CVL735 Roadside Design Assignment

CVL735 Assignment (8) on Roadside Design

The assignment pertains to the application of the software program RSAPV3 for examining the incremental benefits and costs of alternate roadside designs. The program is installed on computers in the main Civil Engineering Computer Lab and is available on the web at:
http://rsap.roadsafellc.com/installation_page.html.

The user manual is also available at this link. Please note that RSAPv3 is written as a series of Microsoft Excel macros. RSAPv3 will run on any Windows computer running Excel 12 (office 2007) or better.

The intent of the exercise is for you to use the software as a learning tool to help you appreciate the variety of considerations involved in good roadside design practice. Therefore,please treat this as such, and not as a consulting assignment. You are encouraged to work independently in familiarizing yourself with the intricacies of the software. There are additional resources in the installation folder.

Note: when creating alternatives, you need to calculate the installation and maintenance costs and include those in the analysis.

Open the RSAP sample project “ConcreteMedianBarrier” that is located in the RSAP program folder. This sample project contains a 5,280 ft long highway segment.

a) Use this sample project to familiarize yourself with how data are entered into the program.
b) Run the analysis

c) Add additional alternative(s) of your choice that include, for example, combinations of widening the shoulders, flattening side slopes, and using different types of guide rail. Run the analysis and discuss your results (one page).

Special note: The following adjustments would help reduce the run time to about 10 minutes

1. When on the Analysis Tab, select See Settings

2. Change the “Maximum Trajectory” value to 40

3. Also change the “Distance Between Encroachment Locations” to 200 ft. (This can
technically be changed to 1000 ft.)

TYPICAL CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS

Initial cost $ Annual Maintenance $
Flatten one side fore-slope from 6:1 to 8:1 | 75,000/mile 8,000/mile
Widen shoulder 1 ft. both directions 35,000/mile 120/mile
TL-2 Guide rail/mile 165,000 1,000
TL-3 Guide rail/mile (all types) 175,000 1,000
TL-4 Guide rail/mile 192,000 1,000
TL-5 Guide rail/mile (all types) 205,000 1,000