NDLTAP
Update on UGPTI Legislative Road Needs Study

Posted: Jul 27, 2020

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 alan.dybing@ndsu.edu. 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.