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    <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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      <link>https://rip.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Ongoing Evaluation of Full-Scale Unpaved Roads Research Test Sites</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2775959</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The goal of the proposed project is to evaluate past Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) unpaved granular-surfaced (gravel) road test sites to identify ones that could provide useful long-term performance data from additional field tests, and to develop a list of proposed sites, test methods, and analysis methods for a Phase II experimental project. Deliverables include a Data Collection Template, a Site Condition Summary, and a final report that serves as a scope recommendation and roadmap for a Phase II project.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:19:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2775959</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Local Tax on Dyed Fuels: Possible Revenue and Implementation Strategies</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2689755</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In rural areas throughout the U.S., in addition to standard gasoline and diesel fuel, “dyed fuel” is also available for purchase. This type of fuel, which is typically 28 to 98 cents less expensive per gallon, is not taxed because it is supposed to be used only for vehicles that do not use the local road systems. However, many of these vehicles, such as farm and construction equipment used in areas (e.g. liquid manure spreaders, grain carts, feed trucks, combine harvesters, excavators, etc.…) are much heavier than the average personal vehicle, and often use secondary roads for moving such equipment. These vehicles damage the many rural paved and unpaved roads. As such, those who maintain these roads systems do not have sufficient financial resources to repair these ongoing damages due to this lack of income from taxes. There is therefore an opportunity to consider methods of applying a local fee structure on the use of dyed fuel, to help to recuperate the cost of maintaining secondary road systems. This research will focus on assessing, first, the current state of this challenge, including a literature review and survey of the use of dyed fuels. Next, interviews of stakeholders will seek to identify the state of the challenges associated with dyed fuel use and to assess the support and/or resistance to establishing an additional mechanism to recuperate funds. It will then propose possible methods to address this challenge, supported by financial and policy analysis on the impact of each. 

The idea for this proposal originated directly from county engineers, specifically personnel in Iowa drove the development of the initial idea of this proposed effort, which was further strongly supported by Arizona DOT personnel. These individuals are responsible for maintaining local transportation infrastructure. These conversations made it clear that especially rural counties have significant infrastructure maintenance costs that in many cases are greater than the available funds. The proposed work is specifically designed to evaluate the scope of these challenges, and work with stakeholders to identify solutions. The Iowa Highway Research Board has already voted to provide a full one-to-one match in support of this proposed effort. They have expressed clear support and enthusiasm for the project, noting that counties across Iowa—and likely many other states—stand to benefit from a structured evaluation of needs and practical mechanisms that work toward implementation pathways. This underscores strong confidence in potential impacts.  ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:18:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2689755</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Using a Cosmic Ray Neutron Rover to Measure Unpaved Road Moisture for Improved Maintenance and Safety</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2408378</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Unpaved roads represent an important component of the nation’s transportation portfolio. The moisture of unpaved roads affects their preservation, safety, and health impacts. However, monitoring road moisture has been difficult because rapid, non-invasive measurement methods have not been readily available. In recent years, cosmic ray neutron (CRN) rovers have been developed, which can rapidly sense nearby water. Because most of the CRN signal originates near sensor, CRN rovers can potentially observe road moisture when driven on unpaved roads. The objective of this project is to evaluate the accuracy of a CRN rover for monitoring the moisture of unpaved roads. The project will focus on a lightly traveled section of an unpaved road in Colorado. The road moisture will be estimated by combining the rover measurements with landscape soil moisture estimates obtained by downscaling SMAP remote sensing data. Also, methods for shielding the CRN rover to reduce the landscape signal and emphasize the road moisture will be tested.  The resulting road moisture estimates from both approaches will be evaluated by comparing to gravimetric moisture measurements from road material samples.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jul 2024 21:37:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2408378</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Low Cost Safety Strategies for Unpaved Rural Roads</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2342170</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Unpaved roads make up the majority of roadway miles within the state of Iowa. As of the end of 2019, 62.4% of the roadway miles in Iowa are unpaved with the ownership of these mainly being counties. These unpaved roads have lower traffic volumes, but still are the sites of fatal and serious injury crashes throughout the state. As these crashes tend to be widespread and not clustered in single areas, to improve safety on these roads, low cost treatments are often used to treat larger portions of the roadway. Most research and guidance materials available related to low cost countermeasures relate to applications on paved roads. This project would help to address this gap by focusing on low cost safety improvements for unpaved roads.

