On A465 Road - Capstone Project Example

Highway Upgrading Project By Student’s Name Code+ course name Instructor’s Name University Name City, State Date Table of Contents Highway Upgrading Project 3 Introduction 3 Site Description 5 Factors influencing range of technologies 5 Logistics involved in the project 6 Human resource 8 Permits and legal documents 9 Machinery 9 Materials 10 Natural Environment 10 Environmental Impact Assessment 10 Environmental monitoring plan 13 Conclusion 14 Bibliography 15 Highway Upgrading Project Introduction Road construction or improvement involves many engineering works including prior planning that predict the outcome of a project. The current engineering project on A465 road is meant to upgrade the road with an aim of maintaining the wall (Environmental Statement, 1997). The sections of the valley road from Gilwern and Brynmawrs are to be upgraded from a triple lane road with a single carriageway to a double carriageway triple-lane road. The project faces numerous challenges that include environmental restraints. Some feature along the road including the walls is to be retained to reduce the environmental impact especially of receptive areas (Wadrup, 2012). One of the features that the engineering should avoid interference with is the wall. The engineering plan should leave not less than 11.5Km of the wall. The road has to include climbing lanes at some points in order to improve the quality of service on the route. Road A465 is considered a strategic road that requires improvement of safety, reduction of traffic congestion and contributes to economic development of the area the road transverses. The road-upgrading plan is set to disrupt the transport network by closure of the road. Only limited use of highway under construction will be allowed for minibuses. In civil engineering of structures, some principles have to be adhered. The physical, social and environmental existing demands and expectations tend to dictate various design and technologies for use by engineers. Technological logistics can be understood in various ways that include; the construction site production units; external supplies of materials and equipment; coordination of flow of construction materials from source material or vice versa and; the various parties playing part in the construction considered as single entities (Sobotka etal. 2005). For any success of a proposed project, two types of logistics, external and internal logistics must be well coordinated (Mossman, 2008). A road construction or upgrading requires that many technologies be incorporated. The technologies include civil and structural engineering, accounting, human resource management, legal team, mechanics and machine operators (mechanical engineer). A project of such magnitude and interest requires quality design, good planning, accurate accountability and competent implementation. The conditions imply that a competent team has to be in place for the project to be a success. Logistics are very important for such a big project. Significance of logistics is to reduce improve on project management, accountability and risk control. Complexity of logistics may vary from project but the important issue is to ensure that all required tools and resources are available. Many projects end up creating impacts on the environment with varying magnitude and characteristics. Impacts can be short term or long term, permanent or temporary and large scale or localized (Gang, 2009). Many large projects tend to have impacts with all the characteristics mentioned. The main areas of environment that projects can affect are the ecosystems, water sources and air. Proponents must develop measures to overcome various impacts the project is likely to have to the surrounding. Site Description The proposed road A465 slope ascends from eastwards linking the at-grade roundabout at Clydnach Gorge in Brynmawr. There is a downward slope further eastwards on the section of the road A465. The road is next to a national park known as Beacon national park. The park is characterized by large dry grass moorland whose section will be transverse by the proposed road. There are two reservoirs, Blaen-Y-Cwm and Carno, which are operational on the northern side of the proposed project. The road is designed to pass at the base of the two mentioned reservoirs and power grids. The reservoir and the Garn Lydan residential estates are located on either sides of the road. The design of the road is set to cover the ground facing away from the industrial valleys of the South West side. Generally, the land is predominantly old coalmines that have been reclaimed. It is evident that the road upgrading process will have effect during pre-construction, construction and commissioning phase of the project. The road construction and use will have effects on the adjacent national park, residential areas and the industrial area. The environmental impacts to be witnessed may either be positive or negative, long-term or short-tem, permanent or temporary and may be widespread or localized. Factors influencing range of technologies The upgrading of the A465 road will involve various technologies to deliver quality and reduce impact. The technology to be used has to ensure that certain environmental factors are considered (Whyte, 2014). The engineers should minimize the negative impacts on the national park during both the preconstruction, construction phase and the commissioning phase (Ayyub, 1997). The wild life state of the park should be left un-interfered or if any interference is present, it should be minimal short-term and localized. The hydrological characteristics of the site are also determinants of the technologies to be used. The