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The Pennsylvania State University

Department of Civil Engineering CE 321: Highway Engineering Dr. Martin Pietrucha Paul Stager Section 003 Preliminary Rural Collector Design, Connecting PA SR 1025 and North Road

Craig Datko

April 11th, 2013

2 Table of Contents Cover Page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Digital Terrain Modeling ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Horizontal Alignment--------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Vertical Alignment------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Cross Section and Earthwork ----------------------------------------------------------- 5 Comparison of Alignments -------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 List of Drawings --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

3 Introduction Two alternative route designs are prepared for a rural collector from PA SR 1025 near Tobymines to North Road near Centerville. Both alternatives intersect SR 1025 and North Road at the same location. Design routes are within accordance with the guidance in the 2004 A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets while minimizing the impact on the State forest and the existing communities and avoiding the historic property. This project will involve the concepts and applications of horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, cross sections, earthwork, highway safety, and cost estimation. All of the topics will be evaluated for both the East and West alignments. Digital Terrain Modeling The object of the digital terrain modeling was to learn how to create a digital terrain model given a site drawing of existing roads and features and a file containing contours. This was done by importing contour data, creating surface from those contours and inquiring to see elevations. There were no difficulties encountered with the design or software. Horizontal Alignment Horizontal Alignment was the first portion of this highway engineering project. There were multiple steps that are involved in creating this alignment. The first step is to determine the minimum radius. After that an alignment must be constructed. Defining and naming the alignment that was just constructed is the next part. With the previous step completed stationing the alignment is then completed. Lastly the tangents and curves will be labeled. There are specific criteria that must be followed in the design of the horizontal alignment. Some of these specifications are derived from using AASHTOs A Policy on Geometric Design of Highway and Streets. The maximum super elevation of the alignment is 8%. The traveled way width is 8 feet. The shoulder width must be 10 feet. The maximum grade of the alignment is not to go above 8%. The minimum grade is not to go below .5%. For improved safety and operations, other requirements are added. These are that the maximum grade within 200 feet of an intersection is 3%. Also a collector shall intersect Southwest and North Roads at a 90-degree angle for a minimum of 200 feet before the intersection. Next the minimum tangent length must be 200 feet and the minimum curve length of 100 feet.

4 The purpose of the alignment is to determine the most desirable roadway. The most desirable roadway is one that minimizes environmental impacts and follows the existing topography. Lastly it should compromise between the user cost and construction costs. The minimum radius and curve radii that can be used is 600. However it is recommended to use a higher radius than the minimum. Refer to appendix A for the curve and line references for both the East and West alignments. The East alignment travels in the north-eastern direction to minimize the state forest and historic interference. It then cuts backs in the north-western direction to reach the final destination. The East alignment contains 5 tangents and 4 curves in order to reach the North Road intersection. The West alignment travels in the north-western direction towards the mountainous area. It does this to minimize forest and historic disruption. Next it goes in the northeastern direction in order to reach the final destination. The West alignment also contains five tangents and 4 curves to reach the North Road intersection. Vertical Alignment Vertical alignment was the section portion of this highway engineering project. There were three main steps that were involved with completing this alignment. The first step is to create the existing ground profile. The next step is to draw in the tangents with minimum cut and fill. The last step is to edit the vertical alignment in the database. There are a few control points involved with the vertical alignment. The first is that the clearance over streams must be 5 ft. Secondly the alignment must be equal elevation to that starting and ending stations. There are many other design requirements that are necessary for the vertical alignment. The first is that the minimum curve length must not go below 100 feet. Second is that the maximum grade is 8% and that the minimum grade is .5%. The maximum grade within 200 feet of an intersection is 3%. The state of Pennsylvania has required a super elevation of 8%. k-values for the vertical alignment are 79 for a sag curve and 61 for a crest curve. This value is based on the function of length and absolute change in grade. As part of the alignment editor process the cut and fill differences with both the East and West alignment was minimized. The East alignment has 5 curves, 2 of which are crest curves and 3 of which are sag curves. The West alignment has 4 curves, 1 of which is a sag curve and 3 of which are crest curves. Reference Appendix B for addition information on the vertical alignment.

Cross Section and Earth Work The next portion of the highway engineering project was the Cross Sections and Earthwork. There were multiple steps involved with completing this portion. The first step was to create an assembly for the each alignment. Next a corridor was created for each alignment. Cross sections were then derived for the alignment. Criteria for the cross section and earthwork were divided into three sections. The first section was the traveled way. The width of the lanes must be 12 feet and the normal crown was to be 2%. The next section was the shoulder. The width of the shoulder was to be 8 feet and the slope was to be 4%. The last section of criteria was the clear zone. The width beyond the shoulder was to be 10 feet, the slope was to be 4% and 2(x) to 1(y) was to be used for the earthwork estimates, while the foreslope and backslope were to be ditched. A footprint was then developed from the alignments. This was done by finding the area of certain types of land that the highway will be built upon. The three types of land that were involved with the highway building process was forest, undeveloped, and historic. Both of the alignments had negative effects on forests, existing roads, and waterways so determining the one with least impact is a factor. Comparison of Alignments The East and West Alignments complete the project that was proposed and meets the criteria for all sub-sections. However, there are many differences within the each alignment that, after evaluation, will be used to determine the best alternative for the connection of SR 1025 and North Road. There will be both quantitative and qualitative aspects involved with the decision of best alignment. All of the information in the comparison section is being taken from, and can be seen in, Appendix C.