The proposed objectives are: (1) develop a toolbox of strategies for improving safety on unpaved rural roads based on available research and guidance; (2) demonstration projects for innovative (possibly untested) safety improvement concepts for unpaved roads; and (3) field research to develop crash modification factors or surrogate safety metrics to determine the effectiveness of various rural road safety strategies on unpaved rural roads.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Feb 2024 17:35:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2342170</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Analysis of Benefits and Costs for Gravel and Unpaved Roads</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875087</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Unpaved roads are owned and maintained by county, township or tribal jurisdictions. Due to lower funding levels, there may be a lack of formal planning and prioritization of unpaved road networks with a focus on repair rather than preservation. As construction costs increase, prioritization of scarce funds is required to maintain an existing system. Over the last decade, construction costs have increased while funding has remained relatively constant (Federal Highway Administration 2018). This research is intended to develop a framework that includes user costs, condition analysis, life-cycle analysis and benefit-cost analysis for use in quantifying the impacts of maintenance and improvement activities on unpaved and gravel roads.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:44:05 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875087</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Use of Waste Quarry Fines as a Binding Material on Unpaved Roads</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1505639</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In this project, the research team proposes to conduct laboratory and field tests to examine the impact of inclusion of waste quarry fines in granular aggregate materials used in unpaved road designs, using materials collected from various quarries. Based on the laboratory test results, field test sections will be constructed using materials with different quarries. The field performance of sections built with different quarry fines will be compared. Then, a comprehensive cost-performance and life cycle cost analyses will be conducted to evaluate the cost effectiveness and sustainability of these unpaved roads to determine whether it is economically advantageous to add waste quarry fines into granular unpaved road materials. It should be noted that this study is proposed to be conducted under the partnership of the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) and Recycled Materials Resource Center (RMRC).

The objectives of the proposed research are to: (1) Determine the stiffness and strength of unpaved road materials blended with different quarry fines; (2) Determine the long term performance of field test sections built with optimum quarry fines content; and (3) Analyze the life cycle cost and cost effectiveness of this approach.

The research team will consist of personnel from the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University to effectively manage the project and complete the required tasks. For planning purposes, it is assumed that this project will have a 24 month duration. The proposed research will consist of seven tasks: Task 1: Meet with the Project's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to Review the Project Scope and Work Plan.
Task 2: Literature Review.
Task 3: Collection of Materials and Development of a Laboratory Test Matrix.
Task 4: Laboratory Testing.
Task 5: Construction of Field Test Sections and Development of Field Testing Plan.
Task 6: Analyses of the Cost Effectiveness of Materials Available in Iowa.
Task 7: Preparation of Draft/Final Report.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 21 Mar 2018 11:43:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1505639</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of the Mechanical and Environmental Performance of Biofuel Co-Product-Stabilized Unpaved Roads</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1436717</link>
      <description><![CDATA[More than 50% of roadways in Iowa are classified as unpaved. The performance and long-term sustainability of such roads are dependent on the quality of the surfacing material, which varies considerably by location. The large, unbound particles form an unstable road surface that becomes rough, developing potholes and corrugations as the “floating” material is scattered by vehicles or washed away by rain. As a result, such roads require more frequent maintenance and reconstruction, which becomes very expensive for Iowa counties. Therefore, it is important to construct unpaved roads with materials that can sustain their performance for a considerable amount of time with less maintenance. This problem can be addressed economically in locations that are close to sources of considerable amounts of biofuel co-products (BCPs).
Loess soil was mixed with four different biofuel co-products: lignosulfonate, glycerin bottoms, crude glycerine, and glycerin 95. The soil was mixed with 4, 8, 12, and 16% BCP by weight. Results of the study showed that lignosulfonate improved the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the loess soil to some extent, while such trends were not observed for the mixtures prepared with glycerin products. Leaching tests focused on the pH and leaching of metals such as Cr, Al, Fe, As, and Zn from soil mixtures. The addition of the BCP did not influence the pH of the loess soil, and none of the mixtures leached metals that were above the detection limit of the equipment. These results indicate that BCPs do not pose any environmental threat when used as a dust control or stabilizing agent in unpaved roads.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2016 12:07:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1436717</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Biocement for Road Repair</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1360873</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Road repair is an expensive operation every year. This cost can be greatly reduced if waste materials from mining and biofuel industries can be used to substitute conventional materials for road repair or construction. The objective of this project is to develop methods to produce a new construction material, biocement, using waste products and apply the new material for road repair and construction. Two types of waste will be used in this study. One is limestone fines produced from a limestone mine in Iowa. Another is organic acids, a byproduct produced from pyrolysis-based biofuel manufacturing process. The limestone fines and organic acids can be used to produce biocement under ambient temperature in an inexpensive way. The cost-effective biocement can be used as a substitute for expensive cement for roads repair and construction. Biocement grout, or biogrout, can be injected directly into cavities or cracks in pavement for road repair. As the viscosity of biogrout is low, biogrout can penetrate better into the road pavement than cement grout. Biocement mixed aggregate can be used for base or subbase for road construction. Biocement solution can also be applied directly onto shoulders as a stabilizer on unpaved roads as a dust control agent. The focus of this project will be on the development of cost-effective biocement products and its effectiveness for road repair. Once the methods for biocement production and its applications are established in lab-scale, field experiments will be carried out as a following up study.