The Minnesota Road Research Facility (also known as MnROAD, pronounced Min-road), is an outdoor research laboratory operated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) that specializes in testing different types of pavement. It is located northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul near the town of Albertville along Interstate 94 (I-94), and in 1996, the Federal Highway Administration said it was the largest outdoor pavement research facility in the world. Minnesota is a good site for such a project, as the state experiences some of the largest seasonal swings in temperature in the United States, and has a spring freeze–thaw cycle that can heavily damage roadways. More than 4,500 sensors are embedded in and under the road surfaces to measure stresses while the test segments are in use. and opened in 1994. It earned an Award of Merit in the Federal Highway Administration's 1996 Excellence in Highway Design competition.