CVEN 635 STREET & HIGHWAY DESIGN

CVEN 635STREET & HIGHWAY DESIGN Instructor: Dominique Lord Room 301A (CE/TTI Tower) Phone: (979) 458-3949 d-lord@tamu.edu Fall 2013

TEXTBOOK • Required Text: Texas Roadway Design Manual, Revised May 2010, http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/rdw/rdw.pdf • Recommended Texts: • A Policy on Geometric Design of Highway and Streets, 6th Ed., American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), 2011. • Schoon, J.G. Geometric Design Projects for Highways: An Introduction, 2nd Edition, ASCE, Reston, Va., 1999.

TEXTBOOK • Recommended Texts: • Highway Design (a textbook I created for CVEN 456) at AcademicPub.com: • http://academicpub.sharedbook.com/serve/ac/acapub/student_product_page.html?slug=1376952605_2_605 • (you’ll need to register to access this link) • eBook: $49.90, B/W Print: $78.32, Color print: $150.00 (B&W is good enough) • www.academicpub.com

TEXTBOOK • Other relevant material: • Wright, P.H., and Dixon, K. Highway Engineering. 7th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J., 2004. • Lamm, R., Psarianos, B., and Mailaender, T., Highway Design and Traffic Safety Engineering Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York, New York, 1999. • Staplin, L., Lococo, K., Byington, S., and Harkey, D. Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians. U.S.DOT/FHWA Publication No. FHWA-RD-01-103. Washington, D.C., 2001.

TEXTBOOK • Other relevant material: • Fitzpatrick, and Wooldridge, M. NCHRP Synthesis 299, Recent Geometric Design Research for Improved Safety and Operations, Transportation Research Board, 2001. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_299.pdf • The Access Board, Accessible Rights-of-Way: A Design Guide, 2002. www.access-board.gov • FHWA, Flexibility in Highway Design, Washington, D.C., 2005. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/flex/index.htm

ACCESS TO MATERIAL • https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/dlord/CVEN_635_Course_Material.htm

GRADING • Assignments: 25% (5-6) • Laboratories: 35% (5-6) • Term Paper: 30% (due Dec. 2nd, 2013; presentation on Nov. 26th) • Class Participation: 10% • Grading Scheme: • A = 90% and above, B = 80 to 89%, C = 70 to 79%, D = 60 to 69%, F = below 60%

TOPICS COVERED • Basic Design: Highway Design Classification, Design Controls and Criteria & Alignments (1 lecture) • Design and Operational Speeds (1 lecture) • Design Consistency (1 lecture) • Flexibility in Highway Design and Design Exceptions (1 lecture) • Three-Dimensional Alignment (1 lecture) • Interchange Design (2 lectures) • HOV and Managed Lanes (1 lecture) • Roadside Design (1 lecture) • Designing for Older Drivers (1-lecture) • Designing for Pedestrians & Cyclists, include accessibility (ADA) issues (1 lecture) • Environmental Impacts and Highway Design (1 lecture)

Week of Sept 8th, 2013 • Because of guest lecturer, may need to change day and time: • Thursday afternoon (after 2 or 3 pm) • Friday afternoon (after 2 or 3 pm). • Need to check availability of rooms.

Examples of highway design problems • 5 Terrible U.S. Road and Highway Designs: Lessons Learned • http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/infrastructure/5-terrible-us-road-and-highway-designs • Liability (big business) • Ex: http://www.stritmatter.com/_pdf/skwc-HighwayDesignLiability.pdf

Examples of highway design problems http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/dumbroad/justkid.jpg

Examples of highway design problems http://www.righthandfirm.com/photos/highway-design.jpg

Examples of highway design problems http://weathergraphics.com

Examples of highway design problems

Examples of new design tools • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df59mWQdGtQ

Examples of new design tools http://www.trafficsafetydirect.com/img/glass_beads_2.jpg

Important Issues in Highway Design • Automobile Oriented Society • More cars than drivers (BTS Survey 03) • Shift from construction of new facilities to maintenance of existing facilities (e.g., lane widening, paving, intelligent transportation systems, etc.) • Resurgence in highway funding • Concern for conditions of infrastructure • Renewed public willingness for public expenditures (e.g., recent bill in Texas to increase funding for highways) • Reauthorization of transportation funds ($286.5B) • 2012 Bill signed on July 6th (http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/Transit_Bill_Summary_and_Funding_Chart.pdf)

Important Issues in Highway Design • Fleet of vehicles • Larger trucks/smaller vehicles • Better vehicles performance and design (e.g., lower center of gravity, improved acceleration, lighter vehicle components, etc.) • Age of population • Baby boomers are getting older (20% 65+ in 2003) • Safety issues with older (i.e., visual search, reaction time, more fragile health, etc.)

Important Issues in Highway Design • Value Engineering • New area that aims to find ways to save money in design • Has been applied in highway design • Can compromise safety (e.g., Highway 407 in Ontario, Canada) • Liability • Increasing number of lawsuits (DOTs, Cities, MPOs, etc.) • Usually always based on (un)safety (after crashes occur)

Important Issues in Design • Safety Audits • Becoming increasingly popular (liability is a factor) • Explicitly look at all safety components of a project (from initial concept to construction) • Goes beyond design guidelines • Partial truth: good design may avoid many problems • New design criteria under development • Less focused on vehicle speed • Sensitive context design • Transportation Security • Terrorist threats against transportation infrastructures • See, e.g., http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/dva/SecurityActivities.pdf

Important Issues in Design • Strategic Research • Operational effects • Safety effects • Design tools • Non-motorized vehicles or users (pedestrians, bicyclists) • Unusual design (large intersections) • Innovative design (pedestrian crosswalks) • Technology (influences the design process) • Low volume roads • Environmental impacts • Toll and HOV lanes

CVEN 635 STREET & HIGHWAY DESIGN