Mines Cross Country Course

Overview

Over the past five years, the Colorado School of Mines Athletic Department has made considerable renovations to the athletic facilities. The Department has constructed a new football facility, soccer facility, as well as new baseball and softball fields. As Mines continues to enroll more student athletes that continue to perform at the highest level, the need for new athletic facilities becomes paramount.

The Colorado School of Mines Athletic Department has tasked a team of Civil Engineering students to design a 2-kilometer and 3-kilometer cross-country course on the existing Colorado School of Mines Survey Fields, located to the south of Mines Park. The course will be used by the Mines Cross-Country Team for daily practice, conference meets, and has the potential to be selected for NCAA Regional Championship meets. Additionally, the course was designed to be used by the entire community of Golden. The project took into consideration the existing stakeholders of the site and ensured that the areas used for academic instruction were avoided and not significantly altered or intruded by the course. The 2-kilometer and 3-kilometer loops provide a competitive and challenging course which has been designed to the NCAA standards and is capable of hosting any level of meet from a regular season conference meet to a NCAA Regional Championship.

The design approach for this project began with first identifying all the stakeholders of the project and establishing their demands for the course, identifying and applying all relevant codes and guidelines, and using Civil 3D to create the course to the necessary specifications and make all the construction documents needed to construct the course.  

All the stakeholders had different concerns for the course that had to be balanced to ensure the best design for the project. The stakeholders of this project are the Mines Athletic Department, Colorado School of Mines, the people of Golden, the Civil Engineering Department, the Mining Department, the Wells Department, and the Geology Department. Many of these stakeholders expressed concern about where the cross-country course was going to be located as there are activities and objects in the field that could not be disturbed. The Civil Engineering department conducts the Civil Engineering field session in the survey field every summer. The department utilizes brass caps dug into the field that cannot be tampered with as any change in the brass caps elevation or location would disrupt the class. The Explosives department identified two explosive boxes found in the field and provided the team with areas that were redlined in order to ensure the safety of the spectators and runners as they move throughout the field. The Wells department also expressed concern about where the course would be located and redlined areas near the existing wells. 

After receiving input from the stakeholders, the team surveyed the field to gather more information. Using a total station, GPS, distance wheel, and stakes, the team gathered more precise information about the redlined areas of the field. Data about large objects in the field, such as large rocks, posts, and bushes was also collected. Preliminary distances were also outlined to give the team a better idea on where to run the course before beginning the design. The surveying was a crucial aspect of the design approach so that the extent of the site could be fully understood. 

Once the locations where the cross-country course could not be run were established, applicable codes were found and used in the design of the proposed cross-country course. These codes are the NCAA guidelines, 2018 International Building Code, Jefferson County Transportation Design and Construction Manual, Jefferson Country Central Mountain Area Plan, and the Jefferson Country Trails Development Handbook. These codes were a key element in making sure that the course is safe to run on and approved by the NCAA to host cross country meets. 

After addressing the applicable codes and regulations, Civil 3D was utilized to design the course ensuring that the course is safe, competitive, and adheres to NCAA guidelines. The team used Civil 3D to complete following aspects of the design: the length of both loops, the orientation, the vertical and horizontal curves, as well as the cut and fill needed for the project. This final design was placed into construction documents that have all the information needed by a future contractor to build the course.  The construction documents include sheets with the course location, topography, cross sections, and signage details, as well as an access plan, stormwater plan, and grading plan.