The North Dakota Department of Transportation is reminding innovators that the deadline to submit an idea for the Transportation Innovation Program is December 31st.
Russ Buchholz, NDDOT innovation and facilities manager, says transportation-based contractors, consultants, suppliers, associations, tribes, and local jurisdictions are all invited to submit ideas. He says ideas submitted in past years are already improving the state.
"So, one would be like our tow plows which are towed behind our snowplows. There are autonomous mowers that we are definitely looking at. Right now, there is a Raster Master mower developed in the Netherlands that we're looking at, that can mow around poles and stuff. We used arial infrared scanning that was done off of our bridge decks with a fixed wing aircraft. One of the other things we looked at was steel dowels or fiber reinforced polymer dowels that are used in our concrete solutions."
Buchholz says they’re looking for transportation innovation ideas to address problems in bridges and structures, construction, operations and maintenance, roadway surfacing, planning, safety, transit, service delivery, and more.
"We're willing to listen, and if it's something that we can implement as far as increased safety, or to save dollars, or to save time, we'll definitely take a look at it."