This guide provides background and sample best practice/policy materials to help you understand the current road maintenance funding landscape in Minnesota and beyond.
Policy Reports - Nonprofit Organizations & Government Agencies
Policy reports from think tanks, academic research centers and government agencies can provide excellent background on both current policy and practices in Minnesota as well as reports on model policies and best practices.
- Rehab or Reconstruct? How Two Cities Deal with Old StreetsArticle from Sept/Oct issue of Minnesota Cities magazine, a League of Minnesota Cities publication.
- Transportation Funding and Finance State Bill Tracking Database
From the National Conference of State Legislatures. Track bills and laws across the states to find trends, best practices, etc. - Cost-Effective Pavement Preservation Solutions for the Real WorldResearch Report. Minnesota Department of Transportation. 2014.
- Innovative materials and advanced technologies for a sustainable pavement infrastructureThis research looks at the urgent need for innovative solutions to fix the aging pavement infrastructure. Current materials and technologies cannot keep up with the rate of deterioration and the current funding levels. Developing new materials and technologies could offer a cost effective solution. Research funded by MNDOT.
See the full report by the nonpartisan group Transportation for America.
Search "Road Repair" using the League of Minnesota Cities Resource Library to locate model policy documents, reports and more. See in particular Acquisition and Maintenance of City Streets.
Find more policy reports using the following sources:
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new window PolicyMap is a web-based online data and mapping application that provides access to over 15,000 indicators related to demographics, housing, crime, mortgages, health, jobs and more. Data is available at all common geographies (address, block group, census tract, zip code, county, city, state, MSA) as well as unique geographies like school districts and political boundaries. Data comes from both public and proprietary sources.
- National Conference of State LegislatorsNews, current events, information and analysis to support state legislatures. Bipartisan research on important public policy issues facing state governments.
- Center for Transportation StudiesCTS is the hub for transportation research and education at the University of Minnesota. It supports research in many disciplines, cultivates the transportation workforce, and shares new thinking with various stakeholders and audiences.
- Search MNDOT Research & InnovationLocate completed and ongoing research. PI's and other contact information available for further follow up.
- League of Minnesota CitiesSearch this organization's site for additional state-level model policy and legislative work. Keywords to try include: "city street funding" and more broadly, "financing public improvements".
Research Articles
Sample research articles on municipal road maintenance.
- CRATER: A Crowd Sensing Application to Estimate Road ConditionsArticle from: IEEE Access, 2016, Vol.4, pp.8317-8326
- Survey of practice and literature review on municipal road winter maintenance in CanadaReview this article for additional resources of interest as it relates to cold climate regions.
- Fixing Funding by the Mile: a Primer and Analysis of Road User Charge Systems: Municipal Action GuideReport on research findings conducted by graduate students.
- Towards integrating construction risk management and stakeholder management: A systematic literature review and future research agendasNTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Pages: 701-715
Published: JUL 2018
Search the following for additional articles:
- Engineering Village Search journal articles from 1884-1968 on engineering. Searches both Inspec (1898-1968) and Compendex (1884-1968) Archives for articles and conference papers related to engineering, computer science, and physics.
- Web of Science A comprehensive interdisciplinary collection of journal article citations. Subjects generally covered are within science and technology, arts and humanities, and social sciences. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- Transport Database Transport database searches journal articles, technical reports and conference papers on highways, traffic, road safety, marine transportation, and economic and social aspects of transportation systems. It combines three databases: the Transportation Research Information Services (US), International Road Research Documentation (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), and TRANSDOC (European Conference of Ministers of Transportation). Limited to 4 simultaneous users.
- PAIS Index (Political Science and Public Policy) PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) searches journals and other sources on issues of political science and public policy. This includes government, politics, international relations, human rights and more.
Local, State and National News
- Oregon to Introduce New Car Fees as Gas Tax Is Phased OutFrom Governing Magazine. The state’s gas tax is becoming obsolete as more drivers are opting for electric vehicles, which don’t require gas. Oregon now is mixing incentives and higher registration fees to try to make up the money.
- Report: States Neglect Road RepairsA 2014 report by Smart Growth America charges that states are spending too much on new roads while existing infrastructure deteriorates. Reported in Governing Magazine.
- How are your state's roads funded?From CityLab. Some states shoulder the lion’s share of state and local road costs; others lean on Uncle Sam.
- Local Officials, Public Works Directors, and Engineers Call for City Street Solutions This SessionFrom League of Minnesota Cities News. 2019. Article provide contacts to possibly interview for further updates and plans by city engineers.
- How a Twin Cities Suburb Has Led The Way With Permeable Pavementfrom NextCity.org
Search the following for additional news:
- Access World News Full-text news from over 9,000 news sources in the U.S. and international newspapers, major wire services, and hundreds of local broadcasting outlets and blogs. There are over 100 Minnesota sources. Mostly English language news coverage with some 200 titles in Spanish, French, Afrikaans and other languages.
- Factiva Search millions of newspapers, business magazines, and newswires with international and foreign language coverage with all editions of the Wall Street Journal. Financial information for publicly traded companies, stocks, funds, currencies, and common market indexes. Limited to 7 simultaneous users.
- Next City Next City provides daily online coverage of the leaders, policies and innovations driving progress in metropolitan regions across the world
Last Updated: Mar 30, 2023 1:34 PM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/rcproads