Low-Cost Rural Surface Alternatives: Literature Review and Recommendations, TR-632, 2013

Freezing and thawing action induces damage to unbound gravel roads in Iowa resulting in maintenance costs for secondary road departments. Some approaches currently used by County Engineers to deal with this problem include temporarily spreading rock on the affected areas, lowering or improving drainage ditches, tiling, bridging the area with stone and geosynthetic covered by a top course of aggregate or gravel, coring boreholes and filling them with calcium chloride to melt lenses and provide drainage, and re-grading the crown to a slope of 4% to 6% to maximize spring drainage. However, most of these maintenance solutions are aimed at dealing with conditions after they occur. This study was tasked with identifying alternative approaches in the literature to mitigate the problem. An annotated bibliographic record of literature on the topic of frost-heave and thaw-weakening of gravel roads was generated and organized by topic, and all documents were assessed in terms of a suitable rating for mitigating the problem in Iowa. Over 300 technical articles were collected and selected down to about 150 relevant articles for a full assessment. The documents collected have been organized in an electronic database, which can be used as a tool by practitioners to search for information regarding the various repair and mitigation solutions, measurement technologies, and experiences that have been documented by selected domestic and international researchers and practitioners. Out of the 150+ articles, 71 articles were ranked as highly applicable to conditions in Iowa. The primary mitigation methods identified in this study included chemical and mechanical stabilization; scarification, blending, and recompaction; removal and replacement; separation, and reinforcement; geogrids and cellular confinement; drainage control and capillary barriers, and use of alternative materials. It is recommended that demonstration research projects be established to examine a range of construction methods and materials for treating granular surfaced roadways to mitigate frost-heave and thaw-weakening problems. Preliminary frost-susceptibility test results from ASTM D5916 are included for a range of Iowa materials.

Quick Reads, December 9, 2013

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Electronic Bulletin Board System, HR-345, 1998

The primary objectives of the Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) project were to: (1) Provide an electronic communication tool which would link city and county engineering offices to each other and to other governmental agencies for messaging and data sharing; (2) Provide a dial-up site for reference information or files accessible on-demand; and (3) Provide a "stepping stone" to the world of electronic data transfer, recognizing that most local government employees face a huge complex of technology with limited knowledge of computers and communications tools. The system was designed to be as simple as possible, and to require minimal equipment and software cost to the users. The original system was an Apex 386/25 computer with MS-DOS 5.0 software and the final configuration was an HP Vectra XM Pentium 90 with MS-NT 3.51 and Mustang - Wildcat 5.0 software. The users of the BBS were county engineers and their staff, offices in the central office of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and Resident Construction Engineers at the Iowa DOT. Much of the activity was between the county engineers, and their staffs, and the Iowa DOT offices with which they have ongoing business activities. The BBS contained files for mapping, Internet e-mail service, Accident Location Analysis System (ALAS) data, Iowa DOT bid lettings, and Autocad and Intergraph maps and standards. The 800 line calls were recorded and gave the best indication of the usage and the trends that were being followed. The usage tended to be higher in the winter months when design activities are occurring and lower in the summer months when the construction is in progress. The project was judged a success. The BBS did provide a "stepping stone" to the world of electronic data transfer.

Quick Reads, May 19, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, June 12, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, July 14, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, August 14, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, September 15, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, October 8, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, November 20, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, December 12, 2014

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Quick Reads, January 14, 2015

IDPH Quick Reads is an electronic newsletter produced by the Director’s Office at the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH Quick Reads are published every three to four weeks.

Electronic Construction Collaboration System – Final Phase, SPR RB02-008, 2014

This phase of the research project involved two major efforts: (1) Complete the implementation of AEC-Sync (formerly known as Attolist) on the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project and (2) develop a web-based project management system (WPMS) for projects under $10 million. For the first major effort, AEC-Sync was provided for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in a software as a service agreement, allowing the Iowa DOT to rapidly implement the solution with modest effort. During the 2010 fiscal year, the research team was able to help with the implementation process for the solution. The research team also collected feedback from the Broadway Viaduct project team members before the start of the project and implementation of the solution. For the 2011 fiscal year, the research team collected the post-project surveys from the Broadway Viaduct project members and compared them to the pre-project survey results. The result of the AEC-Sync implementation in the Broadway Viaduct project was a positive one. The project members were satisfied with the performance of AEC-Sync and how it facilitated document management and transparency. In addition, the research team distributed, collected, and analyzed the pre-project surveys for the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project. During the 2012 fiscal year, the research team analyzed the post-project surveys for the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project AEC-Sync implementation and found a positive outcome when compared to the pre-project surveys. The second major effort for this project involved the identification and implementation of a WPMS solution for smaller bridge and highway projects. During the 2011 fiscal year, Microsoft SharePoint was selected to be implemented on these smaller highway projects. In this year, workflows for the shop/working drawings for the smaller highway projects specified in Section 1105 of the Iowa DOT Specifications were developed. These workflows will serve as the guide for the development of the SharePoint pages. In order to implement the Microsoft SharePoint pages, the effort of an integrated team proved to be vital because it brought together the expertise required from researchers, programmers, and webpage developers to develop the SharePoint pages.

Electronic Construction Collaboration System—Phase II, SPR RB02-008, 2010

During the first year of research, work was completed to identify Iowa DOT needs for web-based project management system (WPMS) and evaluate how commercially available solutions could meet these needs. Researchers also worked to pilot test custom developed WPMS solutions on Iowa DOT bridge projects. At the end of the first year of research, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was developed and issued by the Iowa DOT for the selection of a commercial WPMS to pilot test on multiple bridge projects. During the second year of research, the responses to the RFP issued during the first year of research were evaluated and a solution was selected. The selected solution, Attolist, was customized, tested, and implemented during the fall of 2009. Beginning in the winter of 2010, the solution was implemented on Iowa DOT projects. Researchers worked to assist in the training, implementation, and performance evaluation of the solution. Work will continue beyond the second year of research to implement Attolist on an additional pilot project. During this time, work will be completed to evaluate the impact of WPMS on Iowa DOT bridge projects.

Issue review : electronic document management system or EDMS.

This issue review provides an overview of the electronic documents management system, or EDMS project.