hydropower dams ought to remain operational at all stages of the A465 highway upgrading. The ambient air should also be minimally interfered since. Regulation on noise levels and excessive vibrations are also determinants on the technologies to be used (Robinson and Thagesen, 2004). The geological characteristics that are closely linked to the underground hydrological pattern will determine the technology to be adopted for the project. Socio-economic considerations will also form a basis on the decision for technology to be used (Lieu and Sorby, 2008). The final characteristics of the highway should ensure the local transport is integrated. The road should ensure access to the various residential and key economic areas is improved. The movement of vehicles should be swift with limited traffic congestion. These special economic considerations determine the technology to be used. The technology in this case should produce the desired quality in terms of texture and size of the road. The road upgrading should ensure the road’s quality is maintained even under tough climatic changes (Robinson and Thagesen, 2004). Pedestrian and cyclists should have a path along the road hence the design of the road can incorporate these features. Health and safety precautions should form part of the design at all stages of the development. Footpaths should and safe road crossing zones like carriage way will dictate the design and technology used to construct the road. Logistics involved in the project The project just like any other will require adequate range of resources to ensure swift construction to completion (Lehtonen, 2000). Adequate human resources, capital and machinery should be available and in good condition, any substitute strategically positioned to ensures completion of the job. Such a mega-project affecting many stakeholders within the society needs a competent logistic department to manage and control all the logistics necessary for the major road upgrading (Sobotka etal. 2005). The major logistics to be considered are discussed in this section. A checklist would be necessary in this case. The table below summarizes the logistics guide relevant at various stages of the project. Phase of the project Tools and course of action The project designing phase 1. Involving relevant logistic course of action at the project conception. 2. Scrutiny of technological options and alternatives. 3. Description of the implementation plan. 4. The highway Construction design before and after construction. Project planning phase 1. The site’s physical map or chart. 2. The expected material devouring chart. 3. A chart for the relevant equipment needed for the project. 4. Relevant charts and histogram of the labor force. 5. Comprehensive chart of all sub-contractors and tenders. 6. A chart indicating the occupational health and safety standards to be considered. The project supplies 1. Specification of project materials. 2. Specification of material delivery plan to the construction site. 3. A chart indicating the procurement process. 4. Highlight of relevant qualifications for supply and of materials and services needed for the project. 5. Recommendations for acquisition of machinery, equipments, and guidelines for leasing. Implementation phase 1. The project implementation plan. 2. The relevant documentation and maintenance of the project information system. 3. Employing indices for assessing productivity of labor and the equipments. 4. Occupational health and safety regulations. Table 1 According to Lehtonen, (2000), logistics will vary at the various stages of the project but accountability is necessary at all the stages. All logistics should be well managed and this requires human resource capabilities. The human resource plans and implements the project according to the set design. In addition, the human resource ensures that the machine and equipment are well used and maintained. The relevance of the various resources needed for the project is discussed below. Human resource According to Sobotka et al. (2005), the project management must ensure that competent staff is in place to implement the project. The proponent must have a competent legal team to represent the proponent any court legal battle relating to the project. Environmental experts are needed to implement environmental demand such as environmental impact assessment and environmental auditing since the project is certainly bound to have an impact on the environment. Environmentalist is also relevant to provide the relevant environmental expertise on the issue relating to the national park (Lehtonen, 2000). A technically competent procurement officer will ensure that all the necessary materials are sourced at the right time, right amount and in required quantity and quality. A project auditor will bring technical expertise that will ensure the project funds are well utilized. The proponent must also consider hiring a quality assurance officer at the end of the project whose duty will involve ascertaining that the road meets the required standard. Civil and structural engineers will form part of the brains behind success of the proposed project (Mossman, 2008). The civil engineers are to work along with other junior staff that includes the subordinate staff and technical staff. Technical staff is responsible for activities such as machine operation, measuring and transforming the plan on paper to project on ground. The subordinate staff is also important in execution of non-technical activities on the project site such as cleaning of equipments and assembling of tools and materials. All the personnel have to work under a human resource manager who will ensure that the occupational health, safety and employees