Monthly Labor Force Data, June 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

The Governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Task Force: Implementation Report for Maximizing the Efficient Use of Iowa's Road Use Tax Fund, 1998

This report documents the Iowa Department of Transportation's accomplishments and ongoing efforts in response to 39 recommendations proposed by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Task Force at the end of 1995. Governor Terry Branstad challenged the Task Force to "maximize the benefits of each dollar spent from the Road Use Tax Fund."

Missouri River Flood Coordination Task Force Report, September 25, 2011

The Missouri River floods of 2011 will go down in history as the longest duration flooding event this state has seen to date. The combination of above normal snowfall in the upper Missouri River basin followed by the equivalent of nearly one year’s worth of rainfall in May created an above normal runoff situation which filled the Missouri River and the six main reservoirs within the basin. Compounding this problem was colder than normal temperatures which kept much of the snow pack in the upper basin on the ground longer into the spring, setting the stage for this historic event.

Report of the Iowa Antibiotic Resistance Task Force, January 24, 2012

On January 29, 1998, a task force was convened by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) to address the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics in Iowa. The purpose of this task force was to evaluate and monitor the prevalence of resistance in Iowa, to monitor the status of the problem, and to develop strategies to diminish the risk to the population of Iowa. The goals of the Iowa Antibiotic Resistance Task Force (IARTF) are to facilitate appropriate use of antibiotics, discourage prescribing practices that promote the development of antibiotic resistance, and decrease the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms with appropriate prevention and control measures. This group has been meeting since 1998 to accomplish these goals.

Iowa Privacy Task Force Final Report, January 22, 2002

In appointing the Iowa Privacy Task Force, Governor Vilsack sought to obtain the opinions of both average Iowa citizens and businesses and professionals that work with health and financial information. The Governor recognized that the free flow of information is essential to the vitality of the Iowa economy. At the same time, he also recognized the legitimate fears and concerns of Iowa citizens with the potential loss of privacy inherent in the vast new information flows in this new economy. In order to obtain broad and balanced input, the Governor appointed half the members of the Task Force to represent average Iowa citizens. The other half of the Task Force was appointed with representatives of the financial services industry, providers of health care and the health insurance industry. The Task Force was further balanced to represent the different geographic regions of the state and gender. A total of 32 members were appointed to the Task Force.

Monthly Labor Force Data, August 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Monthly Labor Force Data, September 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Quantifying Uncertainty in Real Time Performance Measurement for Highway Winter Maintenance Operations – Phase 2, RB03-013, 2014

Winter weather in Iowa is often unpredictable and can have an adverse impact on traffic flow. The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) attempts to lessen the impact of winter weather events on traffic speeds with various proactive maintenance operations. In order to assess the performance of these maintenance operations, it would be beneficial to develop a model for expected speed reduction based on weather variables and normal maintenance schedules. Such a model would allow the Iowa DOT to identify situations in which speed reductions were much greater than or less than would be expected for a given set of storm conditions, and make modifications to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this work was to predict speed changes relative to baseline speed under normal conditions, based on nominal maintenance schedules and winter weather covariates (snow type, temperature, and wind speed), as measured by roadside weather stations. This allows for an assessment of the impact of winter weather covariates on traffic speed changes, and estimation of the effect of regular maintenance passes. The researchers chose events from Adair County, Iowa and fit a linear model incorporating the covariates mentioned previously. A Bayesian analysis was conducted to estimate the values of the parameters of this model. Specifically, the analysis produces a distribution for the parameter value that represents the impact of maintenance on traffic speeds. The effect of maintenance is not a constant, but rather a value that the researchers have some uncertainty about and this distribution represents what they know about the effects of maintenance. Similarly, examinations of the distributions for the effects of winter weather covariates are possible. Plots of observed and expected traffic speed changes allow a visual assessment of the model fit. Future work involves expanding this model to incorporate many events at multiple locations. This would allow for assessment of the impact of winter weather maintenance across various situations, and eventually identify locations and times in which maintenance could be improved.

Monthly Labor Force Data, October 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Monthly Labor Force Data, November 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Monthly Labor Force Data, December 2014

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Monthly Labor Force Data, April 2015

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Heavy Agricultural Loads on Pavements and Bridges, HR-1073, 1999

During the harvest season in Iowa, it is common to have single axle loads on secondary roads and bridges that are excessive (typical examples are grain carts) and well beyond normal load limits. Even though these excessive loads occur only during a short time of the year, they may do significant damage to pavements and bridges. In addition, the safety of some bridges may be compromised because of the excessive loads, and sometimes there may be little indication to the users that damage may be imminent. At this time there are no Iowa laws regulating axle loads allowed for agricultural equipment. This study looks at the potential problems this may cause on secondary roads and timber stringer bridges. Both highway pavement and timber bridges are evaluated in this report. A section (panel) of Iowa PCC paved county road was chosen to study the effects of heavy agricultural loads on pavements. Instrumentation was applied to the panel and a heavily loaded grain cart was rolled across. The collected data were analyzed for any indication of excessive stresses of the concrete. The second study, concerning excessive loads on timber stringer bridges, was conducted in the laboratory. Four bridge sections were constructed and tested. Two of the sections contained five stringers and two sections had three stringers. Timber for the bridges came from a dismantled bridge, and deck panels were cut from new stock. All timber was treated with creosote. A hydraulic load was applied at the deck mid-span using a foot print representing a tire from a typical grain cart. Force was applied until failure of the system resulted. The collected data were evaluated to provide indications of load distribution and for comparison with expected wheel loads for a typical heavily loaded single axle grain cart. Results of the pavement tests showed that the potential of over-stressing the pavement is a possibility. Even though most of the tension stress levels recorded were below the rupture strength of the concrete, there were a few instances where the indicated tension stress level exceeded the concrete rupture strength. Results of the bridge tests showed that when the static ultimate load capacity of the timber stringer bridge sections was reached, there was sudden loss of capacity. Prior to reaching this ultimate capacity, the load sharing between the stringers was very uniform. The failure was characterized by loss of flexural capacity of the stringers. In all tests, the ultimate test load exceeded the wheel load that would be applied by an 875 bushel single axle grain cart.

Monthly Labor Force Data, May 2015

Monthly Labor Force Data report produced by the Iowa Workforce Development.

Performance Measurement for Highway Winter Maintenance Operations, TR-491, 2009

The goal of this research project was to develop a method to measure the performance of a winter maintenance program with respect to the task of providing safety and mobility to the travelling public. Developing these measures required a number of steps, each of which was accomplished. First, the impact of winter weather on safety (crash rates) and mobility (average vehicle speeds were measured by a combination of literature reviews and analysis of Iowa Department of Transportation traffic and Road Weather Information System data. Second, because not all winter storms are the same in their effects on safety and mobility, a method had to be developed to determine how much the various factors that describe a winter storm actually change safety and mobility. As part of this effort a storm severity index was developed, which ranks each winter storm on a scale between 0 (a very benign storm) and 1 (the worst imaginable storm). Additionally a number of methods of modeling the relationships between weather, winter maintenance actions and road surface conditions were developed and tested. The end result of this study was a performance measure based on average vehicle speed. For a given class of road, a maximum expected average speed reduction has been identified. For a given storm, this maximum expected average speed reduction is modified by the storm severity index to give a target average speed reduction. Thus, if for a given road the maximum expected average speed reduction is 20 mph, and the storm severity for a particular storm is 0.6, then the target average speed reduction for that road in that storm is 0.6 x 20 mph or 12 mph. If the average speed on that road during and after the storm is only 12 mph or less than the average speed on that road in good weather conditions, then the winter maintenance performance goal has been met.