Quantitative
There are four main costs involved with the cost aspect of the project. They are Safety, Pavement, Earthwork, and Right of Way Acquisition. The first section is the Safety or Severity Breakdown involved with the project. The East Alignment has a total cost per year of $27,704.74 resulting in a total cost for 20 years of $554,094.76. The Western Alignment has a total cost per year of $63,872.72 resulting in a total cost for 20 years of $1,277,454.30.

6 The second section is the pavement costs that are directly related to the pavement length. The length of the East alignment is 16,641.12 feet resulting in $2,204,948.40 of pavement cost. The West alignment length is 14,242.87 feet resulting in $1,887,180.28 of pavement cost. The next section contains the Earthwork costs involved with the project. The East alignment had an excavation of 50,071 cubic yards and had to excess borrow or fill of 567,533.2 cubic yards. This cost a total of $4,464,114.85. The West alignment had an excavation of 5,355,874 cubic yards and had to haul away 567,533 cubic yards. This cost a total of $36,154,023.15. The last section contains the Right of Way Acquisition. This is directly involved with the foot print area of the project. The highway could potentially travel through three different areas. These include the State Forest, Historic or Undeveloped areas. The three different areas of land have different costs. The Historic land costs the most, $1,250,000 per acre, followed by the State Forest, $162,140 per acre, and then the undeveloped costing $9,970 per acre. These different prices are related to the environmental impact and houses displaced that the areas require. The East alignment would need to take 45.876 acres of undeveloped land, 0 acres of historic land and 5.838 acres of state forest. This would cost a total of $1,403,957.04. The West alignment would need to take 92.8 acres of undeveloped land, 1.297 acres of historic land and 81.028 acres of state forest. This would cost a total of $15,661,845.92. The total cost for the East Alignment would be $8,627,115.05 and the total cost of the West alignment would be $54,980,503.65.

Alternative

Area Crash Cost $/20 yrs $554,094.76 $1,277,454.30

Earthwork Cost

Pavement Cost $2,204,948.40 $1,887,180.28

Right-of-Way Cost $1,403,957.04 $15,661,845.92

Total Cost $8,627,115.05 $54,980,503.65

East West

$4,464,114.85 $36,154,023.15

Qualitative
There are three main factors involved with the qualitative or subjective assessment of the project. These include user delay or mobility, wildlife and habitat impacts and finally impact to streams. The first factor is the user delay and this depends on the length of the segment, maximum grade and the length of grade. The East alignment has a maximum grade of 2.89%, maximum length of 5538.708 feet and a maximum grade length of 5783.61 feet. The West Alignment has a maximum grade of 7.58%, maximum length of 6943.143 feet and a maximum grade length of 4620.21 feet. Higher grades affect heavy vehicle performance and no passing zones lead to greater amount of time spent following. The West alignment has higher grades and lengths creating more user delay. The second factor is the wildlife habitat and wetland impacts. Building the highway in a way that segregates small habitat areas should be avoided. Also the less that the state forest section is impacted the better. As stated in the qualitative section the East alignment requires 5.838 acres of state forest and the West alignment requires 81.028 acres of state forest land. Neither alignment segregates the habitat areas. The third and final factor is the impact to streams. There are two factors involved with the impact on streams. The first is the total number of stream crossings and the second is whether the highway crosses perpendicularly or if it follows alongside the stream. The East alignment crosses 2 streams perpendicularly and the west alignment crosses 1 stream alongside. Overall, these qualitative factors support the qualitative alternative with the lower computed costs. Conclusion After a complete comparison of the project and the two alignments that have been developed the decision of the best alternative is fairly simple. The East alignment is the route that should be developed to create the highway. The only cost that is lower for the West alignment is the pavement cost. All of the others costs are higher while the earthwork and right of way cost are significantly higher. The total cost of the West alignment is $46,000,000 more than the East alignment. The subjective assessment also supports the decision of the East alignment being the better choice. The West alignment has a larger impact on the state forest, larger grades, grade lengths, and segment lengths. Stream impact and segregation of habitats are nearly the same for both alignments. Therefore the best decision is clearly the East alignment.

8 List of Drawings East Alternative Horizontal Alignment ----------------------------------------------- 1 of 7 West Alternative Horizontal Alignment ---------------------------------------------- 2 of 7 Typical Cross-Section -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 of 7 East Alternative Plan/Profile Sheet --------------------------------------------------- 4 of 7 East Alternative Cross Section --------------------------------------------------------- 5 of 7 West Alternative Plan/Profile Sheet --------------------------------------------------- 6 of 7 East Alternative Cross Section --------------------------------------------------------- 7 of 7