Road Segment Risk Assessment: Harford County, Maryland

Abstract

The Department of Public Works in Harford County has requested road segments at risk of erosion be identified for preventive maintenance application. The final deliverable for this project will be a map, data, and report categorizing the risk levels along with a list of the most at- risk road segments. A Hot Spot Analysis identifying areas with the greatest concentration of at-risk road segments will also be included. The project had several phases. First, county road sections that were not bridges and that were close to streams (<25 feet) were selected and isolated. Second, the team calculated and characterized the soil type, drainage area, and distance from the stream as erosion risk indicators. Third, the team created an index that weights soil type, drainage area, and distance to identify the highest risk road segments. The team then separated the identified road segments into high, medium, and low risk categories and produced a list of the 347 road segments most at-risk. After a hot-spot analysis to find areas of the county that contain clusters of high-risk road segments, the team finished by reporting to the county the roads in need of checks or repair.

Notes

Final project for URSP688L: Planning Technologies (Fall 2018). University of Maryland, College Park.

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