Caltrans: District 11

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a department in the state of California where its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system which includes the California Freeway and Expressway System and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state. They are in charge of the San Diego county and Imperial Valley located in Southern California. As student interns our team internship consisted of two students that worked on different areas: Tamina Akram and Evita Valdivieso worked in the Utilities division, and Angela Inciong worked for the Traffic Project Development division.

California Department of Transportation District 11 - Internship Tamina Akram- SDSU Evita Valdivieso - SDSU [email protected]

[email protected] Angela Inciong- SDSU Civil Engineer [email protected] NSF Grant # DUE0653277 Engineering Services Utilities

Utility Engineering is a unit within the Design Division, it must sign off on every project .Their job is to identify and resolve all utility conflicts that might be encountered at the earliest possible point in the first phase of a construction project. The underground and overhead utility lines, poles, pipes, conduit, and wires are identified and confirmed as early as the Project Approval and Environmental Document phase.

Outcome from working in Utilities:

 Corrected ‘Redline’ Design Plans using Microstation CAD and Plans Preparation Manual  Supported Utilities Group in preparation of innovative Utilities GIS system  Reviewed and filed Permit applications  Reviewed and extracted pertinent information from external Utility and Caltrans As-Builts  Transferred Utility As-Built data onto Plan Sheets  Extensive Field visits in review of Traffic Operations, Environmental Mitigation, Bridge Construction, Freeway Construction

Traffic Project Development

This division emphasizes on the safety of the roads built. If there is a build-up of accidents in one certain area, Caltrans goes to this department to identify the problem and find a solution.

Outcome from working in Traffic Project Development:

• Made a current projects map of the Traffic Project Development where accident prone areas are being • developed into safer areas Drew a transition from a T60 to a T60S median barrier • using Microstation 2D Helped edit an estimate on a project about the wet • pavement accidents in SR-67 In addition, made excel tables, profiles, and plans for a hydrology study

I-125 Project

We chose this project because it was locally built was finished on November 19, 2007. The pictures above represent the bridge spans and its foundation along with rebar to show the progress of the project before it was done.

Caltrans District 11

Tamina Akram getting ready for a field visit in review of 67/52 bridge construction in Santee Angela Inciong drafting drainage area of a section in the 94 freeway Evita Valdivieso on the 905 freeway construction site

Benefits in our Future

Among several beneficial outcomes of tour internship experience some include:  Applying our educational skills to the real world  Having the opportunity to interact with professionals  Gaining a well rounded experience in the Civil Engineering field, through activities such as Microstation, and observing construction sites  Making connections and broadening our knowledge of how diverse the Civil Engineering branch is

Conclusion

The experience of working in an engineering industry like Caltrans provided us with a clear understanding of the civil engineering profession. Through this internship, We were able to learn about some of the specific branches of the discipline such as: transportation, utilities, and environmental engineering. We were also exposed to a teamwork environment which exposed us how engineers think and work. We were able to learn a great deal of technical language which will enhance the ways in which we network with other professionals. Thanks to this experience we are now better prepared for our future and extremely motivated to continue with our career in civil engineering.

Acknowledge

We want to thank Caltrans District 11 for the incredible opportunity to participate in this internship. We also would like to thank the MESA Engineering Program and the National Science Foundation for funding our internship and providing us the ability to intern at this company. Specifically, we would like to thank our Caltrans mentors Richard Estrada, Michael Pedersen, and Abu-Bakr Al-Jafri for the guidance and knowledge they shared with us.

Caltrans complex design of freeways has made our transportation needs easier for access shown here in a Los Angeles freeway intersection