rights are upheld at all stages of the project. Permits and legal documents The proponent should ensure that all legal documents are in place before the project is offset (Sobotka etal. 2005). One of these important documents is the environmental impact assessment license and the environmental monitoring plan. The project legal council should ensure that all the legal documents and procedures are adhered to prevent any hiccup during the project’s construction phase. Machinery The highway-upgrading project will require various machines that will enable implementation of the project (Whyte, 2014). Enough trucks should be sourced to ensure that all materials and equipments are at the site of construction. Earthmovers and graders will be necessary for landscaping and creating the desired ground level (Lieu and Sorby, 2008). Water tanks or pipes should be included to ensure enough and continuous water supply to the project site. The proponent should decide on whether to use the continuous or batch process for the water supply. Options will depend on the expected final project outcome. Compressor, ballast mixers and cranes may also be needed during the project implementation. Materials According to Chang et al. (2012), materials needed for the road will depend on the quality and the design of the road. There are relevant materials such as cement, water, reinforcing steel and other materials needed to make the tar. Other materials include measuring tools and equipments that are needed at the site. Natural Environment The natural environment of the site where the project is proposed for implementation is likely to be impacted. The project has potential impacts on the underground water structures. Soil structure and underground water sources are likely to be compromised. Additionally, the project invades into a section of the national park. The project proponent can minimize the possible environmental impacts at pre-construction phase, construction phase and commissioning phase. The specific environmental impacts are discussed in this section. Environmental Impact Assessment According to Wadrup (2012), environmental impact assessment is meant to predict the possible effects that the project will have on the environment. A good tool contributes to the environmental management system (Gang, 2009). The project of this nature likely can pose great risk of affecting the environment given that a national park is interfered (Therivel, 2012). The national park is a sensitive ecosystem that can be endangered once fragmentation and elimination of corridors is practiced. The section of the road has the potential to fragment the national park and create a small isolated park. Isolation of ‘islands’ and elimination of migration corridors will affect animal migration. This impact is permanent and irreversible but engineers can develop options such as fly over. The road design however is in such a way that the interference with the park by fragmentation is minimized. The wildlife at the park is likely to be scared away by excessive noise and vibration during the construction phase. The project impact will thus affect the ecological system functioning. There is a possibility that the project will contribute to toxic substances in both the air and the ground. Possibility of ground water pollution is high through accidental situations such as oil spills. Oil spills will not only contaminate the underground water through leaching but can also is washed away as runoff into water reservoir. The impact nature is short term and likely to occur during the construction, machine or equipment repair, faulty equipment and accidental oil spills (Therivel, 2012). Water used to clean the tools and equipment can wash away toxic substances such as heavy metals. The possibility of such pollution can be minimized through a number of ways. Project proponent should hire skilled and competent personnel for repair and maintenance of machinery. Machinery to be hired or used in the project should be in good state to avoid accidental oil spills. Machine maintenance personnel must ensure that used oil is collected for proper disposal or reuse in other areas. The project construction and preconstruction phase is likely to produce excessive vibrations, noise, dust and other particulate matter (Wadrup, 2012). Excessive vibrations can have serious consequences and therefore engineers should understand the geological characteristic of the ground. The proposed road passes near a cliff that can collapse if the geological composition has weak rock structure. Impact of excessive vibration and associated risks are restricted mainly the preconstruction and the construction phase. However, the environmental impact due to excessive vibration is only a local issue. Noise produced by machines is likely to affect the peace of the people in the adjacent residential area. Machines should be maintained well to reduce noise generated from engines. Important technologies such as double exhaust pipes can silence the noise produced from engines. The impact of noise can be long-term and wide spread since noise will continue even after commissioning of the highway. Dust and other particulate matter are other issues of concern during the preconstruction and the construction phase of the project. Dust and smoke has serious effects on vegetation adjacent to the construction site. Physiological processes such as transpiration in plants is interfered once the dust rests on the leaf surface and blocks the leaf stomata. Dust and particulate matter also poses a risk to human respiratory health of workers and people living in the adjacent residential estates. There are two options of dealing with the possible impact of dust and particulate