THE USE OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION TOOLS TO DETECT DEFICIENCIES IN GEOMETRIC ROADWAY DESIGNS

The use of three-dimensional (3D) visualization technologies in the field oftransportation sciences has contributed not only to the assessment of the impact of aroad project on its surroundings but also to the development and study of elementsof the geometric design itself. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness ofthe use of 3D visualization tools in the detection of poor compatibility between thehorizontal and vertical alignments of a road project. The assessment was performedby conducting tests with groups of participants who were students from a civilengineering course with no experience in the development of geometric roadwaydesigns. These participants each assessed two road stretches: one stretch withunflawed coordination between the vertical and horizontal alignments of the roadand another stretch in which this coordination had been intentionally distorted. Itwas used an application software for roadway geometric designs that allowed the creation of a video of the trajectory of the targeted road. Subsequently, theparticipants answered a questionnaire that aided the interpretation of the resultsregarding the design deficiencies in road layouts perceived from the 3Dvisualization of the roadways