Design-Build Reshapes Johnson County
Project Overview
GBA was a major participant in the Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) second-ever design-build project, 69Express. The project added capacity to US-69 from 103rd Street south to 151st Street in the form of tolled express lanes. GBA served as the discipline lead for the roadway, drainage, and permitting for the entire project. This included roadway design of one segment and drainage design of all segments along the corridor. of the project sequencing in support of the Transportation Management Plan.
The roadway design spanned the northernmost design segment from 103rd Street south to just north of 119th Street and included interchange improvements at I-435 and College Boulevard. Key design elements were mainline US-69, system-to-system ramp and service ramp alignments and profiles, College Boulevard single-point urban interchange improvements, and multiple trail segments.
The drainage design involved developing conceptual layouts corridor-wide before developing hydrology on every structure and storm sewer within the project limits, developing plans as well as reports on the proposed alignments and profiles while working with the Joint Venture and other disciplines to ensure that we eliminate any potential conflicts and provide the best possible solution for constructability in a tight corridor with a fast-paced project.
Project Scope:
- Cross Road Drainage Evaluation and Design
- Highway Drainage and Ditching
- Local Roadway Drainage Design
- Energy Dissipation and Outlet Protection
- Coordination with other disciplines (roadway, structural, mode of transportation, utility coordination)
The traffic modeling of the temporary traffic control configurations assisted the design and construction teams by identifying possible safety and operational problems and proposing potential solutions. Both microsimulation analysis in VISSIM and deterministic modeling in Synchro was performed for the entire project area for all major construction phases, as well as for major detour routes for interchange and road closures. GBA worked closely with the MOT Task Group to provide better alternatives and potential countermeasures to the problems identified.