Have you ever wondered how people determine the design of roadways? Hayden Morris, a deaf civil engineer, got you covered! #STEMinASL
[Video Description:
00:00 Hayden, a brown-haired white man wearing glasses and a short-sleeve navy shirt, stands to the right of a road with grassy areas on each side of the road.
00:59 An animation of driving up and down a road in a first-person point-of-view
01:03 Hayden stands in front of a white background.
03:53 An animated aerial view of a road cutting through a grassy field on the left and a forested plot on the right with a view of some buildings in the far background.
02:58 Hayden stands on a grassy area to the right of a road with some brown soil patches interspersed.
03:11 An animated aerial view of a road layout of a town.
03:14 Hayden stands in front of a road with a grassy area on the other side of the road.
03:32 Hayden stands on a road with grassy areas on each side of the road.
04:01 An animated zoom in from United States to a town using Google Earth.
04:06 A text saying “Horizontal Alignment” appears below two white arrows pointing at the horizontal road cutting across the picture.
04:09 Hayden stands to the right of a road on a grassy area.
04:35 An animation of driving up and down a road in a first-person point-of-view.
04:42 Hayden stands to the right of a road on a grassy area.
05:24 A three-paneled photo: The top image shows a road going downhill and then uphill with a red triangle, red circle, and red star markings on the road equidistantly. The bottom left image has text saying “Horizontal Alignment, Looking From Aerial View” on the top, and a vertical black line is drawn below with a red star, red circle, and red triangle marked equidistantly on the line. A yellow car is drawn between the red star and the red circle. The bottom right image has text saying “Vertical Alignment, Looking From Side View” on the top, and a convex black line is drawn below with a red triangle, red circle, and red star marked equidistantly on the line. A yellow car is drawn between the red circle and the red star.
05:29 Hayden stands in front of a white background.
05:38 A video recording of driving through downtown in a first-person point-of-view. The video shows a median to the left and cars and people on both sides of the road.
05:44 Hayden stands in front of a white background.
07:22 A diagram of a road layout appears on the top left. It shows a two-way street divided by a median. There are trees and a sidewalk on both sides of the street. Road layout measurements below the drawing are written from left to right: 1′ Green Space, 5′ Walk, 5′ Green Space, 2′, 11′ Travel Lane, 11′ Travel Lane, 2′, 16′ Median, 2′, 11′ Travel Lane, 11′ Travel lane, 2′, 5′ Green Space, 10′ Shared-Use Path, 1′ Green Space.
07:37 A diagram of curb and gutter appears on the top left. The diagram shows a road with curb and gutter on both sides. There is a black line drawn vertically over the road and it is labeled “Normal Crown”.
07:46 A diagram of a road layout appears on the top left. The diagram shows a one-way street with a grassy area and a shoulder on the left. A person is riding a bike on the shoulder, and a car is driving on the road. Below the shoulder, there is text labeling “Paved Shoulder” and “Buffer (Optional)” to the right.
08:06 Hayden stands in front of a white background.
08:19 A computer-aided design of a road with a bridge.]
Transcript: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side or because it was free range? Or because the road was too long to walk around it? Or to “bawk” traffic (the word “bawk” sounds close to “block”). Ha. Alright. Let’s get serious. You see this road going uphill then downhill? Maybe curve to the left or right? So, what goes in the decisions to make the road go uphill, downhill, or curve to the left/right? Roadway design. So, what is that? I’ll explain. The sign for “Roadway Design” is this. Roadway design involves the layout (involves design, plan, and lay it out) and features visible on the road. The emphasis is more (1) on satisfying the need of the driver, (2) to ensure the safety of the vehicle, (3) the comfort while driving, and (4) efficiency. The roadway should be designed to provide efficiency in traffic operations with maximum safety at reasonable cost. There are factors that affects the roadway design such as (1) horizontal alignment, (2) vertical alignment, (3) road classification, (4) design speed, (5) sight distance, (6) intersection, (7) pavement surface characteristics, (8) cross-section elements, and many more. There are a lot more to explain the processes of a roadway design, but for the sake of the simplicity and to keep this video short, we are going to break down into just three main features: (1) horizontal alignment, (2) vertical alignment, and (3) cross section elements. We will expand on each feature. First, imagine riding a small airplane over a city or town, you look down and you see roads. In its simplest form, you have two points to connect from point A to point B and you are trying to create a safe, simple, and efficient path between them along its centerline. A centerline is the center (middle) of the road. Can be a stripe or nothing. Still at the middle of the road. That’s called horizontal alignment. Second, imagine yourself in a car driving on a road. You are seeing the uphill coming your way soon. You are driving uphill, downhill, and then flat then curve along its centerline. So if you change from the aerial view of the horizontal alignment to the side view of the vertical alignment, that’s called vertical alignment. Vertical alignment is described as the heights and depths in the vertical axis with respect to the horizontal axis of alignment. Third, imagine driving in downtown, do you enjoy it, too? As you drive in this lane, to the right, you are seeing vehicles in the right lanes, curb and gutter (C&G), landscape buffers with trees, people walking on sidewalks (SW) going into buildings to eat, shop, sleep, or whatever their business is. On the left, this side mirrors the right side except for the curbed median. Reason for this is to divide the traffic, to improve the safety for traffic, and for pedestrians where they could stand on the median awaiting for traffic to pass through so they could safely cross the street. You are probably wondering, “How am I driving comfortably while looking at the beauty of the downtown appearances?” That is because this cross section is designed to account for specific widths of lanes, curbs, landscape buffers with trees, and sidewalks. As for shoulders, out in the country where you need to pull over and go potty or whatever you do, shoulders are there for you to safely pull over for any reasons away from the traffic. With the combination of horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, and cross sections, you get a 3-D layout of a roadway design. And that’s only scratching the surface.
#STEMinASL #deaf #stemeducation #stem
