In 2002, CDOT undertook this study in an effort to better understand the complexities of the Federal Highway Administration's new Traffic Noise Model (TNM). The research involved three analysis.
In recent years, prestressed concrete bridges have dominated the bridge type selection processes in Colorado. This can be attributed to a lack of steel mills combined with a strong presence of precast fabricators in the region. In addition, a lack of readily available economical and innovative procedures to design and construct steel bridges has hindered the industry in certain areas such as Colorado. During this research it was identified that designing steel girders as simply supported for the non composite dead loads and continuous for composite dead loads and live loads would provide economy. A preliminary girder selection software was created using this design procedure. The software takes user inputted data, such as span length, width, number of girders along with various other design inputs, and displays the lightest wide flange beam size that would support the loads using AASHTO LRFD Design Specifications. Using the girder selection software, design charts and tables were created to outline structural steel weight to span length and number of girders. The design charts will aid the bridge type selection process by giving designers an accurate measurement of minimum steel requirements for numerous one, two, and three span steel bridges.
Roadside vegetation is exposed to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses that can impact plant health. Drought, pollution, disease, insects, lack of nutrients, and roadbed management practices may potentially act alone or synergistically to adversely affect plants in proximity to the roadside. To date, little published research documents the impacts of certain deicers on vegetation in relationship to other potential stresses. This study provides an ecological impact assessment of factors affecting the health of roadside vegetation in the state of Colorado including potential biotic and abiotic plant stressors and deicer applications.
In this study, the Regional Transportation District's (RTD's) light rail operations were examined for pollutant production and runoff. Conclusions from the study: Water leaving ballasted tracks carries only a small fraction of the heavy metals that are introduced into tracks from the light rail operations. Heavy metal concentrations at the most heavily traveled light rail station showed that pollutant concentrations were far below the regulatory limits.
This study evaluates the strength and long-term performance of CFRP prestressed panels in a bridge deck, compare the behavior of bridge decks designed with the empirical and conventional methods of AASHTO, and a new limit-state design, and examinne the influence of lap splices between precast panels on deck cracking.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is currently investigating approaches to reduce the frequency and severity of work-related injuries. The incident rates for CDOT are significantly higher than those achieved by some private organizations and comparable DOTs.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), Department of Transportation Development (DTD) conducted a study to evaluate the usefulness of the Quantm system for planning transportation improvements in Colorado.
Based on the study presented in this report, it was determined that S50 structural concrete can be produced to meet the requirements of the CDOT Standard Specification for Road and Bridge Construction.
