Assessment of ND County and Local Road Needs
Study Updates

Staff Collect Data on Gravel Costs Across the State

Oct. 27, 2021 - This month, more than 2,000 surveys were mailed to county and township officials across the state to obtain updated information about cost of gravel from local pits, trucking costs, placement costs, blading costs and costs of any dust suppressants used. The survey also asks questions about blading frequency and graveling frequency and other maintenance costs. The survey was designed with help from an advisory group made up of county road officials. Information gathered will help researchers estimate investment needs for maintaining the state's more than 60,000 miles of gravel roads.

Uniformity in completing the survey is critical. UGPTI hosted a training webinar Oct. 26 from 10:00 to 11:00 AM CT. Invitations were mailed to all road superintendents. View the webinar recording.

Pavement Data Will Aid Local Road Managers via GRIT

Oct. 2021 - Ride quality data and video images have been collected on about 3,000 miles of paved county roads across the southern half of the State. Current plans are to collect half of the state county roads each year. This data is being calibrated and geo-referenced to roadways so they can be included in UGPTI's Geographic Roadway Information Tool (GRIT). The information, collected by UGPTI staff this summer, will enhance the wealth of information available to local road managers through GRIT, an online asset management tool. Local roadway managers can enter data such as pavement type and age, base thickness, shoulder width, etc. That combination of information helps local road managers identify road segments that need maintenance and provides key information for UGPTI's effort to project road investment needs across the state.

Traffic Forecast Model Development Progresses for Road Study

Oct. 2021 - Alan Dybing, Tim Horner, Kelly Bengtson, and Denver Tolliver of UGPTI met with staff of the Oil and Gas Division of the North Dakota Industrial Division to obtain the latest estimates of energy development in the state. Oil well drilling estimates, along with updated data on inbound and outbound truck, rail and pipeline shipments for each well, will be used to develop comprehensive traffic models for predicting traffic across the state for the next 20 years. Those predictions will be used to estimate road and bridge investment needs for the county and township roads.

Bridge Analysis Process is Being Updated to Account for FHWA Changes to National Bridge Inventory Processes

Nov. 2021 - FHWA, in recent years, has moved away from the familiar Sufficiency Rating (SR) as an index t0 measure of bridge condition. Past UGPTI needs studies had utilized SR in the analysis processes. With the ending of SR by FHWA many states have moved to their own condition index. UGPTI staff met with a panel of county bridge experts in June 2021 to discuss SR replacement options for North Dakota county and townships bridges. UGPTI staff are proposing a Bridge Needs Target (BNT) that would incorporate more factors used in todays updated bridge inspection reports and more reduction factors than compared with the obsolete Sufficiency Rating (SF). Scour, fracture critical, load posting/ratings, approach road alignment, and timber materials reduction factors with proposed calculations to determine the reduction to the BNT for each bridge." UGPTI is developing an analysis routine using the BNT to assess the needs on the approximately 4500 county and township bridge so of North Dakota.