Vermont Agency of Transportation | 2020 External Research Program
Do you have an idea for a research topic the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) should consider? Each year VTrans sponsors 2-4 research projects in partnership with external researchers, and we are now seeking project ideas for the VTrans 2020 External Research Program!
Project ideas must be submitted by December 13, 2019 for consideration in the 2020 program. To move forward, ideas must be matched with a VTrans Technical Champion who is convinced that the idea will benefit the Agency. Start by completing the research idea submission form on our website.
The VTrans Research Section, Civil Rights Section, and the State Transportation Innovation Council held the Research and Innovation Showcase at the AOT Dill Building in Berlin, VT, on September 11, 2019. The event brought together stakeholders from across the transportation community as well as Vermont high school students. More than two dozen projects from researchers around the state were highlighted, and VTrans staff gave innovation demonstrations. Check out the 2019 Research and Innovation Showcase website for a list of featured projects and links to project fact sheets, posters, and a video clips from researchers.
By better understanding wildlife use of culverts and bridges, we can clarify relationships between transportation structure design and the frequency of wildlife use for under-road movement.
A project is underway to develop calibration factors to modify the 2010 Highway Safety Manual (HSM), which provides predictive equations for quantifying the safety effects of planning and designing roadway alternatives. Earlier equations had been based on data sets from a small number of states and had to be calibrated to deliver accurate results.
Learn more about how the revisions can help VTrans predict crashes more accurately and better evaluate project alternatives.
To address premature rutting and cracking after construction, VTrans has started to implement Balanced Mix Design (BMD) to identify asphalt mix distresses before production as a verification tool, and potentially during Quality Assurance testing. Learn more about how VTrans will be using BMD to optimize asphalt mix designs to minimize rutting, cracking, and moisture susceptibilities.
