Southeast Connector
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Authors
Spitek, Rebecca K.
Issue Date
2011
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
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Abstract
The following report’s purpose is to identify the design elements for the Regional Transportation Commission’s proposed construction of the Southeast Connector. The design team that constructed this report is Mariam Ahmad, Rebecca Spitek, and Kyle Wolf, all of whom are University of Nevada undergraduates that are currently enrolled in the CEE 427 Capstone Design Course. The SE Connector will be a principal arterial to extend the intersection of South Meadows Parkway and Veterans Parkway to the intersection of Greg Street and Sparks Boulevard. The principal design of this report is the intersection of the existing Pembroke Drive near Rosewood Golf Course and the proposed Southeast Connector. Other design criteria that relates to the SE Connector are the drainage channel that will run parallel to the Connector and the culvert that will run under the street to accommodate a 117 year flood. It should be noted that this report is not to state the exact construction method of the SE Connector but rather is a proposition of what the design should be. This will aid the owner when sending out bid documents to contractors, and will allow the owner to recognize a plausible bid by a contractor. The design considerations for this project are; traffic elements, hydrology and hydraulic elements, roadway elements, geotechnical survey, culvert design, earthworks quantity takeoff, flexible pavement design, environmental assessment, and an engineer estimate. Each of these topics is covered in full-depth in the report. Traffic elements include the lane configuration of the intersection of Pembroke Drive, the design speed, the traffic signal system, and the length of the conduits and cables. The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) requires all streets of daily vehicular volume of 27,000 or greater to have a level of service (LOS) of E or greater. The level of service is a ranking of the streets delay of vehicles. A LOS of A would have a delay of less than 10 seconds, while a LOS of E has a delay of 55-80 seconds. All analysis is designed on the morning and evening peak hour volumes. Hydrological and hydraulic elements include the design of a culvert that will transport water from Boynton Slough into Steamboat Creek, the design of a main channel for Steamboat Creek, and the design of a flood plain that will have capacity for a projected 117 year flood flow of 9,750 cfs. The roadway elements include the width and designation of auxiliary lanes, and turning radius of left turn and right turn movements. Other elements that impact roadway elements are the width of the sidewalk, curb, and gutters that extend to the length of the auxiliary lanes. The geotechnical survey is used to determine the loading that will be placed on the box concrete culvert. The culvert’s dimensions and reinforcement are designed by using the moments created by the geotechnical loadings to determine the structural capacity. The earthworks quantity take-off is used to determine whether the built in road will be excavation or embankment. The flexible pavement design is used to determine the required depth of the aggregate base and asphalt surface layer. The environmental assessment is utilized to make sure there is no negative impact on the environment or the public. If there is a negative impact, it does not mean the project has to be terminated. It means that the project has to consider alternatives or whether the desired result outweighs the impact. Lastly, an engineer estimate is performed to provide the owner with an approximate cost and allows them to compare contractor’s bids to the estimate. The unit price of each item was based off the second-lowest bidder from the Veteran’s Parkway Extension. A contingency of 15 % was added to the final cost to account for any errors in calculation or delays in constructions by the contractor’s fault, the owner’s fault, or force majure, occurrences that can not be predicted such as weather or crisis. All of these design components will enable an owner to choose reasonably priced contractor to construct the SE Connector. The SE Connector will help congestion in the Reno/Sparks area and construction should begin within the next year.
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In Copyright(All Rights Reserved)