Engineering team earns design award

One point separates Trine and Purdue

 

A team of three Trine University civil engineering students placed second in an annual state-wide design competition March 26 in Carmel, Ind. The team of Adam Clark (Hillsdale, Mich.), Curt Daniels (Huntington, Ind.), and Kevin Hintz (Indianapolis, Ind.) was advised by associate professor Dr. Doug Schmucker, and presented their senior project, “Harcourt-Williams Street Roundabout Study in Angola, Ind.” 

The competition is conducted each year at the annual meeting of the Indiana State Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Trine team won a local contest before competing against other university winners. Competitors included student teams from University of Evansville in Evansville, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, and University of Notre Dame in South Bend, all in Indiana. A team from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. won the competition by a single point.

The Trine project examined safe and efficient ways for vehicles and pedestrians to navigate the Harcourt and Williams street intersection in Angola. The area is rapidly changing from its semi-rural and residential character. Recent development includes Project Help, the county’s food and clothing bank, the Breeden YMCA, and Trine University’s north campus. Angola’s new pedestrian and cycling path also traverses the area. Many adjacent properties are currently undeveloped.

Roundabouts are similar to the circle in downtown Angola, in which traffic flows around a central island. The Trine team discussed the ways in which a roundabout configuration would help decrease the severity of vehicle collisions, minimize long-term maintenance and operations costs, increase aesthetic appeal, and provide unique identity to the city. An additional unique feature of the students’ work is a rain garden located in the center of the roundabout. Rain gardens are more natural and aesthetic ways of handling storm water runoff than traditional curb-and-gutter storm sewer solutions.

The students will present their work to the Angola Common Council at its April 6 meeting. All of the Trine groups will present their work at the end of the month in the university’s Engineering Design Exposition on Friday, May 1, in Fawick Hall on Trine’s main Angola campus.