MTC Asset Newsletter Winter 2006

From the Director

by Tom Maze

In addition to authorizing a total of 60 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) through SAFETEA-LU, Congress earmarked funding for several university programs like the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State and a feasibility study on collecting road user fees through on-board computers and GPS at the University of Iowa.

Both the Iowa State and University of Iowa designations are multi-million dollar programs. The list of other fund designations for university research in SAFETEA-LU is long and involves universities throughout the country.

UTC recompetition

Our region (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska) has had a region competition for the UTC three times since 1987. Iowa State has won twice. This spring there will be another competition.

The MTC consortium currently consists of Iowa State University and the University of Missouri–Columbia as senior partners. Junior partners include the University of Missouri–St. Louis, the University of Northern Iowa, Lincoln University (in Jefferson City, Missouri), and the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

New members

For the new UTC, we are proposing to continue with the same consortium members plus one or two new universities from the region. The University of Iowa has already agreed to join the MTC consortium.

All consortium members participate in the MTC educational program. However, non-member universities in the region are welcome to participate in the MTC research program.
In fact this year we received research proposals from two universities that have never participated in the MTC before, Wichita State University and Missouri State University (proposals are currently being evaluated).

Risk and safety theme

For the proposed new center, we plan to shift our focus from the current theme of sustainable asset management to one focusing on minimizing risk and improving transportation safety. Risk and safety are topics that parallel current federal legislation and are emphasized in federal and state research funding programs.

Our proposal for a new consortium will be due in June. If you have thoughts regarding how to make our program better, please contact me or the members of our management team: Charlie Nemmers at UM–Columbia, Ray Mundy at UM–St. Louis, Tim Strauss at UNI, Sharon Koechling-Andrae at Lincoln University, Linda Boyle at Iowa, and David Plazak at CTRE/ISU.