matter; sprinkling bare ground to reduce dust, providing nose masks for workers to reduce occupational health and safety risks. The environmental effects due to dust are short terms restricted to only the preconstruction and construction phase (Energy and Environmental Investment and Consulting, 2009). However, the environmental impact of smoke will continue after the road commissioning. According to Great Britain, Dept. of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (2000), social impacts of the proposed highway project are also considered when estimating environmental impacts of a project. The noise from the project site affects the social peace of people living in the adjacent residential region. Various economic activities are likely to be interrupted during the project implementation. Transport will be interrupted during the preconstruction and construction phase. Only few portions of the road A465 section will be open for minimum access. The impact will be eliminated once the project is completed and commissioned. Perfect identification of possible environmental impacts due to the project implementation, the proponent can establish relevant measures necessary for countering such effects (Whyte, 2014). As stated before, the environmental impact is an assessment tool that is very important in a project in terms of planning the approach for implementation. The environmental tool identifies possible impacts that can be used by another important tool known as the environmental monitoring plan (EMP). Environmental monitoring plan The environmental monitoring plan (EMP) is an important environmental tool that engineers can use in designing solutions to the environmental plan (Gang, 2009). After possible impacts have been identified, the proponent has to decide a solution through which the impact can be avoided or minimized. The identification is not enough, as the proponent has to make further decisions on whom to implement the corrective or control measure. The frequency of controls implementation should also be stated in the EMP. Various tools, equipment and budget should be included on the environmental monitoring plan. In addition, the proponent should establish a monitoring schedule that will be used to identify how well corrective measures are performing. Conclusion The current engineering project on A465 road targets to improve the road with an aim of maintaining the wall. The targeted road section along the valley road from Gilwern and Brynmawrs is to undergo upgrading from a triple lane single carriageway road to a triple-lane road double carriageway road. The engineering plan should leave not less than 11.5Km of the wall. The project site poses a range of challenges that include the sensitive ecosystem (beacon national park) and water reservoirs. The improvement design is to maintain the wall and improve quality of the road. Several factors will determine the technologies and design for the highway upgrading like the national park, the geological characteristics, the hydrological patterns and the intention of the project. Such a massive project needs a consistent logistic approach to enable things to run smoothly at both the construction site and offsite. All possible impacts of the project should be predicted and response measures developed. Bibliography Ayyub B.M, 1997, Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis in Civil Engineering, London: CRC Press. Chang S, Bahar K.S & Zhao J, 2012, Advances in Civil Engineering and Building Materials. CRC Press Energy and Environmental Investment and Consulting, 2009, Environmental Impact Assessment Report. Antalya- Turkey Power Plant. http://www.agaportal.de/pdf/nachhaltigkeit/eia/eia_tuerkei.pdf Environmental Statement, 1997, Non-technical Summary: A465 Abergavenny to Hirwaun Dualling (Heads of the Valleys Road). http://www.a465brynmawr2tredegar.co.uk/content/docs/environment%20Statement%20NTS%20en.pdf Gang L, 2009, Environmental impact report form of Jinan Thermal Power Co., Ltd. Heat Supply Integration Energy Saving Project Utilizing Loan from EIB. Environmental impact report form of construction project. http://www.eib.org/attachments/pipeline/20090343_eia_en.pdf Great Britain. Dept. of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 2000, Environmental Impact Assessment: A Guide to Procedures. Thomas Telford Publishers. Lehtonen T.W, 2000, Performance measurement in construction logistics. International jouranal for Production Economics 69 (2001) 107}116. http://www.ftms.edu.my/images/Document/MOD001182%20-%20IMPROVING%20ORGANISATIONAL%20PERFORMANCE/performance%20measurement%20construction%20logistics.pdf Lieu D & Sorby S, 2008, Visualization, Modeling, and Graphics for Engineering Design. New York: Cengage Learning. Mossman A, 2008, more than Materials: Managing What’s needed to Create Value in Construction. Paper for the 2nd European Conference on Construction Logistics. http://www.thechangebusiness.co.uk/TCB/Construction_Logistics_files/More-than-materials-Construction-Logistics-ECCL.pdf Robinson R & Thagesen B, 2004, Road Engineering for Development, Second Edition. London: CRC Press. Sobotka A, Czarnigowska A & Stefaniak K, 2005, Logistics Construction Projects. Foundation of Civil Engineering No.6 2005. http://www.ikb.poznan.pl/fcee/2005.06/full/fcee_2005-06_203-216_logistics_of_construction.pdf Therivel R, 2012, Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action. New York: Routledge publishers Wadrup S.C, 2012, The Planning Inspectorate Yr Arolygiaeth Gynllunio. Report http://www.a465brynmawr2tredegar.co.uk/content/docs/A465%20S3%20Inspectors%20Report.pdf Whyte A, 2014, Integrated Design and Cost Management for Civil Engineers. London: CRC Press. Read More

