Nelsonville Bypass Project Case Study

The field of engineering impacts our society in many, many ways. There are the most obvious impacts, technological and technical improvements (means of transportation, electronics, resource distributions services, et cetera), but there are impacts that may be somewhat vague, such as global and societal impacts. Both impacts must be weighted equally by the modern, citizen engineer. As an engineering student in southeast Ohio, one of the more recent and relevant examples of engineering impacting a society is the construction of the Nelsonville Bypass project. U.S. Route 33 ran through this small town, of approximately 5,400 people, and this section typically averaged about 19,000 vehicles per day with 15 percent being semi trucks. This section of highway was narrow in width, and would typically add about twenty to thirty minutes of travel time to the average commuter. It was proposed to build a bypass around Nelsonville, which would creating a better transportation for motorists while at the same time protect the wildlife living in Wayne National Forest. The proposal was accepted and construction …show more content…
This is not an easy decision to come to, however. The citizens of Nelsonville will most certainly experience an economic downturn and if proper precautions are not taken, some wildlife species may be harmed during bypass construction. But it is the duty of the engineer to ensure that the safety of the public is the top priority. The bypass would most certainly decrease the number of impacts and thus create a safer traffic environment. The safety of the public is the top positive impact for me, and helped me side with the construction of the bypass. This project is a prime example of the need for the engineer to consider the impacts that a project may have on society. The decision to build the bypass was not an easy one, but it was a decision that had to be