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CE Club April 2018 Update

Traffic and Transportation Engineering with Urban Engineers Group

Omar Venzor of Urban Engineers Group talked with the CE Club students about traffic engineering.   He outlined what it takes to become a traffic engineer, including the licensing requirements. Students were also shown that they could work for either public organizations such as cities, counties, airports, and TxDOT or private corporations that do consulting work.

Next, Omar explained the types of projects that traffic engineers work on. The students were shown the reports that are produced from traffic studies that determine the existing conditions and capacity at a location, as well as future analysis to determine what improvements should be made to achieve a prescribed level of service. They also discussed signal timing, signing, and pavement marking design, ITS design, and roadway illumination.  The students then participated in an activity where they could design their own traffic control plans.

Land Development with Pape-Dawson Engineers

Fernando Ceballos of Pape-Dawson Engineers spoke to the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club about land development for the second straight year. He asked the students what their concept of zoning was and filled in the gaps for them. He explained that as a land development engineer his job is to help owners and developers determine if construction is possible on a site they may own or are considering purchasing. The sites are constrained by things like creeks, flood plains, endangered species, rocks, water, gas lines, topography, and many other things.

For a group activity, the students were given a commercial land plot with drainage areas marked out on plan. They were given equations to help calculate the total flow capacity of different sized pipes based on diameter, roughness, and length. Each team had to use their civil scales to determine the most cost-effective pipe system to drain the commercial land plot they were given. The team with the best design at the end of all three class periods was then awarded gift cards!