System Preservation Guide - A Planning Process for Local Government Management of Transportation Networks

Summary:

Local transportation agencies are facing severe challenges in keeping road networks safe and in good repair. Among those challenges are aging infrastructure, increasing material costs, and stagnant or decreasing funding levels. In this project, investigators provided consulting services to five pilot counties to help them define and communicate their transportation system preservation needs and gaps in funding, evaluate and select strategies to address those needs, and then implement those strategies. While each county chose strategies specific to its own needs, all five successfully built consensus among their elected officials and the public to pass either a sales tax or wheelage tax to increase maintenance funding. Each county also selected other strategies to address funding shortfalls based on their specific needs and situations. Based on the pilot counties' experiences, investigators developed an interactive guide to help other local agencies in Minnesota follow a similar process.

Final Deliverables:

• System Preservation Guide: A Planning Process for Local Government Management of Transportation Networks (Manual #2016-34A)
• System Preservation Guide Flowchart (Other #2016-34BF)
• System Preservation Guide: A Planning Process for Local Government Management of Transportation Networks (Interactive Guide) (Guidebook #2016-34B)
• Putting Research into Practice: Interactive Guide Helps Local Agencies Address Maintenance Funding Gaps (Research Summary)

Related Materials:

• Squeezed by tight maintenance budgets and rising pavement costs, Minnesota counties consider another option for roads: unpaving them (MinnPost)  (News/Publication Article)
• System Preservation Guide: A Planning Process for Local Government Management of Transportation Networks (Presentation)  (Video/Webinar)
• Back to gravel? As dollars shrink, counties look for solutions  (Blog Post)

Related Research:

Project Personnel:

Principal Investigator:  Lance Bernard

Technical Liaison:  Susan Miller

Project Coordinator:  Farideh Amiri

Panel Members: 
Douglas Fischer - Anoka County
Jodi Teich - Otter Tail County Highway Department
Mark Krebsbach - Dakota County
Michael Marti - SRF Consulting Group Inc.
Rick West - Stonebrooke Engineering