There are a large number of scour susceptible bridges or bridges with unknown foundations on
the Iowa secondary road system. These structures are commonly required to (1) have a Plan of
Action (POA) developed and implemented which will close the structure during flood events or
(2) have countermeasures installed which will allow the bridge to remain open during the event
(in the case of unknown foundations, countermeasures must be installed). Not surprisingly,
installing the needed countermeasures can be a very costly endeavor. This is especially
concerning given the fact that county budgets are already tight. Thus, there is a need to
investigate various countermeasure options that are both affordable and effective. Among the
many different countermeasures available, is a potentially viable technique known as partially
grouted-revetment. Partially grouted revetment has been successfully used in Europe .and more
recently in Minnesota.

Longitudinal bridge deck joints are commonly used in cases where the roadway carries a larger than typical number of traffic lanes.  The Iowa DOT requires the use of longitudinal bridge joints in wide bridges with the hopes of reducing/eliminating the cracking that has been observed in wide bridges constructed without longitudinal joints.  The longitudinal joints are thought to provide relief from expansion and contraction of the bridge deck due to temperature change, shrinkage, and life loads.  Historically, however, these joints have been known to leak, allowing chlorideladen water to reach the bottom of the deck overhang and even the exterior girders. This has caused cases of premature deterioration. The problem is most severe when the joint is narrow and/or located between median barrier rails where this water can be trapped for long periods of time.  Weathering steel bridges are particularly sensitive to this situation as the protective patina may never naturally form.  This is a situation where the elimination of one problem (cracking associated with wide bridges) has created a second problem (a problematic longitudinal joint). Based upon the results of the research in TR-661, a 115 ft long, 228 ft wide bridge in Blackhawk County, IA that has incorporated the thermal isolation pad idea listed above was designed.  The bridge was planned for the 12/19/2017 letting with construction to follow as part of a large, multi-year project.  The work proposed here is to document the design, construction, and performance of the yet-to-be-constructed bridge with a specific focus on the successfulness of the crack mitigation efforts. 

Phase II  investigation of TR-668 “Impact of Curling and Warping on Concrete Pavement.” The primary objectives of the proposed Phase II research are:
• To develop actionable recommendations for pavement design engineers and contractors to minimize the degree of curling and warping and correct the curling/warping-related performance issues.
• To evaluate and quantify curling and warping impacts on Iowa concrete pavement ride quality.  
• To document the degree of curling and warping in Iowa county/city roads (which was not investigated in the Phase I study), in addition to Iowa highways, by selecting a larger number of PCC pavements.
• To determine the factors (through a sensitivity study) that have the most influence on curling and warping behavior of PCC pavements in Iowa highways and county/city roads.  
• To evaluate the seasonal variation effects on curling and warping severity/magnitudes.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness, accuracy, and versatility of LiDAR for curling and warping inspection. • To evaluate the use of a high speed inertial profiler for curling and warping inspection of concrete pavements in comparison to LiDAR units.  

Identify use cases and process improvements in the ease of use, effectiveness, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of introducing a tethered drone systems within the Iowa DOT.
Investigate performance metrics, such as data quality, coverage area, operational duration, and cost of utilizing a tethered drone system.
Conduct field experiments in diverse transportation environments, including urban, suburban, and rural areas and compare to any traditional methods that may exist.
Provide recommendations regarding the optimal use of drone technology for various DOT functions.

Title: Enhancing Truck Parking Information Management System (TPIMS) Objective: To create a comprehensive TPIMS that primarily utilizes anonymized ELD data for tracking truck parking events, supplemented by rest area Wi-Fi connectivity and advanced Wi-Fi scanning technologies for verification and enhanced accuracy. Primary Layer: ELD-Based Parking Event Tracking

ELD Data Utilization: The system will prioritize the use of ELD data, which includes geolocation and engine status. The data will be anonymized and used to determine parking events as trucks come to rest, in line with FMCSA mandates.
Anonymization and Data Integration: Anonymized ELD data will be processed and integrated into TPIMS, ensuring driver privacy while providing valuable insights into parking space usage patterns and availability.
Regulatory Compliance: The project will maintain strict adherence to FMCSA regulations regarding the handling and usage of ELD data.

Secondary Layer: Wi-Fi Connectivity in Rest Areas

Rest Area Network Utilization: The Wi-Fi systems in rest areas will serve as a secondary method for confirming parking events, where trucks connecting and disconnecting from the network will indicate arrival and departure times.
Connectivity Feedback Loop: Wi-Fi network engagement will provide a feedback loop for ELD-reported parking events, enhancing the reliability of the system.

