Institute for Transportation

About the research

The traditional method of tracking material deliveries to roadway and bridge construction sites has been for inspectors to collect paper tickets from haul truck operators. The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), however, is a national leader in the innovative alternative to this method: e-ticketing.

As defined by the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Every Day Counts, Round 6 (EDC-6) initiative, e-ticketing is the provision of “an electronic means to produce, transmit, and share materials data and track and verify materials deliveries.”

The digitization of this data collection and processing procedure has numerous benefits:

• Increased safety for job site construction inspectors through a reduction in their exposure to work zone vehicles
• Time savings through real-time access to data and reduced processing times
• Higher-quality project paperwork through more consistent and efficient project documentation
• Standardization of the data collected, allowing for easier access and analysis that might define future improvements and/or quantification of program impacts