region. The purpose of the project is to provide county road managers with more consistent and localized weather data that will allow them to more accurately determine when temporary weight restrictions should be imposed on gravel roads following heavy rainfall." Read the entire article beginning on page 16.

Motor Grader Operator Training While motor-grader operator training for 2020 ended for the season in September, planning for the 2021 season is already underway. Reach out to Denise at [email protected] to get on the list for this exceptional training. We can provide options to best meet your needs. Classroom-only training takes about four hours. Classroom and field training includes about three hours in the classroom and about four hours out on the road with the instructor where the operator will receive one-on-one training. We can also provide just the field training with one-on-one interaction with the instructor for the entire time. Our instructors, pictured to the left, have more than 70 years of combined experience. They will help your operators learn to work more efficiently, effectively and safely. Instructors are: Gary Steiner (top) - Burleigh County Operator. He has 25 year’s experience as a motor-grader operator with Burleigh County. Gary was also a heavy equipment operator for 10 years with the North Dakota National Guard.  Russell Klimpel (center) – Mountrail County Operator. He has nine years of experience as a motor-grader operator with Mountrail County. Russ has seven years of experience rebuilding roads in North Dakota. He also has ten years of experience building forest service roads in Montana. Russ will be a part-time instructor for NDLTAP Motor-Grader Operator Training. Randy Watson (bottom) – Mountrail County Operator. Randy has been an operator at Mountrail since 2018 and has nearly 25 years of equipment operating experience. Starting as an operator in 1996, Randy offers a broad range of equipment experience gained through work with construction companies and the U.S. Army, Roads & Ground Division. He is well versed in construction and maintenance of roads.

NDLTAP assists in hosting NDDOT Virtual Local Government Summit

NDLTAP and UGPTI assisted NDDOT in hosting a virtual Local Government Summit for legislators, local government officials and transportation management officials on October 29. The summit offered a broad spectrum of key local roadway topics in a condensed learning session. Topics on the agenda provided critical asset information and management techniques that are key components of a local roadway management system. Best practices for local county, township, city, and tribal roads combine to provide better, safer roads. Presenters included: Brent Bogar, AE2S-Nexus, presented on the status of HB 1066 Operation Prairie Dog Funding. Stewart Milakovic, NDDOT, provided an update on NDDOT's Long-Range Transportation Plan. Jessica Smith, HDR, described effective transportation network planning. Tim Colling, Michigan Technological University, outlined strategies for pavement preservation. Patrick Conner, Indiana LTAP, did the same for bridge preservation. Bryon Fuchs, NDDOT, provided an update on NDDOT's approach to bridge inspections and load ratings. Dave Jones, University of California, provided strategies for gravel road preservation. Brad Wentz, UGPTI, described local road surface selection tools available from UGPTI. Jeremy Mattson, UGPTI, provided an update on a study of rural transit in North Dakota. Ben Worel, Minnesota DOT, detailed how frost action impacts roads and how those impacts are reflected in load restrictions. Alan Dybing, UGPTI, described how economics and concepts such as benefit/cost ratios and return on investment are used in transportation infrastructure decision making. A special thanks to NDDOT Director Bill Panos, who provided the initial idea for the summit and dedicated his department's resources to making it a reality. His commitment to transportation at the local level was evident in his opening and closing comments. For more information or to watch the recorded presentations, visit the Summit website.

Team GRIT reaches out

Team GRIT -- Brad Wentz, Kelly Bengtson, Leanna Emmer and Ed Ryen -- has launched a new effort to help local agencies understand and enter data into the Geographical Roadway Information Tool (GRIT). The GRIT team will be reaching out to every county road crew once or twice a month to review data gaps and to provide virtual assistance with data entry. Roadway info is key to our UGPTI Needs Study and will be critical for the next big GRIT advancement. What advancement? Brad Wentz, GRIT lead, recently announced that a "Pavement Condition Forecasting" tool in GRIT will be unveiled soon. Brad and the UGPTI IT team have been busy testing the programming in Minnesota with plans to release a North Dakota version yet this year.  Another big goal for our GRIT team is to add the reservation road networks to our system. Joy Annette, UGPTI, is reaching out to tribal roadway leads to see how we can add tribal roadways for a complete and comprehensive local roadway assessment.

NDLTAP Spotlight: Curt Glasoe

The Maah Daah Hey Trail has been a recreation boon for North Dakota and has been coined as "North Dakota's best-kept secret." The phrase, Maah Daah Hey, originates with the Mandan Indians, a tribe located in North Dakota. In the Mandan Language, a single word or phrase can contain profound meaning. In simple English, Maah Daah Hey means an area that has been, or will be, around for a long time and is worthy of respect. While all success stories are the culmination of the efforts of many, it takes a true champion to pave the way and make the dreams of a group become reality. Curt Glasoe is one such champion. He has worked tirelessly since the 1980s to create a world-class trail in North Dakota. That dream is essentially a 144-mile long single track (i.e., very long cattle trail) that winds through the majestic Badlands of western North Dakota. Originally planned as an equestrian trail, the Maah Daah Hey morphed into the model of balance between mountain biking, hiking, and horseback riding. This harmonious path unites non-motorized groups. One of the trail's secrets of success is the trail design. Curt and his faithful sidekick, Russ Walsh, Dakota Prairie Grasslands, designed and carved out a trail network that nestles perfectly into the landscape and yet is predictable to the point that it creates a safe environment for multiple modes of trail users. The trail should be a bucket list item for all North Dakotans. NDLTAP is proud to have Curt Glasoe, father of the Maah Daah Hey trail and its biggest champion, as a team member. His passion for volunteering on the trail is only exceeded by his passion to help local leaders on their roadway network.

Congratulations to AGC of North Dakota!

For the first time in its history, the AGC of North Dakota has been named the Small Chapter of the Year by the AGC of America. The award recognizes chapters that have developed outstanding programming and excelled at achieving tangible accomplishments during the calendar year. Chapters are judged on legislative activity, programs and services, public relations, community involvement, member retention, and participation on the national level. Watch a video compilation of all the winners. AGC of ND is highlighted at about 5:50. Congratulations to all AGC of ND members!.

Local Roads Conference: another COVID casualty

One of our biggest event cancellations for 2020 was the Rapid City Local Roads Conference. Greg Vavra, SDLTAP program manager and conference lead, shared, “Pre-COVID, we were on track for another record-breaking event, with more than 75 exhibitors, 15 impactful presenters from across the nation and over 450 attendees targeted to converge on Rapid City in October. Canceling this event was a tough decision to make. In the end, we had to make the call and will now focus our energy on the 2021 Conference. Please join us in Sioux Falls, SD, October 20-21, 2021." Remember to add these easy-to-remember conference dates to your calendar.

On behalf of the NDLTAP team, Thank you!

Our Mission  To foster safe, efficient, environmentally sound, and cost effective North Dakota highway, road, and street systems by exchanging transportation technology with North Dakota's local units of government and transportation community through training, technical assistance, and information services as part of the US FHWA's nationwide LTAP network.

NDLTAP and its programs are sponsored by FHWA, ND Department of Transportation, Western Dakota Energy Association, ND Insurance Reserve Fund, ND Township Officers Association, the Northland Chapter of the American Traffic Safety Services Association, and ND chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Contact us @ NDLTAP 515 1/2 E Broadway, Ste 101, Bismarck ND 58501 - (701) 328-9855 or [email protected] NDLTAP Newsletter editor is UGPTI Communications Coordinator Tom Jirik Contact Tom at [email protected]

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