CVL735 Roadside Design Assignment

CVL735 Assignment (8) on Roadside Design

The assignment pertains to the application of the software program RSAPV3 for examiningthe incremental benefits and costs of alternate roadside designs. The program is installed oncomputers 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 thislink. Please note that RSAPv3 is written as a series of Microsoft Excel macros. RSAPv3 willrun 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 youappreciate 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 workindependently in familiarizing yourself with the intricacies of the software. There areadditional resources in the installation folder.

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

Open the RSAP sample project ConcreteMedianBarrier that is located in the RSAP programfolder. 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 ofwidening the shoulders, flattening side slopes, and using different types of guide rail. Runthe analysis and discuss your results (one page).

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

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