My second coop quarter with TranSystems Corporation brought on a challenging bridge development right next door. TranSystems is a national transportation company currently working to increase capacity and safety along the Mill Creek Expressway (I-75) from the Ohio River to the Norwood Lateral. I spent the summer developing a bridge type study for a ramp that will carry southbound I-75 traffic to westbound I-74, sometime around 2015. This particular site was engulfed with challenges that made possible bridge alternatives few. Existing and proposed rail road tracks, arterial roadways, waterways, utilities, and roadway geometry restricted every step of the design. In addition, we needed to create a structure that was efficient, economical, and followed a plethora of applicable design recommendations and procedures set forth by various governing bodies. The COOL part about this project is that it will affect everyone. Yes, we will be inconvenienced for years during construction. However, the project is projected to improve conditions experienced by Cincinnati drivers by reducing accidents, slow downs, and driver frustration. It’s precisely the “Civil” part of Civil Engineering that I love and drives me to learn more. This and similar projects are truly benefiting society and the way it moves. Many other areas along this project will have an enormous impact on the city as well as the University. The Hopple Street interchange will be dramatically altered to improve safety, logic, and interstate accessibility from surrounding neighborhoods. While working on this project, the bridge to classroom learning was the easy part. I regularly used skills learned during recent classes to complete my designs and understand what I was doing. I learned far beyond the classroom by absorbing the experience of the experts in ways unmatched by classrooms. By 2015, everyone should be getting to school on time!