2010- 2014 Iowa Transportation Improvement Program

The Iowa Transportation Improvement Program (Program) is published to inform Iowans of planned investments in our state’s transportation system. The Iowa Transportation Commission (Commission) and Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) are committed to programming those investments in a fiscally responsible manner. A major component of the 2010-2014 Program is the full integration of funding allocated to the Iowa DOT from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). To date, the Recovery Act has provided over $400 million of additional federal funding for transportation in Iowa, including funding that is allocated to local governments and entities. Recovery Act funding will result in a record year for transportation construction in Iowa and the creation and retention of jobs. Opportunities for additionalRecovery Act transportation funding remain and will be pursued as they becomeavailable. While Recovery Act funding will make a one-time significant impact in addressing Iowa’s backlog of needs, it is important to note that there remains a large shortfall in sustained annual transportation investment to meet Iowa’s current and future critical transportation needs. In recognition of this shortfall, Governor Culver introduced and the legislature passed an I-JOBS proposal. I-JOBS will result in an additional $50 million of state funding to reduce structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges on the primary road system and approximately $10 million in funding for other modes of transportation including $3 million of new funding to support the expansion of passenger rail service in Iowa. I-JOBS, and the continuing gradual increase in funding due to TIME-21, will complement and extend the benefits of Recovery Act funding and set the stage for addressing the shortfall in annual funding in the next few years. Iowa’s transportation system is multi-modal; therefore, the Program encompasses investments in aviation, transit, railroads, trails, and highways. A major component of the Program is the highway section. The FY2010-2014 highway section is financially balanced and was developed to achieve several objectives. The Commission’s primary highway investment objective is stewardship (i.e. safety, maintenance and preservation) of Iowa’s existing highway system. The highway section includes an annual average of $104 million for preserving the interstate system; an annual average of $78 million for non-interstate pavement preservation; an annual average of $36 million for non-interstate bridges; and an annual average of $14 million for safety projects. Another objective is to maintain the scheduled completion of interstate and non-interstate capacity and economic development projects that were identified in the previous Program and this Program does so. The final Commission objective is to further address capacity and economic development needs and the Commission has done so by adding several such projects to the Program. Construction improvements are partially funded through the current federal transportation act, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The act will expire September 30, 2009. With the expiration of SAFETEA-LU, there is significant uncertainty in the forecast of federal revenues in the out-years of this Program. The Commission and Iowa DOT will monitor federal actions closely and make adjustments to the Program as necessary. The Iowa DOT and Commission appreciate the public’s involvement in the state’s transportation planning process. Comments received personally, by letter, or through participation in the Commission’s regular meetings or public input meetings held around the state each year are invaluable in providing guidance for the future of Iowa’s transportation system. It should be noted that this document is a planning guide. It does not represent a binding commitment or obligation of the Commission or Iowa DOT, and is subject to change. You are invited to visit the Iowa DOT’s Web site at iowadot.gov for additional and regular updates about the department’s programs and activities.

US 30 Proposed Expansion Benton County, Iowa, Enviornmental Assessment and Section 4(f) De Minimis Impact Finding, June 11, 2012

The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) (23 CFR) mandated environmental streamlining in order to improve transportation project delivery without compromising environmental protection. In accordance with TEA-21, the environmental review process for this project has been documented as a Streamlined Environmental Assessment (EA). This document addresses only those resources or features that apply to the project. This allowed study and discussion of resources present in the study area, rather than expend effort on resources that were either not present or not impacted. Although not all resources are discussed in the EA, they were considered during the planning process and are documented in the Streamlined Resource Summary, shown in Appendix A. The following table shows the resources considered during the environmental review for this project. The first column with a check means the resource is present in the project area. The second column with a check means the impact to the resource warrants more discussion in this document. The other listed resources have been reviewed and are included in the Streamlined Resource Summary.

