Civil Engineering students collaborate with Sligo Borough Council on traffic study
Final year Civil Engineering students at IT Sligo have won praise from Sligo Borough Council (SBC) for a collaborative traffic study they carried out in a bid to track routes and journey times for those travelling from the east ward to destinations in the north and west of the city.
The 24 BEng Honours Civil Engineering students undertook the project, in conjunction with the local authority, for their Highway and Traffic Engineering module, with the overall objective of presenting the council with data which might help them improve traffic flow.
Lecturer Dr Brian McCann who initiated and supervised the study, liaised with the Borough Council’s Senior Executive Engineer in the Roads Section, Mr Brían Flynn
Dr McCann explained that the focus of the study was on investigating traffic flow from the densely populated and commercially important south-east ward to destinations in the north and west of the city, including Sligo General Hospital, IT Sligo and other key employment centres. Students undertook an origin-destination registration survey to determine characteristics of the routes taken by vehicles through and around the city, including journey times and trip distribution.
Mr Flynn who praised the professionalism of the students and the diligence they applied to “real –life” problem-solving, said he looked forward to receiving the data and recommendations in the students’ reports.
“We are anxious to establish what proportion of traffic coming from the east of the city takes a route close to the centre through Grattan Street, Castle Street and John Street, and how much of it navigates through what we feel is a more appropriate route through Mail Coach Road, Temple Street, Adelaide Street and Wine Street ,” said Mr Flynn.
He explained that under the Sligo and Environs Development Plan, the focus is on directing traffic away from the centre of the city so that it is more user-friendly for pedestrians and shoppers. Under the plan, SBC must continuously monitor traffic flow patterns and take measures to improve traffic flow through for example, the introduction of one-way systems, flow reversals, traffic calming or improved signage.
“This project was a win-win situation – I think the student s gained very worthwhile practical experience and we are getting very useful detail on traffic flow patterns which will help us achieve some of the objectives in the development plan,” added Mr Flynn.
Students prepared a topographic survey of junction layouts; they did a turning count at key junctions and conducted an observational traffic study of existing route patterns and journey times.
Mr Flynn said he had been impressed with the initiative shown by students through every stage of the study. “We decided not to be overly prescriptive and to leave much of the planning to the students,” he explained. “I found their input to be very refreshing, they were very diligent and I look forward to reviewing their findings,” he added.
Dr McCann said the project gave students an opportunity to be hands on and to get invaluable experience in developing practical traffic survey and data analysis techniques, which helped them detail routes, travel times and speed of vehicles entering the city centre at key junctions and using particular routes. “It was great experience for them and we hope it will be useful for Sligo Borough Council as it looks to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their traffic management plan into the future,” said Dr McCann.
As civil engineering is a key discipline for the emerging renewable, sustainable and environmental sectors, demand for graduates in this area will be strong. IT Sligo offers ordinary and honours degrees and research opportunities in Civil Engineering, in which students are introduced to the core civil engineering areas of structural, hydraulic, geotechnical, environmental and highway engineering as well as project and site management. Both programmes are accredited by Engineers Ireland and meets the educational standard required for Chartered Engineer Membership of Engineers Ireland – accreditations which are recognised in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, China, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
Image Caption: Final year IT Sligo Civil Engineering students with their lecturer Dr Brian McCann and Sligo Borough Council’s Brian Flynn on site during traffic surveying with IT Sligo’s electric car.