Technical Projects

For the Fall 2009 Semester, the Pavement Enterprise teams worked on four projects and also competed in the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region III Bid Competition.  These projects are described below and include links to the team final reports.  

Bid Team Competition
A team of five seniors and one junior competed in the ASC Region III Bid Competition in Downers Grove, Illinois against 5 other Midwest universities.  The competition was sponsored and administered by Kiewit Construction Company.  This year's project was an intersection reconstruction of Loop 20 and International Boulevard in Laredo, Texas.  The intersection was redesigned to include acceleration / deceleration and turn lanes.  There was also a large berm in the median between opposing lanes of traffic that had to be removed.  The Pavement Enterprise Team bid was $4.9 Million and the team finished second in this competition.  Bid Team Final Report

Safety Improvements to the Intersection of Pilgrim and Paradise Roads
The intersection of Pilgrim Road and Paradise Road just south of Houghton has a history of accidents due to limited visibility. Last year a Pavement Enterprise team studied this intersection and made recommendations and a cost estimate for removing a earth berm at the east side of the intersection.  This year's team returned to the intersection to recommend additional improvements including changing a vertical curve to the west of the intersection.  A dip in Paradise Road causes cars to disappear out of site as they drop into the vertical curve and to then reappear close to the intersection offering little reaction time for vehicles exiting Pilgrim Road.  The team surveyed the vertical curve and estimated the work and costs required to remove the dip.  Paradise Road Final Report and Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Forgotten Harvest Parking Lot Design
Forgotten Harvest is a non‐profit organization located in Oak Park, Michigan that provides food to the needy of southeast Michigan by redistributing food that would normally be wasted. The parking lot of their distribution facility is in need of major repairs and this Enterprise team worked with engineers from MCPA and SME to analyze the existing parking lot and to design alternatives.  The team looked at five options included pervious concrete, concrete overlays, asphalt overlays, full depth asphalt, and full depth concrete reconstruction.  They found that the full depth options were the only feasible options and provided complete designs and cost estimates for these options.  Forgotten Harvest Final Report

Porous Pavement for use at Boat Launch Areas
The issue of invasive species in inland lakes is a growing concern throughout the world.  A high-risk pathway for invasive species occurs when boaters move from lake to lake without properly cleaning their equipment.  The Michigan DNR is considering the use of porous pavements at boat launch areas as part of an effort to limit the spread of invasive species.  This Enterprise team looked at porous pavement design considerations and selected an area lake of interest to perform a preliminary design for a boat launch facility.  The site was surveyed and limited soil boring were performed to determine the suitability of using porous pavement.  Porous Pavement Final Report

Houghton Pavement Management
In an era of shrinking budgets, the use of pavement management strategies for municipalities is more important than ever.  The Pavement Enterprise has worked with the city of Houghton since 2004 to rate the condition of city streets and input that data into the pavement management software RoadSoft.  This year's team rated all city roads and performed some limited traffic counts for the city in an effort help prioritize maintenance efforts.  The average overall system condition was determined and compared to previous years showing a continued decline in the condition of the system.  Also, data for several streets was extracted from RoadSoft to develop deterioration curves and compare them to the standard deterioration assumptions used in RoadSoft.  Pavement Management Final Report with addition raw data in the Appendix