Drainage Improvements Along Otterdale Road to Reduce Flooding and Improve Safety; Bio-Based Plastics as a Replacement for Food Grade Plastic Packaging 8 views

This technical project involves making advancements to Blackman Creek crossing on Otterdale Road to prevent flooding that has previously overtopped the road and impeded travel. The project is located in Chesterfield, Virginia in the Swift Creek Reservoir Watershed. The existing crossing of Otterdale Road over Blackman Creek is a 45’ single span bridge. It is a 2-lane undivided roadway with discontinuous shoulders. The primary objective of the project is to design a replacement crossing that safely passes the flow of a 100-year storm underneath it. Blackman Creek is part of a regulatory floodplain mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). So, in addition to this 100-year storm conveyance, a FEMA "No-Rise" requirement must also be met in order to mitigate flood risk. “No-Rise” means the new design cannot raise the floodplain above the baseline water surface elevation set by the current bridge. Therefore, the new design must maintain the current water surface elevations and pass a 100-year storm. To complete this project and determine what design is best fit for the crossing, extensive hydraulic analysis was needed. HEC-RAS simulations were used to predict how future storms would interact with different designs. Different bridge geometries were created in HEC-RAS and a Steady Flow Analysis was completed for each geometry. The resulting data showed whether the new crossing either met the requirements or was insufficient. OpenRoads was used for roadway design, keeping in consideration the existing speed limit and current traffic trends. To tie into the bridge replacement, the roadway design raised the profile, altered the grade, and altered the approaches as needed. After careful consideration and many design iterations, the final design consists of a 3-cell prefabricated concrete arch bridge. The team recommended a CON/SPAN O-300 Multicell structure as the best fit for the project schedule, cost considerations, and hydraulic requirements. To integrate this new structure into the existing road, roadway geometry has been designed to tie into the taller and wider bridge. For the final structure choice, steel piles will be used for the deep foundation. In my STS Thesis Paper, I explore how bio-based plastics would affect human health. I discuss two types of bioplastics: biodegradable plastics and bio-based plastics. Biodegradable plastics break down into “natural” by-products when they are degraded in a specific environment. Bio-based plastics are made from “natural” materials. Traditional, petroleum-derived microplastics pose danger to the environment and humans. This led me to ask the question, how would transitioning to bio-based plastic wrapping affect the health of the human race? It was challenging to determine the answer to this because bioplastics are not popular at the moment, so there are minimal studies on how they affect the human body. To combat this challenge, I use ISTA and Grounded Theory Research Methodology. ISTA is used to assess new technology when it is initially implemented and anticipate consequences before complete failure occurs. Bioplastics have not been fully implemented, so ISTA allows me to predict the effects of fully integrating bioplastics into society. Grounded Research Theory is similar in that it helps to create a theory that is rooted in data. When there is lacking information on a niche topic, Grounded Research Theory allows one to rely on the limited data to develop a conclusion. Using these two tools, I compiled many experiments on bioplastics in how they affect plants, animals, and humans, and devised a theory: fully implementing bio-based plastics would be advantageous to the environment but pose the same risk to humans as the ingestion of traditional plastics.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

bioplastics; bio-based plastics; sustainability food packaging; bridge design for flood mitigation; roadway flooding; flood modeling

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Technical Advisor: Jonathan Goodall STS Advisor: Joshua Earle Technical Team Members: Finn Kelleher, Julia Miele, Mia Sheldon, Bladen Williams

English

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2026-05-05