Browsing by Author "Murphy, James"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Collaborative Solutions for an Aging Minnesota A Report to the Minnesota Board on Aging
    (HHH, 2015-08-10) Murphy, James; Reger, Sheila; Sharma, Rajesh; Suomala, Adam
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    Performance of Turfgrass Cultivars in Multiple Northern U.S. Roadside Environments
    (2018-11) Watkins, Eric; Trappe, Jon; Renz, Mark; Murphy, James; Park, Bradley; Frank, Kevin; Hathaway, Aaron; Soldat, Douglas; Bero, Nicholas; Kreuser, William
    Survival of turf along roadsides is a challenge in many states in the central and northern U.S. due to stresses that include high levels of salt from deicing operations, drought stress from a lack of irrigation, and temperature extremes. State departments of transportation recommend mixtures for various roadside environments; however, many of these mixture recommendations are either outdated or are developed without supporting research data collected by an unbiased source. The objective of this study was to assess potential roadside turfgrasses across multiple states in the northern U.S. to generate unbiased data for use by public agencies.
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    Regional Roadside Turfgrass Testing Program
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2019-08) Watkins, Eric; Trappe, Jon; Moncada, Kristine; Renz, Mark; Soldat, Doug; Kreuser, William; Murphy, James; Frank, Kevin
    Roadsides are a challenging environment for successfully establishing turfgrass. Site-specific stresses demand multi-site testing of grasses and grass mixtures. This study evaluated 60 entries that varied by cultivar, species, or mixture by establishing on-site trials in MI, MN, NE, NJ, and WI. The entries tested included 50 individual cultivars and 10 standard mixtures, two from each participating state based on their current specifications. One location in each state was along an urban or suburban street with a curb, while the second location was along a rural highway without a curb having a ditch that slopes away from the road with a daily traffic volume of at least 30,000 vehicles. Plots were seeded at most sites in late summer 2016, and data were collected through spring 2018. Turfgrass performance was assessed by counting living turf cover, weed cover, and bare soil using the grid intersect method in the spring and fall of each year. Species and cultivar performance varied among locations. Several species showed potential for inclusion in effective mixtures. Other species performed well at some locations and poorly at others. Performance of standard mixtures was also inconsistent across locations. This research demonstrates the need for locally generated data on roadside turfgrass performance.
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    Rosemount Non-Motorized Transportation Evaluation Plan
    (Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2014) Harens, Liz; Larson, Jenna; Murphy, James; Rojas, Elizabeth; Winner, Danielle
    This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between the City of Rosemount and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). The Rosemount City Council has set goals of increasing well-designed and diverse public spaces and increase existing transportation and transit options. To these ends, the City has developed plans and made investments to make Rosemount a community where choosing to bicycle or walk is a safe, convenient, and enjoyable recreation and transportation option for everyone. However, there are few resources at the national, state, or local level to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts. The goal of this project was to create a formative evaluation plan for assessing how well Rosemount’s non-motorized transportation planning efforts have achieved the City’s goals of making walking and biking safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable for residents. In collaboration with city project lead Jason Lindahl, a planner for the City of Rosemount, a team of students in PA 5311: Program Evaluation designed an evaluation plan to determine how Rosemount can assess and improve its Non-Motorized Transportation Program and provided recommendations for evaluation implementation. A final report from the project is available.