The objective of this project is to create, compare, and choose the best fit alignment to complete the eastern inner loop in the State College area.
Sponsored by: Civil and Enviromental Engineering
Team Members
Stephen Marozzi Kyle Jacobsen Avery Miller Muhammad Umar Azhar
Instructor: Brian St John
Project Poster
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Project Video
Project Summary
Overview
Pennsylvania State University Civil Engineering majors focused in Transportation Engineering were tasked to create an Inner loop for the east side of the State College area. A Western Inner Loop has been created but the east side has not moved past the preliminary studies. Our group has created and compared three alternative alignments trying to connect the intersection of Blue Course Dr and Martin Street with the intersection of East Park Avenue and University Dr.
Objectives
– After designing our three alignments we calculated our projected environment impact score, projected crash rates along with using a benefit-cost analysis tool to determine the benefit-cost ratio of our alignment.
– We also estimated our pavement design, earth work costs, and land acquisition.
– We provided CAD drawings of our alignments with cut/fill cross sections, curve and tangents lengths with PC, PT, start, and end stations.
Approach
– Create three alignments connecting the intersection of Blue Course Dr and
North Atherton St with the intersection of East Park Avenue and University Dr.
We will choose the best based on calculations of these three.
– Rate impact area, impact score, and area types for environmental inventory.
– Calculate crash prediction and travel time and compare with current crash rates
and travel times.
– Cost estimation for earth works, pavement design, and crash costs.
– We used the following programs:
– HCS+ : To determine our level of services for each alignment
– Excel: Safety risk assessment and cost benefit analysis
– AUTOCAD CIVIL 3D: To Design Three different Alternatives
– Redbook Wizard: Estimating the cost benefit analyses
– We created CAD models containing three for each of the following:
– Horizontal Alignment
– Vertical Alignment with Cross Sections
– Vertical Alignment
– Cut/Fill Cross Sections
Outcomes
– The alternative we decided to go with based on our calculations and if it is
environmentally friendly was the Blue Course Drive – Martin Street – Vairo
Boulevard – East Park Avenue / University Drive.
– Time if travel increases from 6 minutes to 8 minutes and distanced travel
increases from 1.5 miles to 2.2 miles.
– Crash rate on Vairo decreased from an average 8.2 yearly from 2015-2019
(according to pennshare.maps.arcgis.com) to 1.5 crashes, which we estimated.
– Traffic Reduction on North Atherton and East Park Ave