RoadWorks

Highway Design Software
for Landscape Architects


Concept &
Implementation
by
Paul Sorey



RoadWorks is a 3-D interactive application that encapsulates the mathematics and engineering standards of roadway design, allowing the designer to focus on practical and aesthetic issues while manipulating a centerline alignment with the mouse.



Screenshot showing RoadWorks 3-D model of four-lane divided highway with cut and fill slopes and retaining walls tying the road to existing grade. The user can quickly create a 3-D model of the road and place it into a landscape model. The user can then assess the design visually from any angle, create presentation graphics, superimpose the roadway on a photograph of the existing terrain for before-and-after simulations, and produce a video of a drive along the road.



Screenshot showing RoadWorks' horizontal alignment editor. The curve editing tool is pre-programmed to keep the alignment within design criteria set by highway agencies for maximum degree of curve. The topographic contours are color-coded by elevation to assist in visualization of the landscape; aerial photos can also be added to the view. The curves can be of either circular or spiral type. Spiral curves, because of their complexity are avoided by roadway engineers but are useful in sensitive landscapes because of their gentle transitions from tangent to curve.



Screen shot of vertical alignment view showing proposed vertical alignment showing slope and K-values. Profile of existing grade along the horizontal alignment is shown in grey. Vertical curves are always parabolic curves and usually have unequal sides. Design parameters such as K-value, slope and visibility distances are pre-programmed into the alignment editor and alert the user when overstepped.



Screen shot of section editor showing proposed roadway cross-section including cut and fill slopes tying road to existing grade. Existing grade is shown in brown. Once horizontal and vertical alignments and cross-sections have been input, a 3-D model of the road can be created.



Highway design is generally viewed as the domain of civil engineering firms. A few landscape architecture design firms, such as Jones & Jones in Seattle, have shown there are aesthetic, ecological, social, and cost benefits to having landscape architects as design leads on highway projects. RoadWorks plays a key role in enabling Jones & Jones to enter the discussion with a leading role in exploring and illustrating alternative alignments.

The function and user interface of RoadWorks has been developed and refined while using it on visually and ecologically sensitive highway projects including Paris Pike, twelve miles of new highway in rural Kentucky, and US 93, 50 miles of new highway in western Montana. Both of these projects won awards for the beauty and sensitivity of their design and for their ground-breaking collaboration between landscape architects and civil engineers.



J&J ASLA Award for US 93

J&J ASLA Award for Paris Pike

J&J Writeup in Daily Journal of Commerce