Finding real-world answers

A roundabout for a busy Lewiston intersection and a new computer device for a Colfax hospital were among the innovations presented Friday by University of Idaho engineering students.

UI seniors showed off their capstone projects to the public during UI’s annual Engineering Design EXPO at the ICCU Arena.

The solutions they came up with tackled problems far and wide, but some groups addressed issues close to home.

One group was tasked with redesigning the busy Thain Road and 10th Street intersection in Lewiston to reduce car crashes.

Sandra Faulkner joined Wolfgang Beier, Tim Reed and Ethan Von Bargen on the project. Faulkner said this intersection saw a jump in traffic and collisions since the new Lewiston High School was built just northeast of there.

Their goal was to improve overall safety and efficiency. They worked with engineering firm Kittelson & Associates, who are developing solutions for the intersection, Faulkner said.

The students decided that adding roundabouts to that intersection, instead of a traffic signal, would help control the speed of vehicles and reduce the frequency of crashes.

Faulkner said the city of Lewiston is looking to incrementally redesign the Thain corridor during the next 20 years as funding becomes available.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see something relatively similar to this in the next 10 years or so,” she said.

Another group of UI students partnered with Whitman Hospital in Colfax to make X-rays more efficient.

Students Hailey Faith, Hunter Holbrook, Alphonse Crittenden, Toby McLenon, Kyle Fiske and Turner Zischka worked on the project with the help of Whitman Hospital’s Dr. Douglas Hiller.

They created a computer system that operates a C-arm, a movable arm that is used as a medical imaging device.

The computer system makes the C-Arm more precise in its movement, thus saving the patients and doctors time.

“This computer vision system will help operators in the operating room move the X-ray back into position … so that they can save time and avoid excessive X-ray to the patients,” Zischka said.

Zischka said Hiller allowed the students to test the equipment in the hospital, and the hospital employee operating the C-Arm found this new computer system useful.

Zischka said hospitals can spend millions on advanced C-Arms, but the students’ device could make this technology more affordable.

“It’s not the most groundbreaking, novel concept, but this is something in the market that doesn’t exist,” he said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.