Special Purpose Roads

Special locations, such as the El Portal access road into Yosemite National Park, call for special expertise. Parsons designed improvements for this unique road while adhering to strict aesthetic and environmental constraints. Our design utilized a mechanically stabilized earth system that reduced impacts and had the appearance of being constructed of natural stone. In a congested urban environment, Parsons prepared a comprehensive study and design of the closure of roads near the White House to increase the security of this highly sensitive Washington, DC location. On the Interstate 93 Project through the Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire, Parsons designed many special use roads through the Park network. These roads connected Park features such as the visitor’s area, Basin Falls, the viewing area for the Old Man of the Mountain, and Cannon Mountain Ski Area and tramway parking. All incorporated special aesthetic treatments such as granite curb, granite faced walls and weathering steel on signage and structures. In Florida, Parsons designed a truck access road to the Orange County Convention Center, to be used only by WB-50 trucks and larger to set up and breakdown exhibits. This special purpose road was opened in 2001 and has provided much needed relief to the other perimeter roads surrounding the Convention Center.