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 01:01:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1360873</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Spatial Extent of the Impact of Transported Road Materials on the Ecological Function of Forested Landscapes</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359761</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project investigates the impact of different types of roads on the plant community structure and soil environment (chemical and biological) of nearby forests. Our hypothesis is that deicing salt and other road particles alter the soil environment and local plant diversity of surrounding forests, and that the extent of the impact decreases with greater distance from the road. Furthermore, this impact is likely to vary depending on road type and presence or absence of a swale to collect and redirect material flows. We are sampling plant community structure, soil chemistry, and soil biology of the roadside landscape for three road types (unpaved, paved 2-land, and highway) and two road profiles (swale, no swale) at six different distances from the road edge. We will also include additional variables such as traffic volume in the analysis. The sampling location, road edges, and all sampling points are precisely geo-referenced and mapped. At each sampling location, measurements of slope, aspect, elevation, road width, tree canopy gap width will be determined. This empirical data will be used to develop a methodology that can be used within transportation models to determine the total landscape impact based on alternative development scenarios and road density patterns.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:01:13 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1359761</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Alaska Rural Airport Inspection Program</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1256519</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Airport infrastructure in rural Alaska experiences unique problems and requires high level maintenance by virtue of cold climate. Freezing temperatures and weathering variably affects airport runway condition and equipment across the state. To compound this issue, many runways in rural Alaska are unpaved lending the runway to erosion. We noted the problem with erosion during work being conducted on several rural runways under a different project during summer 2008. Several runways seemed to be undermined by erosion, which could eventually result in a possible failure of the runway surface. As in any unpaved surface, routine inspection &amp; maintenance is required on these runways, however the remoteness of many Alaskan villages results in infrequent thorough inspections. Consistent with AUTC's 2008 Roadmap theme of maintaining transportation systems, a comprehensive airport inspection program is needed to improve transportation safety and reduce maintenance costs for Alaska's transportation infrastructure. We propose to develop and implement an inspection program of rural airports for the Alaska Department of Transportation &amp; Public Facilities (AKDOT&amp;PF). The scope of the proposed inspection program was developed with input from AKDOT&amp;PF. Maintaining a workforce in the AKDOT&amp;PF has also become an issue over the last several years. Retirements and turnover has left the Department with a reduced staff. The inspection program described in this proposal provides an excellent opportunity for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to work with the AKDOT&amp;PF to provide sophomore or junior year civil engineering students' hands-on experience in transportation engineering. Thus, transportation engineering workforce development is an associated objective of this proposed project. We will train interested civil engineering students on how to take the proper field measurements and samples and document the condition of the rural airports to be inspected. Under our guidance, the students will analyze the field measurements and conduct the necessary tests in our laboratories on samples gathered in the field. The students will also write the reports documenting the condition of the airports. Through this experience the students will be introduced to the challenges of transportation engineering in Alaska and the possibilities of working in this field.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 17 Jul 2013 01:00:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1256519</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Performance of Dust Palliatives on Unpaved Roads in Rural Alaska</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1256369</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Dust control in many rural Alaska communities is becoming a priority. Fugitive dust impacts health, quality of life and increases road maintenance costs as material is lost from the road surface. Over the last several years several agencies in Alaska including the Alaska Department of transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&amp;PF), local governments, and several native corporations have been working on solutions to the problem of fugitive dust. One viable solution these agencies have been attempting is to control dust through the use of chemical palliatives applied to unpaved roads and runways. This method can be expensive depending on the palliative used on the unpaved surface. Agencies are currently focusing on calcium chloride (CaCl2), synthetic fluids and a few promising other products such as enzymatic fluids. While experience in Alaska with CaCl2 is extensive, the longevity of the product on unpaved surfaces under different conditions is only known qualitatively: when is the road getting to dusty from a visual perspective. Hence reapplication is either on a set time schedule (such as done on the Elliot Highway) or when the road becomes too dusty and complaints are received from area residents (as is most likely done on some shorter more rural roads). These methods might work well given the experience, but may not be cost effective. In some cases, reapplication of CaCl2 may come too soon when the previous application is still performing adequately. Further, the longevity of other products on rural Alaska roads is still unknown. The first objective of this project is to assess the longevity of different palliatives newly applied to rural Alaska village roads over two summer seasons. For this study we will monitor three villages (Tanana, Fort Yukon, and Galena) that have or will be receiving palliatives all of which are close to Fairbanks making frequent measurements possible. In addition we will also monitor palliatives that will be applied to sections of road and monitored in North Pole &amp; in Point McKenzie, Alaska. We will monitoring and asses palliative performance using an instrument we developed to measure dust that can be lofted off of unpaved roads (loftable dust) and runways known as UAF-DUSTM. In addition to the proposed project described above the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) has requested that we try to associate dust concentrations measured with UAF/DUSTM to measurements made using stationary monitors of the type used by regulatory agencies to monitor compliance with the regulatory standard. Hence, the second objective of this proposal is to correlate loftable dust concentrations measured with UAF- DUSTM to fugitive dust concentrations measured with static monitors.  