As planning and preparing for future transportation technologies is a significant challenge, the Highway 52 Connected and Automated Vehicles Study sought to understand how CAV applications can benefit travelers and communities between the Twin Cities and Rochester. Local, state, and federal government, regional planners, transportation professionals, law enforcement, engineers, and safety experts were engaged to identify transportation challenges and prioritize corridor needs.
MnDOT and SRF took a systematic approach to determining how CAV applications can address transportation challenges. Rather than just deploying and testing new technologies, the study team led a virtual stakeholder engagement process to first understand the transportation challenges along the Highway 52 corridor. SRF and MnDOT then worked together to identify specific CAV applications to address these challenges.
The recommended CAV applications included the expansion of MnDOT’s existing intelligent transportation system deployments as well as innovative transportation technology solutions involving machine vision and learning, third-party data, data fusion and integration, and custom information portals. They were selected because they have the potential to address safety challenges that meet needs identified by transportation stakeholders. These technologies have the potential to improve the lives of Minnesotans by advancing safety, reducing transportation barriers, and creating a more efficient transportation system.
The Highway 52 Connected and Automated Vehicles Study is an important step in determining how CAV can be implemented on Minnesota’s roadways. MnDOT will use the findings from this first-of-its-kind grassroots study to guide future CAV research, planning, investments, and deployments along Highway 52 over the coming years.