Engineering Professional Programs

Course Faculty: Dwight Reagan

Culverts are an integral part of all highway systems and represent a significant investment of public funds. On average, there are four culverts for every highway mile in the United States. Properly designed culverts are critical for the successful, safe, and economic operation of a roadway.

This two-day course, adapted from a National Highway Institute program, is one part of the TRANSPEED series in roadway drainage engineering and operation. This course covers hydraulic, operational, and structural considerations and techniques leading to successful culvert design. It is a comprehensive and intensive program with workshops and computer demonstrations.

The workshop portion of the course provides roadway designers, engineers and wildlife/environmental specialists a unique forum for identifying and sharing mutual interests and objectives. Considerations for and ramifications of culvert design for fish passage also are discussed.

The course includes discussion and material related to culverts and culvert components, site selection considerations, selection significance, and factors which affect hydraulic, structural, economic, environmental, and operational variables. Technical instruction regarding a variety of configuration procedures, analysis tools, references, and design expectations will be presented. The course will also include computer software demonstrations, video segments, and workshops to reinforce the lecture material. The course workbook serves as a stand-alone reference and includes relevant hydraulic design tools.

Course Topics

General hydraulic concepts including an overview of hydrology and channel flow characteristics

Design criteria and parameters selection

Description and function of physical characteristics of culverts

Basic culvert flow concepts

Culvert configuration procedures

Special and environmental design configurations including fish passage and migration

Site conditions, constraints, construction, and life-cycle cost analysis

Who Should Attend

This technical training program is intended for designers, engineers, and middle-level managers who have a technical and/or experiential background sufficient for grasping fundamental design factors, techniques, and concepts. An understanding of basic engineering and mathematical concepts is recommended for this course but an engineering degree is not necessary. Since culverts are a common and vital component of nearly all transportation facilities, anyone involved in the design and implementation of such facilities can benefit from this training course.

Continuing Education Units and Professional Development Hours

Course participants will earn 1.4 CEUs/14 PDHs upon successful completion of this course. The CEU is a nationally recognized measure of participation in a noncredit continuing education program that meets established criteria for increasing knowledge and competency.