Tertiary Layer: Advanced Wi-Fi Scanning Technologies

Perception Capabilities: Incorporating Wi-Fi scanning technologies to perceive and monitor the parking environment, providing a tertiary data source for confirming parking space occupancy.
Research and Development: Collaborate with leading research institutions to refine Wi-Fi scanning methods and integrate them into TPIMS, leveraging research such as that from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

Integration and Collaboration:

Carnegie Mellon University: To provide expertise in Wi-Fi scanning and perception capabilities for the TPIMS.
Iowa Department of Transportation: To facilitate the implementation and management of the TPIMS and ensure compliance with transportation regulations.
ELD Providers and Trucking Industry Stakeholders: To collaborate on the anonymized data sharing necessary for the primary ELD-based component of the system.

The Traffic Engineering Assistance Program (TEAP) provides up to 150 hours of free traffic engineering expertise to local units of government in the form of a traffic study. Studies identify cost-effective traffic safety and operational improvements as well as potential funding sources to implement the recommendations.
Typical study subjects include pedestrian crossings, high-crash locations, traffic delays, safe school routes, and parking issues.

During intense winter weather events, diminished visibility can reach levels at which snowplow operations become unsafe, necessitating the withdrawal of plow crews to a safe location until conditions improve. In such scenarios, snow accumulation and drifting can rapidly obstruct and sometimes completely close roads, significantly hampering regular traffic and emergency services until plowing resumes. The ISU team has recently innovated and field-tested the ALERT-PLOW system, which stands for Advanced Lane and Entity Recognition Technology for Plows, on a modified snowplow at the Tama Garage. This system equips a standard snowplow with advanced sensors, mapping technologies, and a driver assistance interface that aids the driver under low-visibility conditions. Beyond providing navigational guidance, the system can also warn the driver about unforeseen obstructions. However, the ALERT-PLOW system is strictly a navigational aid and does not assume any control over the vehicle. Its core features include cost-effective mapping, budget-friendly instrumentation, and technology ready for immediate implementation.
 

There is a need to effectively train the concrete bridge workforce on state-of-the-art standardized details and procedures and the latest emerging technologies.  The identified need represents advancing the current state of practice and also serving the need to fill skilled positions in the workforce due to several factors including sector growth and personnel leaving the workforce.  It also includes efforts to evaluate and extend the service life of aging infrastructure.  The goal is to train personnel with hands-on intensive programs to ensure the proper initial construction using proven and standardized details and materials.  The use of inferior details, materials, or construction practices can lead to reducing the service life of concrete bridges resulting in unanticipated maintenance and/or replacement. Maintenance, repair, and replacement costs due to such deficiencies as poor post-tensioning grouting, initial construction defects, premature deck degradation, and unexpected cracking/reinforcement corrosion, and alkali-silica reaction (ASR), delayed ettringite formation (DEF) can represent significant costs. Strategies toward achieving, and extending, the expected service of bridges include study and research toward establishing the best engineering standards and construction materials, training to and inspecting to those practices, and introducing innovative technologies in an effective and proactive way.  This is valid for both the initial construction as well as the subsequent operation, maintenance and repair inclusive of inspection techniques.  Within this larger scope, three initial needs have been targeted in this pooled fund: (1) Inspection of Concrete Bridge Deck Construction (2) Concrete Materials for Bridges, and (3) Post-tensioning Academy.  The Concrete Bridge Engineering Institute (CBEI) is seeking to initially develop these three areas.  It will provide workforce training to facilitate technology transfer of state-of-the-art engineering standards, practices, and materials and provide research and development resources where those are not already defined.  The resources and infrastructure for the initial programs at CBEI represent a unique national facility for this scope.  CBEI is the center of concrete bridge related research, education, and training at the University of Texas at Austin in the Cockrell School of Engineering. CBEI’s mission is to serve the concrete bridge community and profession on the most pressing issues encountered in concrete bridges across the nation.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has sponsored a six to eight work zone safety training workshops throughout Iowa during February and/or March each year since 1979. Total registrations for these workshops ranged from 618 to 856 between 2015 and 2019.  All but one of the locations was canceled in 2020 due to COVID and the workshops were virtual in 2021.  Attendance in 2021 was approximately 700 (for the live virtual offerings and recordings) and it was 690 when we went back on site in 2022.  During 2023, six on-site workshops were offered but attendance was impacted by snow events on several occasions.  The attendance for 2023 was approximately 603. 