Missouri Work Zone Capacity: Results of Field Data Analysis, TPF-5(081), 2011

This report presents the results of work zone field data analyzed on interstate highways in Missouri to determine the mean breakdown and queue-discharge flow rates as measures of capacity. Several days of traffic data collected at a work zone near Pacific, Missouri with a speed limit of 50 mph were analyzed in both the eastbound and westbound directions. As a result, a total of eleven breakdown events were identified using average speed profiles. The traffic flows prior to and after the onset of congestion were studied. Breakdown flow rates ranged between 1194 to 1404 vphpl, with an average of 1295 vphpl, and a mean queue discharge rate of 1072 vphpl was determined. Mean queue discharge, as used by the Highway Capacity Manual 2000 (HCM), in terms of pcphpl was found to be 1199, well below the HCM’s average capacity of 1600 pcphpl. This reduced capacity found at the site is attributable mainly to narrower lane width and higher percentage of heavy vehicles, around 25%, in the traffic stream. The difference found between mean breakdown flow (1295 vphpl) and queue-discharge flow (1072 vphpl) has been observed widely, and is due to reduced traffic flow once traffic breaks down and queues start to form. The Missouri DOT currently uses a spreadsheet for work zone planning applications that assumes the same values of breakdown and mean queue discharge flow rates. This study proposes that breakdown flow rates should be used to forecast the onset of congestion, whereas mean queue discharge flow rates should be used to estimate delays under congested conditions. Hence, it is recommended that the spreadsheet be refined accordingly.

Improved Employment Data for Transportation Planning, 1998

Transportation planners typically use census data or small sample surveys to help estimate work trips in metropolitan areas. Census data are cheap to use but are only collected every 10 years and may not provide the answers that a planner is seeking. On the other hand, small sample survey data are fresh but can be very expensive to collect. This project involved using database and geographic information systems (GIS) technology to relate several administrative data sources that are not usually employed by transportation planners. These data sources included data collected by state agencies for unemployment insurance purposes and for drivers licensing. Together, these data sources could allow better estimates of the following information for a metropolitan area or planning region: · Locations of employers (work sites); · Locations of employees; · Travel flows between employees’ homes and their work locations. The required new employment database was created for a large, multi-county region in central Iowa. When evaluated against the estimates of a metropolitan planning organization, the new database did allow for a one to four percent improvement in estimates over the traditional approach. While this does not sound highly significant, the approach using improved employment data to synthesize home-based work (HBW) trip tables was particularly beneficial in improving estimated traffic on high-capacity routes. These are precisely the routes that transportation planners are most interested in modeling accurately. Therefore, the concept of using improved employment data for transportation planning was considered valuable and worthy of follow-up research.

Capacity vs Competency

“Capacity” and “competency” are terms that are often used interchangeably. However, under Iowa law and specifically within the context of an individual’s rights to make his/ her own decisions, there is a very important difference between the two words. An understanding of the difference between “capacity” and “competency” (as explained on this fact sheet) is essential to determine whether an individual’s consent is valid.

Iowa Department of Human Rights - Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, Agency Performance Plan

Annual Report, Agency Performance Plan

ERPN Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter, February 2001, Vol.1, no.1

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

ERPN, Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter, March 2001, Vol.1, no.2

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

ERPN, Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter, April 2001, Vol.1, no.3

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

ERPN, Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter, July/August 2001, Vol.1, no.5

Newsletter for Information Tehcnology Department

ERPN, Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter, May/June 2001, Vol.1, no.4

Newsletter for Information Technology Department

Financial Safety Planning for Older Women, 2000 Edition

Financial Safety Planning for Older Women

Evaluation of Different Methods to Calculate Heavy-Truck VMT, Final Report, December 2004

