EHRA worked with the District to create a comprehensive Parks Master Plan, which included recommendations for the development of over two miles of hike/bike trails adjacent to local streets, and within flood control and utility pipeline easements. The District began implementation of the Plan by prioritizing the beautification of West Road, a major arterial street that runs through the District.
Identified as a top priority during the development of the District’s Parks Master Plan, this portion of trail was the first phase of over two miles of planned trails to provide connectivity and recreation for District residents.
The purpose of this project was to convert the existing at-grade crossing of Brazoria County Road 56 (CR 56) and State Highway 288 (SH 288) into a diamond interchange that includes a new overpass bridge. Coordination with TXDOT, area landowners, utility companies, and Brazoria County was integral in obtaining approval and acceptance of the project.
The purpose of this project was to convert the existing at-grade crossing of Brazoria County Road 56 (CR 56) and State Highway 288 (SH 288) into a diamond interchange that includes a new overpass bridge and providing access to the newly developed Meridiana Development. Coordination with TXDOT, area landowners, utility companies, and Brazoria County was integral in obtaining approval and acceptance of the project. The main design challenge for this project was to accommodate double intersections on the west side of SH 288 to tie into existing access roads with two-way traffic and a new southbound on-ramp within a close proximity. EHRA coordinated with TxDOT throughout the project from preliminary concepts for the intersection and bridge through final design and construction. Each component of this project was designed in accordance with TxDOT standards and criteria.
EHRA completed preliminary engineering, phase one environmental site assessment and schematic development for the widening of Northpark Dr. between US 59 and Woodland Hills Dr. EHRA also provided program management, drainage analysis and design, traffic engineering, environmental documentation and schematic design for the roadway, as well as grade separation at the Loop 494/UPRR railroad crossing.
EHRA conducted traffic operations and access management studies for the Northpark Dr. corridor. This corridor is approximately 2.2 miles long and has major signalized and unsignalized intersections and driveways that access various subdivisions and industrial developments. These studies laid the groundwork for the widening of Northpark Dr. from a four-lane boulevard cross-section to a six-lane boulevard complete street. The new street design includes low impact development drainage, conventional drainage, a grade separation at the UPRR crossing with mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls, two at-grade crossings for bi-directional frontage access, reconstruction of two concrete bridges over a diversion channel, intersection improvements, a roadway-adjacent multiuse path and traffic signal improvements.
Drainage analysis and design included hydrologic and hydraulic studies of both existing and proposed conditions to demonstrate that proposed project components would not adversely affect the 100-year floodplain in the area. The roadway and traffic designs contained horizontal and vertical alignments, cross-sections, plan and profile, sidewalk and bicycle accommodations, intersection layouts, traffic control plans and signing and pavement markings.
As the program management firm, EHRA coordinated with TxDOT, UPRR, the City of Houston Council District E, COH Planning and Development Department, COH Public Works and Engineering Department, Montgomery County, Harris County, HCFCD and area residents throughout the project.
Today, bridges are inspected visually by teams of engineers who dangle beneath the bridge on cables or look up at the bridge from an elevated work platform. It is a slow, dangerous, expensive process and even the most experienced engineers can overlook cracks in the structure or other critical deficiencies. However; there may be something new.
In the detection system being developed by Babak Moaveni, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts School of Engineering, smart sensors are attached permanently to bridge beams and joints. Each sensor can continuously record vibrations and process the recorded signal. Changes in the vibration response can signify damage, he says.
Moaveni, who received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his research, is collaborating with Tufts Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Usman Khan to develop a wireless system that would use autonomous flying robots (quad-copters) to hover near the sensors and collect data while taking visual images of bridge conditions. The drone-like robots would transmit data to a central collection point for analysis. Khan received a $400,000 Early Career Award from the NSF earlier this year to explore this technology, which requires addressing significant navigational and communications challenges before it could be a reliable inspection tool.
The report that analyzed the condition of the transportation infrastructure, points across the country out that 25 percent of the approximately 600,000 bridges are in such a poor state that they are incapable of handling daily automobile traffic. In Massachusetts, more than 50 percent of the 5,136 bridges in use are deficient, the report says.
Moaveni and Khan's work could help monitor bridges and identify those that are at risk more accurately than current methods. Once installed, the sensors would provide information about the condition of bridges that cannot be obtained by visual inspection alone and would allow authorities to identify and focus on bridges that need immediate attention.
Moaveni installed a network of 10 wired sensors in 2009 on a 145-foot long footbridge on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus. In 2011, Moaveni added nearly 5,000 pounds of concrete weights on the bridge deck to simulate the effects of damage on the bridge -- a load well within the bridge's limits. Connected by cables, the sensors recorded readings on vibration levels as pedestrians walked across the span before and after installation of the concrete blocks. From the changes in vibration measurements, Moaveni and his research team could successfully identify the simulated damage on the bridge, validating his vibration-based monitoring framework.
A major goal of his research, Moaveni says, is to develop computer algorithms that can automatically detect damage in a bridge from the changes in its vibration measurements. His work is ongoing. "Right now, if a bridge has severe damage, we're pretty confident we can detect that accurately. The challenge is building the system so it picks up small, less obvious anomalies."
Story Source: Materials provided by Tufts University/ Alexander Reid/Science Daily