CE 341 Transportation Engineering (Fall)

Project Part 1: Response to Request for Proposal (RFP)

DUE DATES PART 1: PROJECT PROPOSAL on Wednesday, 20 September, at the beginning

of class (15% of project grade)
PART 2: DATA COLLECTION on Wednesday, 18 October, at the beginning of
class (20% of project grade)
PART 3: ANALYSIS AND FINAL PROJECT REPORT on Wednesday, 22 November, at
the beginning of class (65% of project grade)

General. The project for this class will be done in groups of 3 to 4 students, and in three
phases: project proposal, data collection, and analysis/final report. The project is concerned
with the flow of traffic on streets and intersection operation.

Background. The behavior of the driver (and sometimes pedestrians), the characteristics of the
vehicles being driven, and the built and natural environment interact to produce the everyday
traffic situations that we all encounter. The physical characteristics of the humans involved
(e.g., visual acuity, average height of the drivers eye above the pavement when seated in a
vehicle) and their mental state (e.g., agitation) influence how they can or will respond in a given
situation. For example, in congested situations, a driver may be more willing to accept a smaller
space (or gap) in the oncoming traffic to make a left turn than he or she would be if the
conditions were uncongested. Similarly, the type of vehicle being driven (e.g., a Mustang versus
a Mack truck) may influence both the distance at which one follows another vehicle or the gap
in traffic that is acceptable to someone waiting to turn. Finally, the signing and signals that the
traffic engineer specifies as well as the number and width of lanes may affect how easy it is to
execute a turn or cross a street. For example, a traffic signal gives the driver/vehicle the
opportunity to turn that might not otherwise occur. In order to predict and hopefully improve
traffic operations, we often build models and/or make assumptions about all of these factors,
perform some calculations to predict behavior, and implement various changes in the built
environment. The project that you will do is concerned with several aspects of traffic
operations, specifically at intersections.

The overall assignment. During the course of the semester, you will:

1) write a proposal for a project, including data collection, which will, upon completion,
result in recommendations for improvement of a problem intersection;

2) execute a data collection exercise in the field and transmit and report on the data
that you collect;

3) undertake analysis using the data that you collected and some standard software
packages to assess intersection operations; and

PROJECT Part 1: page 1 of 6

 4) write a final report in which you summarize all of these activities, compare the
observations that you made in the field with the predictions from various models
(using software packages), and include your recommendations for improving the
intersection.

When you read the specific assignment for part 1, your first reaction will be something on the
order of Wow (or perhaps the expletive of your choice), thats not much detail, I wonder what
he really wants us to do? The whole idea here is to get you to THINK about what you need to
do, read appropriate parts of the text and/or other sources, and ask useful questions. If I tell
you exactly what you need to do, then there will be minimal intellectual involvement on your
partyou wont have learned very much, you will have simply demonstrated your ability to
follow an explicit set of directions. The latter, while probably necessary, is not sufficient to
become a good engineer.

The actual request for proposal to which you will have to respond is the last page in this
handout. The problem situation is briefly described below.

PART 1. Project Proposaladvance information on the site

The intersection to be considered in this project is: Wilson Road extension at Hagadorn Road
(including existing Shaw Lane at Hagadorn Road).

You need to be thinking about whats wrong with this intersection, what information you
need to have about the intersection and its operation in order to propose and evaluate
improvements, and what kinds of improvements, if any, might be appropriate.

REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS. Many projects that civil engineers undertake start with responses to
requests for proposals (RFPs) that are issued by state and local public agencies and others.
Basically, a would-be client has some work that needs to be done, and they ask interested
engineers/firms for proposals to do the work. Sometimes RFPs are very precise and
straightforward, sometimes they are vague (e.g., to give the responders freedom to propose
different ways to do things). In any event, a proposal is essentially an offer to do work and, if
successful (accepted), will eventually evolve into a contract. So, proposals need to be realistic.
Also, all proposals are competitive documentsyour proposal will typically be in competition
with others.

The first part of the CE 341 project is the preparation of a proposal in response to an RFP.

PROPOSAL TEMPLATE. There are several common elements to a proposal in response to an RFP.
These are described below although not all are required for the CE 341 proposal.

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Component/element Description
Letter of transmittal A letter of transmittal is a brief, formal business letter that literally
transmits your proposal, announcing that the proposal is enclosed.
This letter is used to identify the problem or RFP to which you are
responding and that it is being submitted by your firm/group. The
letter can also be used to highlight important (or unique) features of
your proposal.
(required for 341)

Title page The title page is used as a cover for the proposal and to identify the
project or RFP number, who is responsible for the proposal, the
recipient, and the date.
(required for 341)

Table of contents This is a listing of the contents of the proposal. For short proposals
(under 10 pages), this is an optional part (unless required by the
RFP).
(optional for 341)

Executive summary This is a short (generally one page or less) summary of your proposal
containing highlights such a major features and how well your
proposal fits the RFP.

These summaries are strategic. That means you order the ideas in
the way that most strikes your reader, and not necessarily in the
same order that they may appear in the proposal.

