The Local Road Research Board has funded 29 new research and implementation projects to address issues facing the Minnesota transportation community including managing stormwater, improving asphalt durability, rural road safety, and drone guidelines for maintenance use.
Last year, the state’s city and county engineers proposed more than 65 ideas for possible funding in 2025. In addition to the 18 academic research projects, the LRRB funded 11 consultant proposals through its research implementation program.
“We have a great slate of projects this year thanks to the input of county and city transportation practitioners throughout Minnesota,” said Lon Aune, board chair. “The contributions of our local partners make our research possible. We encourage you to stay involved by serving on a technical advisory panel or signing up for project alerts.”
To receive email updates about a specific project, “subscribe” by using the link to the project page below.
If you are interested in volunteering for a technical advisory panel, please email research.dot@state.mn.us.
2025 LRRB Research and Implementation Projects
Environmental
- Quantifying the Influence of Driver Behavior on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Air Quality
- Innovative Stormwater Solutions for Linear Projects*
- Feasibility of LED Solar Street Lighting
- Development of Biochar Specification Criteria as Soil Amendment for Slopes, Conveyances and Stormwater Treatment Systems, Phase 2*
Implementation
- Environmental Permitting Requirements & Best Practices
- Best Practices for Electric Vehicles Charging Stations
- Best Practices for Developing Request for Proposals (RFPs)
- Best Practices for Effective Completion of Crash Reports by Law Enforcement
- Load Posting Implements of Husbandry and Emergency Vehicles for Minnesota’s Local Bridge Inventory
- Effective Purchasing of Public Works Materials, Vehicles and Equipment
- Guidance for Reducing Urban Street Signage
- Evaluation of Roundabout Crash Rates/Effectiveness Roundabout Driver Education for Local Agency Use
- Agency Guidance for Addressing Artistic/Creative Pavement Painting on Public Roads
- Best Practices Addressing Elements within the Public ROW during Construction
- Drone Guidelines for Maintenance Use
Materials & Construction
- Tools to Improve the Durability of Asphalt Pavements*
- Evaluating and Implementing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for Continuous and Rapid Monitoring of Moisture Fluctuations in In-Service Roads*
- Are Current Rigid Pavement Roundabout Designs Working in Minnesota?*
- Holistic Design and Selection Criteria for Unbound Geomaterials Used in Pavement Systems*
- Design Guidance and Best Practices for the Use of Light Fill
Multimodal
Policy & Planning
- Refining the Understanding of Parking Space Requirements and Its Impact on Vehicle Miles Traveled
- Speed Impacts on Complete Streets Elements, Phase II*
Traffic & Safety
- Evaluation of Driver Speeds After Implementation of Speed Limit Reduction on Urban Streets*
- Estimating Likely Mode Shift and Vehicle-Miles-Travelled-Reduction Potential Using Transportation Business Intelligence Data and AI Algorithms*
- Bike Infrastructure Planning Based on Mobile-Sourced Data and Anticipated Route Shifts
- Exploring Completeness and Accuracy of Driver Crash Reporting of Property Damage Only Crashes
- Leveraging C-V2X and Advanced Communications/Sensing for Rural Road Safety
- A Novel Red Light Running Warning System Using Connected v2i Technology, Phase 2: Driver Testing on Public Roads
*Indicates joint funding by the Local Road Research Board and State Research Program. See MnDOT website for additional research projects, funded solely by the state research program.