OVERVIEW
Purpose and Need:
Understanding the elements of road design as essential to the engineer/technician to successfully design, construct or administer third party designs of transportation projects. Low Volume road construction in mountainous terrain presents unique issues in transportation infrastructure. It requires a degree of knowledge and skill to lay the road lightly on the ground utilizing alignment and grade in optimize earthmoving tasks. This course will build a foundation of knowledge to develop those skills. The successful student will understand horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, mass diagrams, drainage issues, soils parameters involved in construction of roads and basic estimating of a road project. The design parameters for low volume roads are distinctly different for resource access versus recreation versus administrative use versus residential use. As more in-holdings are developed accessed by agency or tribal low volume roads the residential considerations are becoming more of an issue. All of these aspects of low volume roads will be addressed.
This course concentrates on the practical aspects of the design of low standard, low volume resource access roads. Significant aspects of timber or minerals access roads are compared to those of recreation access. Hand design is performed to instill the concepts and to develop the thought processes that go into production design. Computer applications are discussed throughout the course to relate the work done to that which will be accomplished in actual practice.
Course work covers form survey data reduction and plotting through design, earthwork calculations, drainage, and cost estimating. Each participant may simulate hydrologic conditions and implement design standards normally encountered in his/her home office.
The course includes a design project that participants complete individually. Along with the practice problems and carefully prepared exercises, the design project gives the participant experience using the concepts being discussed.
Learning Outcomes:
Develop basic road design skills including
Comprehension of the basics of horizontal and vertical alignment
Know how to calculate stopping sight distance and proper location of turnouts
Calculate mass diagrams and know techniques to adjust them
Be aware that engineering judgment must be exercised for successful design and construction
Understand elements that go into simple drainage structures including ditches and culverts
An appreciation of the impacts of the native soil materials on road design and construction
An appreciation of the unique construction challenges of the low volume road
Estimate the costs of construction of a low volume road
Assessment of Learning Outcomes:
Student’s achievements will be assessed through class progress, group discussions and one on one review of the student’s final design.
Who Should attend?
This course is designed for the beginning road designer who wants to learn basic principles of road design. The student will design a road project using manual road design techniques. Theory will be initially introduced with time saving techniques taught later in the design process. Basic calculations, formulas, and theory will be covered. Course handouts and publications used by the student will be retained to be used as references at home. Each participant should have a working knowledge of surveying, trigonometry, algebra and geometry and be reasonably familiar with his/her hand-held calculator.