Many decision-makers read the executive summary to decide

whether the proposal is worth reading.

Even though this summary appears first, it is written last.

(required for 341)

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Component/element Description
Introduction/project This is the real first section of your proposal and provides a general
description/project introduction to the proposal and contains a statement of the
objectives (dont purpose(s) of the project. This is often a paraphrasing of the RFP.
include all these as one
title) A brief summary of what must be done to accomplish the
project/solve the problem can be provided here. This might also
include an indication of the consequences of failing to solve the
problem.

Sometimes it is appropriate to separate the introduction, project

description, and project objectives into separate, related sections.
For short proposals, it probably isnt (but all these points should be
covered).

If the project or work being proposed is site-specific in some way,

you should provide a location map and/or a drawing/sketch of the
site.

(required for 341)

Project tasks/ This is the section used to formally describe ALL work that is
work plan (dont include proposed to be done. This will be the longest section and contain
both of these as one the most detail. In this section you provide the details on:
title) what youre going to do;
how youre going to do it;
how the results will lead to a conclusion (and/or solve the
problem); and
how the final report will be organized and presented.

Depending on the RFP and the nature of the problem, some typical
sub-sections might include: overall methodology, data collection,
data analysis, and expected results. Sometimes this should be
organized by tasks (if convenient/logical or specified in the RFP).

(required for 341)

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Component/element Description
Work schedule In many instances, you will need to describe how you can complete
the required work within a specific schedule. In this section, the
identified tasks/work items (identified in the previous section) are
described on a time line (e.g., using a Gantt chart).
The reader will use this information to assess whether you have a
reasonable grasp of the work involved and how long it will take to
complete it.

(optional for 341)

Cost In this section, you explain how much the work that you are
proposing will cost. In many instances, the cost proposal is separated
from the technical presentation.

(required for 341, a realistic estimate of personnel hours for each

task or work plan elemente.g., how many people and hours are
required for data collection)
an actual cost estimate ($) is not required for 341

Personnel/key This section is used to describe the key contributors to the project
participants and their roles in doing the work. In this section, you are convincing
the reader that the team that you have assembled can actually do
the work that is being proposed. Resumes of key personnel can also
be provided in this section or in an appendix (preferable). Never
inflate resumes!
(optional for 341, if done only include resumes in an appendix, no
other narrative is desired)

References Any materials that were used or consulted in preparing the proposal
should be cited (just like a term paper!) in the body and provided in
the reference list.
(required for 341)

Appendices Appendices contain extra, often more detailed materials that

provide support to other parts of the proposal. For example, if you
are using some new and different software to do the analysis, it may
be appropriate to spend some time describing it. There may also be
a need for some preliminary drawings or sample calculations. As
noted above, resumes are sometimes provided in an appendix also.
(for 341, if you include resumes in an appendix, there must be a
reference to it in the body of the proposal; other appendices may
be required depending on the actual content of your proposal)

PROJECT Part 1: page 5 of 6

 Request for Proposals
on the
The Analysis and Potential Redesign of the Intersection of Wilson Road extension
at Hagadorn Road
on the Michigan State University Campus

To be considered, proposals must be received by:

Anthony Ingle, PE
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Michigan State University
no later than Wednesday, 20 September 2017, at 3:00 PM
Room 008 Urban Planning

Background. The existing intersection of Shaw Lane at Hagadorn Road currently serves as a
gateway to the Michigan State University (MSU) campus. The Universitys 2020 Vision (campus
master plan) calls for the extension of Wilson Road to Hagadorn Road. The new intersection
will become the new prominent eastern entrance/exit for central campus traffic. The existing
location should be evaluated to determine how it currently performs in day-to-day operations,
and how the proposed modifications will operate in the future.

Project Scope. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering wishes to have an
assessment of current traffic operations and safety at the existing Shaw Lane at Hagadorn
Road intersection. In addition, the proposed modifications consistent with the 2020 Vision
must be evaluated to predict the performance of the intersection(s) after the proposed change.
Any recommendations for improvements/changes to the intersection must be consistent with
the campus master plan. Potential geometric and/or operational changes should be considered.
The project to be done by the consultant does not require any detailed design (ie. no
construction plan drawings). The question of whether future intersection should be signalized
must also be addressed.

Requirements. The successful proposal will demonstrate that the proposal authors have an
understanding of the significance of the intersections, current operations at the intersection,
and methods to be employed to complete the assessment. The proposal must include a clear
rationale for data collection required to support the analysis, a data collection plan, an
indication of how the data will be used in the assessment, and an indication of how alternatives
for treatment will be generated and assessed. While a cost proposal is neither required nor
desired, personnel allocations to different aspects of the proposed project are to be detailed.
The project must be completed by 22 November 2017.

Clarifications/Questions. Questions or requests for clarification regarding any aspect of this

request for proposals are encouraged and will be afforded class discussion time during
regularly-scheduled meetings (3:00-4:20, MW).

PROJECT Part 1: page 6 of 6