Program Overview

Using progressive research to improve the design and maintenance of rural highway infrastructure…

The nation’s aging transportation infrastructure has received a poor rating in recent reports due to increasing demands and limited resources for maintenance and expansion.  These problems tend to be more acute in rural areas, where the highway or bridge system is the principal (and sometimes only) means of maintaining mobility between remote locations.  Rural transportation agencies need new and innovative solutions to increase the longevity of existing and new infrastructure, and to ensure that new designs are adequate to meet increasing demands.

WTI conducts basic and applied research to address the immediate and long-term construction and maintenance needs of rural highway departments in the following areas:

• Materials – Conduct research using new materials, such as geosynthetics or high performance concrete, to evaluate their benefit in new and rehabilitated highway structures.
• Maintenance – Develop best management practices using cost-benefit analyses to help state highway departments select the most appropriate and cost-effective maintenance methods to extend the life of their facilities.
• Monitoring – Test and evaluate instrumentation and remote sensing technologies to better monitor the condition of transportation infrastructure.

Contact:
Eli Cuelho
elic@coe.montana.edu
406-994-7886