THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

COMPUTERS HAVE BEEN USED IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES SINCE ABOUT 1960. FOR BOTH THE ELEMENTS OF HIGHWAY DESIGN, IN PLAN AND IN PROFILE, PROGRAM SYSTEMS STRENG AND STRENA HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED. THE SYSTEMS CONSIST OF INTERDEPENDENT SINGLE PROGRAMS. THE SINGLE PROGRAMS OF A PROGRAM FRAMEWORK ARE ENUMERATED. THE PROGRAM STRENG PRODUCES ALL THE DATA REQUIRED FOR THE DESIGN IN PLAN: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AXIS, LINKING TWO AXES, CONTROL STATION DIAGNOSIS, OFFSETS FROM FIXED POINTS TO ESTABLISHED AXES, VERTICAL INTERVALS BETWEEN AXES, CROSS SECTION INTERVALS, SETTING OUT DATA, PREPARATION OF DATA- DATA BASE (E.G. PLOTTING SOFTWARE). THE PROGRAM STRENA PRODUCES THE TERRESTRIAL INFORMATION IN CROSS-SECTIONS ACCORDING TO THE NORMAL SURVEY PROCESS, CALCULATES GRADIENTS, CONSTRAINED GRADIENTS, SURFACE LEVELS, MASS CALCULATIONS. WITH A SERIES OF SUCCESSIVE PROGRAMS THE DATA FROM STRENG AND STRENA CAN BE UTILIZED FOR OTHER PURPOSES, E.G. VISIBILITY CALCULATIONS, AUTOMATIC DRAWING. IN ADDITION A FURTHER SERIES OF PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR TRAFFIC ANALYSIS, TRANSPORTATION PLANNING, SURVEYING, BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION, COPYING, ACCOUNTING, CRITICAL PATH NETWORKS. BY CONVERTING TO THE OPERATING SYSTEM BS 2000 APPLICATIONS AND CALCULATIONS ARE QUICKLY CHECKED AND AMENDED.