Reliable estimates of heavy-truck volumes are important in a number of transportation applications. Estimates of truck volumes are necessary for pavement design and pavement management. Truck volumes are important in traffic safety. The number of trucks on the road also influences roadway capacity and traffic operations. Additionally, heavy vehicles pollute at higher rates than passenger vehicles. Consequently, reliable estimates of heavy-truck vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are important in creating accurate inventories of on-road emissions. This research evaluated three different methods to calculate heavy-truck annual average daily traffic (AADT) which can subsequently be used to estimate vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Traffic data from continuous count stations provided by the Iowa DOT were used to estimate AADT for two different truck groups (single-unit and multi-unit) using the three methods. The first method developed monthly and daily expansion factors for each truck group. The second and third methods created general expansion factors for all vehicles. Accuracy of the three methods was compared using n-fold cross-validation. In n-fold cross-validation, data are split into n partitions, and data from the nth partition are used to validate the remaining data. A comparison of the accuracy of the three methods was made using the estimates of prediction error obtained from cross-validation. The prediction error was determined by averaging the squared error between the estimated AADT and the actual AADT. Overall, the prediction error was the lowest for the method that developed expansion factors separately for the different truck groups for both single- and multi-unit trucks. This indicates that use of expansion factors specific to heavy trucks results in better estimates of AADT, and, subsequently, VMT, than using aggregate expansion factors and applying a percentage of trucks. Monthly, daily, and weekly traffic patterns were also evaluated. Significant variation exists in the temporal and seasonal patterns of heavy trucks as compared to passenger vehicles. This suggests that the use of aggregate expansion factors fails to adequately describe truck travel patterns.

Identification of the Best Practices for Design, Construction, and Repair of Bridge Approches, 2005

Bridge approach settlement and the formation of the bump is a common problem in Iowa that draws upon considerable resources for maintenance and creates a negative perception in the minds of transportation users. This research study was undertaken to investigate bridge approach problems and develop new concepts for design, construction, and maintenance that will reduce this costly problem. As a result of the research described in this report, the following changes are suggested for implementation on a pilot test basis: • Use porous backfill behind the abutment and/or geocomposite drainage systems to improve drainage capacity and reduce erosion around the abutment. • On a pilot basis, connect the approach slab to the bridge abutment. Change the expansion joint at the bridge to a construction joint of 2 inch. Use a more effective joint sealing system at the CF joint. Change the abutment wall rebar from #5 to #7 for non-integral abutments. • For bridges with soft foundation or embankment soils, implement practices of better compaction, preloading, ground improvement, soil removal and replacement, or soil reinforcement that reduce time-dependent post construction settlements.

Web-based Implementation of Winter Maintenance Decision Support System Using GIS and Remote Sensing, May 2005

Winter maintenance, particularly snow removal and the stress of snow removal materials on public structures, is an enormous budgetary burden on municipalities and nongovernmental maintenance organizations in cold climates. Lately, geospatial technologies such as remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and decision support tools are roviding a valuable tool for planning snow removal operations. A few researchers recently used geospatial technologies to develop winter maintenance tools. However, most of these winter maintenance tools, while having the potential to address some of these information needs, are not typically placed in the hands of planners and other interested stakeholders. Most tools are not constructed with a nontechnical user in mind and lack an easyto-use, easily understood interface. A major goal of this project was to implement a web-based Winter Maintenance Decision Support System (WMDSS) that enhances the capacity of stakeholders (city/county planners, resource managers, transportation personnel, citizens, and policy makers) to evaluate different procedures for managing snow removal assets optimally. This was accomplished by integrating geospatial analytical techniques (GIS and remote sensing), the existing snow removal asset management system, and webbased spatial decision support systems. The web-based system was implemented using the ESRI ArcIMS ActiveX Connector and related web technologies, such as Active Server Pages, JavaScript, HTML, and XML. The expert knowledge on snow removal procedures is gathered and integrated into the system in the form of encoded business rules using Visual Rule Studio. The system developed not only manages the resources but also provides expert advice to assist complex decision making, such as routing, optimal resource allocation, and monitoring live weather information. This system was developed in collaboration with Black Hawk County, IA, the city of Columbia, MO, and the Iowa Department of transportation. This product was also demonstrated for these agencies to improve the usability and applicability of the system.