Description

The MnDOT Geometric Design Institute features four three-day workshops developed to train and educate Minnesota transportation practitioners on the fundamentals of roadway design. With training, participants will use design theory, MnDOT standards and equations to develop awareness in the fundamental principles of roadway design.  Topics include performance based practical design, horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, superelevation, quantities, earthwork, cross sections, and more.  Participants will engage in hands-on group learning using layouts, scales, highway curves and triangles. Participants may attend one or all four workshops.

There will be 4 different workshops:

1. FUNDAMENTALS OF ROADWAY DESIGN AND HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT

This three-day workshop begins with an overview of road design fundamentals, including an introduction to plan reading and coordinate geometry, followed by an introduction to horizontal alignment and station control, design speeds and controls, and roadway standards. It also reviews how to use the Road Design Manual and accompanying technical memoranda and how to determine stationing and station equations, sight distance, curvature, and geometrics.

2. TYPICAL SECTIONS, CROSS SECTIONS, ROADSIDE DESIGN, QUANTITIES, & EARTHWORK

This three-day workshop focuses on roadside design and safety. Each day has interactive activities and case study-based examples/working problems. Typical and cross-sections topics include typical section standards, elements, and development; grades and slopes; developing a typical section using the Road Design Manual and the soils letter; and contours and creating a cross-section. Roadside design topics include explaining how to determine and compute clear zone requirements and how to deal with obstructions, barrier design and placement, horizontal clearance to obstruction, ditch sections, and impacts of design speed on clear zone.

Quantities and earthwork topics include identifying pay items on a plan set, determining the appropriate units, estimating the amount of each item to be paid for as part of the project, preparing tabulations and final quantities, earthwork and mass balances, shrinkage and expansion factors for a variety of soil types, estimating earthwork quantities, and preparing earthwork tables and summaries.

3. SUPERELEVATION, DRAINAGE, AND VERTICAL ALIGNMENT

This three-day workshop builds on the Fundamentals of Roadway Design and Horizontal Alignment Workshop by providing information on basic two-lane superelevation and shoulder applications. The workshop reviews several multi-lane and ramp applications and intersection considerations, drainage impacts from superelevation design, and spiral transition curves. Additionally, this workshop covers the geometry of vertical curves, standards and design considerations, vertical curve sight distance criteria and some related design challenges, interactions of vertical curvature, superelevation, and drainage.

4. ADVANCED HORIZONTAL/VERTICAL ALIGNMENT AND INTERSECTION APPLICATIONS

This three-day workshop covers horizontal and vertical alignment with more advanced examples and challenges. Attendees learn how the three components of a road plan—plan, profile, and cross-section—are integrated to account for intersections, drainage, sight distance, and quantities. Nearly every highway and street design effort involves some elements of intersections. The proper engineering of an intersection can be one of the most challenging tasks in road design. Topics involved in intersection design include general geometric parameters, alignment and grade considerations, intersection sight distance, design vehicle consideration, and pedestrian considerations and design.

Instructor: Ann Johnson, Professional Engineering Services and Derek Schmidt, WSB Engineering

Start and end times for each of the above workshops:
Day 1: 9:00AM - 4:00PM
Day 2: 8:00AM - 4:00PM
Day 3: 8:00AM - 4:00PM

• Catering included
• Bring a scientific calculator.
• An engineering scale (triangle ruler) will be provided.

Course fee amount: $800 for non-MnDOT community participants.

Refund Policy: A refund of the registration fee, minus a $50 cancellation fee, will be made if cancellation is received five working days prior to the workshop. Refunds are not granted if you cancel on or after the first day of the program.