[...]... McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Click here for terms of use This page intentionally left blank Practical Manual of Land Development This page intentionally left blank Chapter 1 Land Development Making the environment more useful, safe, and comfortable for humanity is the purpose of civil engineering Civil engineering for land development includes the design and construction of transportation corridors; flood control... understanding among the various people involved in land development Using This Book The engineering design of public works and private projects should be done under the supervision of a highly educated, experienced engineer This book has been written as an overview and guide to the engineering design of a variety of land development projects The design of each aspect of the project must be made with an understanding... surveyed When measuring angles, 1 degree of difference results in 17.452 m (57.25 ft) of offset difference for every kilometer of length; 1 minute of difference yields 0.29 m (0.95 ft) of offset difference for every kilometer; 1 second of difference yields 0.0484 m (0.156 ft) of offset difference for every kilometer The degree of precision chosen should be based on the distance measured and the precision... revision Expanded use of the Internet for general information and reference material facilitates the design process Where Web sites can be helpful during the process, they are added to the text An appendix “Useful Websites” has been added to the back of the book for quick reference to facilitate research Since the third edition of the Practical Manual of Land Development, protection of our water resources... disappearance of wetlands is an issue of major importance, as wetlands provide a unique environment for flora and fauna In California, for instance, if wetlands are taken out of use because a highway bridge or some other structure will cover them, those wetlands must be replaced at a rate greater than 1:1 and can be as great as 7:1 The ratio is based 6 Chapter One on the quality of the proposed wetlands and... This is the first step to promote conversion of all engineering and construction in the United States to metric For that reason, this edition of the Practical Manual of Land Development has been written using the metric system The traditional method of measuring and number usage in the United States is called the Imperial System The International System of Units referred to as SI (from Le Système International... in addition to those of several kinds of civil engineers Civil engineers specializing in traffic, structures, soils, and hydraulics may be needed Effective communication among them is essential Lack of clear communication can be the greatest obstacle to timely, satisfactory completion of any project The intent of this book is to present a clear description of the tasks of the land development engineer... Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Click here for terms of use xvi Preface The expanded capabilities and increased use of computer-aided design for earthwork, profiles and utilities design has made some of the sections of the earlier editions to be no longer pertinent to land development designers For that reason, the sections of the book involving those calculations are no longer necessary... Computers Use of CADD is now commonplace in civil engineering design and land development Use of computers and state -of- the-art software to calculate complex formulas and manipulate large volumes of numbers has become necessary for designers to remain competitive Once computer skills have been mastered, complicated computations can be made more easily, more quickly, and with less risk of error Another... Preface The objective of my book has always been to provide engineers and others working in land development with a quick, easy reference for day-to-day design problems and to introduce engineering students to the applications of their education Some factors important to engineers and others in land development have changed significantly since the last publication The importance of keeping the book relevant .