Many projects end up creating impacts on the environment with varying magnitude and characteristics. Impacts can be short term or long term, permanent or temporary and large scale or localized (Gang, 2009). Many large projects tend to have impacts with all the characteristics mentioned. The main areas of environment that projects can affect are the ecosystems, water sources and air. Proponents must develop measures to overcome various impacts the project is likely to have to the surrounding. Site Description The proposed road A465 slope ascends from eastwards linking the at-grade roundabout at Clydnach Gorge in Brynmawr.

There is a downward slope further eastwards on the section of the road A465. The road is next to a national park known as Beacon national park. The park is characterized by large dry grass moorland whose section will be transverse by the proposed road. There are two reservoirs, Blaen-Y-Cwm and Carno, which are operational on the northern side of the proposed project. The road is designed to pass at the base of the two mentioned reservoirs and power grids. The reservoir and the Garn Lydan residential estates are located on either sides of the road.

The design of the road is set to cover the ground facing away from the industrial valleys of the South West side. Generally, the land is predominantly old coalmines that have been reclaimed. It is evident that the road upgrading process will have effect during pre-construction, construction and commissioning phase of the project. The road construction and use will have effects on the adjacent national park, residential areas and the industrial area. The environmental impacts to be witnessed may either be positive or negative, long-term or short-tem, permanent or temporary and may be widespread or localized.

Factors influencing range of technologies The upgrading of the A465 road will involve various technologies to deliver quality and reduce impact. The technology to be used has to ensure that certain environmental factors are considered (Whyte, 2014). The engineers should minimize the negative impacts on the national park during both the preconstruction, construction phase and the commissioning phase (Ayyub, 1997). The wild life state of the park should be left un-interfered or if any interference is present, it should be minimal short-term and localized.

The hydrological characteristics of the site are also determinants of the technologies to be used. The hydropower dams ought to remain operational at all stages of the A465 highway upgrading. The ambient air should also be minimally interfered since. Regulation on noise levels and excessive vibrations are also determinants on the technologies to be used (Robinson and Thagesen, 2004). The geological characteristics that are closely linked to the underground hydrological pattern will determine the technology to be adopted for the project.

Socio-economic considerations will also form a basis on the decision for technology to be used (Lieu and Sorby, 2008). The final characteristics of the highway should ensure the local transport is integrated. The road should ensure access to the various residential and key economic areas is improved. The movement of vehicles should be swift with limited traffic congestion. These special economic considerations determine the technology to be used. The technology in this case should produce the desired quality in terms of texture and size of the road.

The road upgrading should ensure the road’s quality is maintained even under tough climatic changes (Robinson and Thagesen, 2004). Pedestrian and cyclists should have a path along the road hence the design of the road can incorporate these features. Health and safety precautions should form part of the design at all stages of the development. Footpaths should and safe road crossing zones like carriage way will dictate the design and technology used to construct the road. Logistics involved in the project The project just like any other will require adequate range of resources to ensure swift construction to completion (Lehtonen, 2000).

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