Project: The Mapping of Major Intersection Ramps Along I83 in York County
Student Researcher: Justin Lee
Introduction
“The Geographic Approach is used for location-based analysis
and decision making. Civil Engineers need data for projects
and using a map published by a GIS professional helps fulfill
that need. A transportation project would need to employ a
map with a bird’s eye view of the site and the surrounding
area. There are five steps that will help someone new to GIS
technology to provide a defined and proven approach”
Background Information
“As a YCP student taking a class in GIS, it was asked of me to
create a project using GIS. It was decided that using GIS and
connecting it to Civil Engineering would be a helpful topic.
Transportation engineering relies heavily on data and in this
case two intersections along i83 in York County are to be
updated to accommodate better safety and heavier traffic.”
Problem/Issue Statement
“York County government officials have realized that i83 in
York County has many outdated on and off-ramps. These
ramps are no safe for merging traffic nor are they able to
handle an increased traffic capacity.
So far, York County in the past decade have only looked at
two exits that need to be improved which include:
- Shrewsbury (Exit 4)
- Mount Rose (Exit 18)”
Conclusions
“The final step of The Geographic Method include documentation of the
project using close up pictures of the proposed locations. Individual
maps of the proposed locations have been created to get a close
up look of the targeted areas.
Key takeaways from this project include,
1. These two locations that have been proposed are indeed considered
out of date due to the shape and the functionality of the intersections.
2. These locations have the same shape in common which is deemed to
be unsafe and not sufficient with the increase of traffic.
3. The proposed locations are located along the same interstate in high
populous areas. One of the surrounding locations does include some
sort of natural habitat i.e. flood plain.”
