For that part of the country, Rail Neutral Temperature/Rail Laying Temperature is likely about 95F, but the threshold for a speed restriction was probably 85F. While close to that temperature threshold, it's not out of the question for a kink to develop from a locally warmer area. If...
Ballast should be of a sufficiently coarse gradation and rough texture that water flows through to the subballast below. This mitigates the drainage/ponding issue at the surface. The subballast below is shown crowned and sloped at 1:40 (~2%), so that runoff flows down and off the roadway prism...
Verifying the existing pavement design is not a bad idea, and if the widened road expects and increase in ESALs you can expect differential pavement wear and potentially an odd transition between the zones of new and old. Placing a new course of asphalt over the existing is probably not a good...
Hello all,
Our state (Colorado) has just changed the board rules on the placement of seals and signatures to allow for all the seals on the cover page of a bound planset (or digital single file), and my workgroup has been struggling a bit with the implementation. Does anyone have good examples...
So I think there's a discrepancy between what you're seeing in a text and the rigorous definition of the stationing convention. Stationing starts at a point of beginning (POB), then follows the alignment through the series of curves etc increasing along the distance of the line. So for a given...
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released guidelines for construction workers that are pretty good as a policy template. Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pMbMK8-bHLjmithMj51rOg6CmZwEI0nV
Their whole occupational page is at...
Thank you all! @SRE - solid information and a good source, thank you for sharing.
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Chris Enright
PE, Colorado
Roads and Trains
I agree with @BMart006. I took EET's Civil breadth and transportation depth prep courses and was satisfied with the outcomes and what I got from the class. Course materials were great (and were the main resource I used on the exam), and included plenty of practice problems that covered the...
Hello all,
I am a somewhat freshly licensed PE working for a State DOT. I'm about to be moved into the PE-1 pay grade, so it will be a part of my job description to sign and seal drawings and specs for our construction projects. The question that shows up in my mind is if I need any sort of...
I agree with Ron and retired13. Multiple cracks and failures like that indicate a subbase and bearing soil problem, and replacing the driveway wholesale will probably be the best bet in the long run.
You'll want good new embankment or subbase material (at least 6" if you're doing a 6" slab) to...
If you're not concerned about being noticed, the vulnerabilities in nearly every security system or physical barricade can be exploited relatively easily. The best reference for this is all the forcible entry techniques that get taught to firefighters. Padlocks particularly are easy to defeat...
The de facto standard for collapse hazard area for structures as applied by the fire service for disaster/fire environments is assumed to be 1.25 or 1.5 times the height of the building.
The US Army Corps of Engineers USAR Structures Specialist Field Operations Guide (attached) may be a good...
Hey everyone.
I'm a fairly junior civil engineer and have been assigned to assist and be involved in the field construction of grade for some railroad track, and have never been assigned any field work in the past. I am looking for some help and advice, both on logistical needs and what I...
@Tommy385 -
Clothoid and Euler spirals are typically used for horizontal curve transitions, not so much for vertical. Vertical tends to be simply a parabola as this is a smooth enough transition for vertical curves.
