CE 195 Freshman Civil Engineering Design
Evelyn Perez

Introduction:

This web page documents the planning and design of a proposed road for a recreational area at location (E4,075,500; N4,137,000). The project was to come up with a design for a road that would provide access to a new recreational area being built at a certain location. This webpage provides information on how the group went about completing this task at each step of the way.  Provided is my chosen road design along with drawings, graphs, calculations, profiles, and so forth. 

What is Civil Engineering design?- This link shows some of the basic steps and procedures used in designing any Civil Engineering project.

Problem Definition:

The link will give you information and explain the problem associated with the task

Alternatives Considered:

Before choosing the road that I plotted, I originally had four other roads drawn in on my map.  Three of those roads had high percentage slopes and I needed to fix the slope values so they wouldn’t be as steep.  I was able to fix one of the roads and fix the slope values by a bit.  Still, one of my slopes is very steep as it connects to the existing road.  Compared to the other roads that I had it wasn’t that bad though.  All of my roads were about the same length, about 5,400 feet long. My choice in the road route was not based on its length.  The road I chose follows the contour lines smoothly compared to the other ones.  I am still not pleased in a few of my slopes on the road, but I think that later on I will be able to try to adjust these values.  I might just have to change the direction of the road slightly in order to decrease these slope values.

Data Gathering:

This link shows some of the data collected

Analysis of Alternative :

    A).  Route (Longitudinal Profile)
This link shows the road profile

    B).  Excel Cross Sections
This shows some cross sections at certain locations

    C).  Auto-CAD Cross Sections
This shows some cross sections including cut and fill areas at certain locations

Volume & Area Calculations:

This link give the area and volume for the cut and fill planning for specified cross-sections.

Costs:
The link provides material costs and parking lot cost
* excludes construction costs and other fees

Project Constraints (advantages & disadvantages):

    Some of the constraints involved in this project are environmental concerns. For example, the recreational area is located in a mountain area where there are many trees.  While constructing the road, many trees will be cut down and this might effect the surrounding environment.  With all the construction in that area, the natural habitat will be affected stirring up social and political issues concerning the environment.  Therefore, this is one of the disadvantages involved in my road design.  In the route I choose, we will try to cut the least amount of trees in order to conserve our natural environment. 

In terms of safety, turn outs will be constructed along the road in case of emergency.  Due to the area being located at a high elevation, the road is steep at some points and turn outs will be convenient for drivers.  The road will not be built around any historical landmark so that will not be a constraint.  The construction of this road will be different than just a regular road on the ground because this road goes up hill and will involve cut and fills in order to make the grades lower and for the road to be smoother. 

In the end, our group picked which group member had the best route and we successfully complete the proposed road project to the recreational area. We followed the engineering design process and implemented its steps throughout the project.