Implementing a Smart Mobility Corridor The NW 33 Innovation Corridor Council of Governments selected Michael Baker International for a $1 million contract to provide program management and technical oversight for implementation of connected vehicle technologies along a 35-mile section of U.S. Route 33 between and within the City of Dublin, Ohio, and the City of Marysville near Columbus, Ohio. Michael Baker will lead the program to install connected vehicle roadside devices and smart traffic signals, equip 1,200 vehicles with connected vehicle technology, and develop a network to manage the data and overall system. More than 50,000 vehicles travel daily on the corridor’s mix of local, arterial and collector streets, and multi-lane divided highway ramps, providing fertile research opportunities to create real-world testing conditions for connected vehicle technologies. The 33 Smart Mobility Corridor is unique in its concentration of automotive manufacturing and technology employment centers and connects two globally renowned nodes of automotive research — Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC) and The Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR). The project also connects major new smart mobility initiatives in the City of Columbus' Smart Columbus project, a $40 million grant award by U.S. Department of Transportation and federal research initiatives performed at TRC. “The 33 Smart Mobility Corridor will offer a unique opportunity for Michael Baker to lead the deployment and testing of smart vehicle technology in various developed environments and roadway types as We Make a Difference in driving this technological advancement to the forefront of the transportation industry,” said Lori Duguid, project manager and office manager in Michael Baker’s Columbus office. Michael Baker and subconsultant Alten-Cresttek will assist the project sponsors — the Cities of Dublin and Marysville, Union County, Ohio Department of Transportation, and DriveOhio — and the project partners — Honda, Battelle, TRC, and the Ohio State University College of Engineering — to use insights gained from the project to improve safety and create opportunities for economic development throughout the corridor, while showcasing the approach as a model for inter-governmental collaboration. Michael Baker conducted the first of two partnering workshops in Columbus to discuss key project elements in early February. The project is scheduled for completion in January 2020.
Prioritizing community input and participation Two key design elements — mainline bridges and pe- destrian bridges — helped preserve the integrity of West Valley neighborhoods. The mainline bridges — 14 in all — are vital in carrying the Mountain View Corridor over neighborhood cross-streets instead of barreling through them. Because Hunter High School abuts the roadway, a bridge was added at the school’s location to provide safer access for students. As constructed, the corridor includes a bridge for al- most every 1,000 feet of roadway; the bridges are so close together that there was insufficient room to return the road to existing grade. The corridor runs about 25 feet average above grade, providing motorists with a spectacular view of the valley. Because of this, retaining walls became a vital component of the build. The team had more than 1 million cubic yards of soil to move and were able to reuse it all for the project — a savings for UDOT, since no additional soil had to be purchased or trucked to construction sites. While the neighborhood-friendly technical elements were important to the success of the project, the concerted outreach and interaction efforts with residents may have proven even more critical. The work on the corridor intruded on residents’ customary walking routes, and in some cases, intersection upgrades put crews in close proximity to residential homes. For those reasons, a public engagement campaign was implemented to solicit community input and participation with the project. This endeavor proved fruitful as a number of suggestions of- fered by residents were implemented into the final design. For example, parents were concerned that the reloca- tion and restoration of utility connections and roadway construction might impede the safety and access of stu- dents at Hunter High School. To keep residents apprised of the project schedule, the team distributed fliers in the schools and appeared at several school assemblies. To minimize disruptions, the bulk of utility and adjacent roadway work was executed during the summer, miti- gating impacts to the Hunter High School students. UDOT supported the community-centric approach. Early in the project, it established a Community Reso- lution Board (CRB) — consisting of parents, business owners, and other West Valley residents — to help shape the project. The team collaborated with the CRB in many ways, including transporting board members to construction sites once a quarter so they could moni- tor progress and raise any questions or concerns. This involvement helped engage the CRB as community representatives, who in turn created social media chan- nels to share project information and updates with fel- low residents.
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june 2018
csengineermag.com
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