The College of Staten Island called for reconstruction of two miles of roads including realignment of three roads, relocation of roadway lighting, installation of traffic calming elements, and new signage to improve safety.
H2M was retained to assess the condition of the two-mile road that encircles the College of Staten Island campus and make recommendations to improve the physical construction and provide traffic calming measures.
Originally the roads were in poor condition and included several sharp curves and steep gradients. These physical issues combined with limited drainage infrastructure, resulted in significant roadside erosion; and combined with younger drivers proudced a high accident rate. We recommended the installation of curbs and additional drainage infrastructure throughout the road to efficiently collect stormwater runoff and minimize erosion. In anticipation of increased vehicle and traffic volumes over the next 20 years, we also utilized a new pavement section, re-aligned sections of the road to provide additional buffers and pedestrian facilities, relocated existing roadway lighting, integrated crosswalks with speed humps, and implemented additional signage to provide trafic calming.
The challenge of this project was the need to maintain access to all existing parking lots throughout the campus. Since work had to be completed while school was in session, losing access to parking lots was simply not an option. Therefore, we developed traffic maintenance and phasing plans that maintained access to all parking lots while still allowing parts of the road to be closed for construction.