In 2024 this workshop series will again be offered seven times at six locations (twice in Ankeny) from February 27 to March 28.  These workshops have not yet started at the time of this idea submittal.  The planning for similar work zone safety training workshops in 2025, however, begins in the middle of the previous year (e.g., July 2023).  This idea is submitted to support the implementation, development, and provision of this multi-agency work zone safety training in 2025.

The audience for these multi-track workshops include operational level employees of the Iowa DOT, local city and county street departments, highway contractors, and Iowa utilities. These workshops are held to address the requirements and recommendations for fostering and maintaining a safe environment for road users and for highway workers in temporary work zones on Iowa’s state and local roads and streets. Handout materials, lunch, and instructors are provided to participants for a modest registration fee.  Recently, the Iowa DOT also declared a five year goal of fatality free work zones.  An objective of the training described here has always been to assist with the reduction of highway work zone crashes, injuries, and fatalities throughout the state.
 
The workshop structure in the past has included a general session for the first half of the morning and individual breakout sessions for the remainder of the day.  Participants are trained in the proper application of temporary traffic control devices according to the requirements and guidelines in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and other references such as the Iowa DOT Standard Specifications and the Iowa Statewide Urban Design and Specification (SUDAS). They learn and are reminded how to use field references such as the Temporary Traffic Control Handbook.   The general session for all attendees covers topics pertinent to all areas of highway work zone safety practices and lasts approximately 90 minutes.  Breakout sessions are then offered for the remainder of the day with material focused on the work zone safety needs of Iowa DOT maintenance, Iowa DOT construction/contractor, county, city, and/or utility personnel. These breakout sessions are specifically designed and staffed with instructors who have experience with the needs of each particular audience. In these breakout sessions, attendees study recommended procedures for controlling traffic in temporary work zones safely and take part in discussions and/or classroom exercises to answer questions relating to work zone setup.

Recently, a research report authored by staff at the Institute for Transportation was completed on the content of work zone safety training and how it might be offered (it is attached to this idea submittal).  In the future, the relevant content of this report might be considered to determine the overall approach (e.g., on-site, virtual, or some combination), course content, and technologies used to offer this particular training.

Some of this text in this submittal and the agenda for the 2023 workshops are in the attached 2023 evaluation and summary report.
 

Iowa DOT has made a significant investment in developing 3D digital tools for modern bridge design as the industry moves towards digital delivery.  Leveraging the data developed in design and construction for future use cases in load rating and asset management remains a challenge. Linking the as-built data such as design changes, conditions during construction, shop drawings, test reports, etc. to the 3D digital model developed during design can result in continued value by providing future users with easy access to organized and detailed actionable information.  The 3D digital model developed during design then continues to provide value while providing an organized and retrievable data set for future use. 
An initial discovery phase will gather information on the baseline Excel-based solution.  This will then lead to finalizing the requirements for the demonstration platform, including a priority listing of specific document types and bridge components.  This pilot will focus on the Pier 2 location to demonstrate functionality that could eventually be scaled over the entire structure.  Items to be linked to the 3D model include drilled shaft rebar certifications and concrete E-tickets, bearing shop drawings, bolted connection test results, truss member and gusset plate material certifications, etc.  Next, the IFC 4.3 export of the project 3D bridge model will be reviewed and evaluated for fitness of use as the interface to the linked documents. The model may need to be modified to revise or add data such as labels, material properties, and quantity information related to construction progress.  For example, labels will be added to each of the truss members that correspond to the member locations in the contract plans. Then, links will be established from the 3D model to the gathered construction documents described above along with inspection observations and photos.  This document linking will be established from the model to a data environment such as ProjectWise via IfcRelAssociatesDocument relationships.

As a result of a basic industry review, the proposed demonstration platform is expected to be based on one of the following commercial solutions or another platform not yet identified:

Bentley iTwin
ESRI Web Scenes / GeoBIM
Catenda Hub

The first two options correspond to vendors that already provide technology solutions to the Iowa DOT.  The third option is built upon open standards and provides the document linking capability described in this proposal as existing, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) functionality.  The first two options would require some level of custom development to provide document linking in accordance with the IFC schema.  Bentley iTwin is currently being used to host the project 3D bridge model, and HeadLight is being used on the project for managing inspection observations and photos.  The developed platform will be provided to Iowa DOT as a demonstration of extending the usefulness of the 3D design model to organize and view as-built data.

Lastly, a project summary in the form of a technical memo will be developed to include basic documentation of the platform as well as a white paper to serve as an example implementation of IFC 4.3 data standards.