This proposed study will take place on the new test track proposed in the North Pole area &amp; possibly in one more of the proposed study villages (Tanana, Galena, or Fort Yukon, Alaska). Developing this correlation will enable us to determine how much of the measured fugitive dust is due to unpaved roads, a controllable emission source and how much is due to uncontrollable sources.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jul 2013 01:00:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1256369</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development of an Alaska Specification for Palliative Applications on Unpaved Roads and Runways</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1245549</link>
      <description><![CDATA[For the past seven years, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&amp;PF) Northern Region has been applying different palliatives to runways at rural airports in Alaska's northern region. As of summer 2008 approximately 33 runways had been treated with palliatives. In addition, Kawerak, Incorporated has applied palliatives to roadways in several northwest Alaskan villages. The only guidance in applying these palliatives has come from the manufactures of the palliatives. According to the ADOT&amp;PF, specifications provided to the contractors applying these palliatives have been very loose. Specifically, the specification calls for an "effective and evident dust palliative effect (diminishment of fugitive dust release to a negligible level) for at least two full years after application." Further, the specification instructs that the "dust palliative effect must be available when the dust control product is applied to a wide range of normal and common surfacing aggregates…" In the specification as written, the requirement of effective and evident dust palliative effect is not quantifiable. Thus if the palliative does not perform, the ADOT&amp;PF would have a difficult time arguing that the contractor did not satisfy the terms of the contract. In addition the specification does not provide any specification on dust palliative placement. The objective of this proposed project is to write a set of performance based specifications that cover the application of dust control palliatives to unpaved transportation surfaces in Alaska. To meet this project objective we will assess the effectiveness of palliatives to reduce loftable dust using our newly developed portable dust instrument UAF Dust Monitor (UAF - DUSTM developed by Barnes, Johnson, T. Marsik, and R. Wies). With these results, we will compare the effectiveness of newly laid palliative and palliative that has been applied one to three years prior. From these results we will develop a reasonable performance based specification. We anticipate that the specification will include measurement of palliative performance using UAF-DUSTM or a comparable instrument.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 09 Mar 2013 01:01:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1245549</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Dust Measurement to Determine Effectiveness of Rural Dust Strategies</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1234599</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Dust produced from unpaved roads in rural Alaska is impacting the quality of life in many villages in Alaska and other cold regions. Not only does dust emanating from unpaved roads cause respiratory ailments but also impacts subsistence food storage and sources as well as safety as dust impacts visibility on village streets. Loss of fine particles also greatly impacts the quality of road surfaces creating increased maintenance costs. Replacing the fines content in unpaved road surfaces is costly owing to the lack of suitable material and equipment in many villages. The expectation for many communities is that paving their roads will solve their problems. In some cases this may be possible. In many rural environments, however, lack of suitable material or cost prohibitive sources, unsuitable foundation materials, or inability to maintain the improved roads preclude pavement as an option. A suitable option for many rural villages may be dust control palliatives and institutional controls. However, there is little consensus on how to measure the effectiveness, economics, and environmental impacts of dust control approaches that are compatible with the subsistence lifestyle common in remote rural communities in Alaska and other cold regions. The objective of this proposed project is to support the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (AKDOT&amp;PF) in their evaluation of different dust control methods by developing a roadmap identifying critical dust control research needs for Alaska and by developing a method to measure the effectiveness of dust control strategies by measuring dust produced from lengths of roadways that have been treated with palliatives and from roadways where institutional controls have been attempted such as speed limits. This project has three main tasks: (1) development of a dust control research roadmap that strategically identifies and prioritizes critical dust control research needs in Alaska and other rural cold regions, (2) development of instrumentation and methodology to monitor the production of dust from road surfaces, and (3) testing the methodology by supporting the AKDOT&amp;PF with their field tests of different dust control measures in the test village and other locations around the state such as village airports. Dust is impacting the quality of life in the villages throughout Alaska and other cold regions. In addition, loss of fine aggregate from unpaved roads greatly increases the cost to maintain the road surface. Decreasing the amount of fines that are lost from road surfaces will result in the following benefits to the State of Alaska: (1) improve the quality of life in rural villages, and (2) decrease maintenance costs on unpaved roads.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:15:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1234599</guid>
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