1 BFT 40303

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERING
 Transportation
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 Transportation is defined as the movement of people

and goods to meet the basic needs of society that
require mobility and access.
 The quality of transportation affects a society’s ability
to utilise its natural resources of labour and materials.
 Transportation also influences the competitive position
with respect to other regions or nations. Without the
ability to transport products easily, a region may be
unable to offer goods and services at an attractive
price and thus may reduce or lose market share.
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 Transportation
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 By providing transportation services safely, reliably,

and quickly with sufficient capacity and at a
competitive price, a state or nation is able to
expand its economic base, enter new markets and
import skilled labour.
 The four major modes of transportation are air,
water, rail and highway. Each mode has an
established market and the modes compete as well
as cooperate with each other.

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 Transportation Engineering
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 Transportation engineering is the profession

responsible for the planning, design, construction,
operation and maintenance of transportation
infrastructure.
 The field includes highways, airports, runways,
railroad stations and tracks, bridges and
waterways, drainage facilities, ports and harbours
and rail or bus transit systems.

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 Transportation Engineering
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 While this sector has been linked to civil engineering,

transportation professionals often have academic
training in other engineering disciplines, such as
mechanical, electrical, aerospace and information
technology.
 In addition to a basic understanding of transportation
principles, the transportation engineer must be broadly
educated with knowledge about engineering
fundamentals, science, statistics, oral and written
communications, computers, economics, history and social
sciences.

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 Other Scopes of Transportation
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 Transportation planning involves the process of

developing plans and programs that improve
present travel conditions.
 Transportation design involves the specification of
features that comprise the transportation facility
such that it will function efficiently and in
accordance with appropriate criteria and
mathematical relationships.

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 Other Scopes of Transportation
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 Transportation construction involves all aspects of

the building process.
 Transportation operations and management
involves the control of vehicles in real time to ensure
that they are traveling in paths that are secure from
interference with other vehicles or pedestrians.
 Transportation infrastructure maintenance involves
the process of assuring that the nation’s
transportation system remains in excellent working
condition.

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 Transportation System
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 The components of a transportation system are:

Physical Human Operating
Elements Resources Rules

 Physical elements include:

 Infrastructure– fixed parts of a transportation system,
such as travelways, terminals and stations.
 Vehicles – elements of a transportation system that
move along the travelway (e.g. buses, railroad cars,
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 Transportation System
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ships and airplanes).

 Equipment – physical components of a transportation
system that facilitates the transportation process (e.g.
railroad track maintenance vehicles and airport
baggage handling conveyor belts).
 Control systems – elements required to allocate right-
of-way. Allocating right-of-way requires air traffic
control centers, traffic signals and travelway signs.

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 Transportation System
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 Communications systems – link traffic control centers to

travelway equipment such as variable message signs,
traffic signals, transit vehicles, air traffic controllers and
pilots.
 Location systems – identify individual vehicles in real
time, using global positioning systems (GPSs) to track
vehicles such as transit vehicles, trucks and emergency
vehicles, thus increasing routing efficiency.

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 Transportation System
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 Human resources, which is essential to the operation of

transportation systems, include vehicle operators such as
automobile truck and bus drivers, railroad engineers,
airline pilots, maintenance and construction workers,
transportation managers, and professionals who use
knowledge and information to advance the
transportation enterprise.
 Among transportation managers are strategic planners,
marketing and maintenance management personnel,
operations research and information systems analysts,
and administrators.

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 Transportation System
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 Operation rules include:

 Schedules – define the arrival and departure times of
transportation vehicles at the different transportation
terminals and stations. In addition, schedule adherence
plays an important role in determining the quality of
service of a given transportation mode.
 Crew assignment - involves assigning operators to the
different vehicles (e.g. assigning bus drivers to the
different buses in a transit agency’s fleet, assigning
pilots and flight attendants to flights, etc).

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 Transportation System
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 Connection patterns – refer to how service is organised

over the transportation system or network.
 Cost/Level of service tradeoff – involves setting
operational rules for transportation systems, and doing
so involves a tradeoff between cost and level of
service.
 Contingency plans – implemented when something goes
wrong with the transportation system (e.g. traffic
incident, maintenance work, flood) and for handling
surges in traffic demand (e.g. during special events).

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 Issues in Transportation
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 People not only depend on transportation to get to

work, but also to shop, socialise and access health
care, among other goals.
 Despite the benefits of transportation to the nation
and individuals, transportation imposes large costs –
such as time lost in traffic congestion, deaths and
injuries from accidents, demand for petroleum, and
the release of greenhouse gases and other forms of
pollution.

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 Issues in Transportation
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 TRB (2013) has outlined these critical issues in

transportation:
 System performance is neither reliable nor resilient.
 Safety has improved, but avoidable losses are still
significant.
 The impacts on energy, climate, and the environment
are unsustainable.
 Funding sources for public infrastructure are
inadequate.
 Innovation lags and investment in research and
development is low and declining.
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 Issues in Transportation
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 System performance is neither reliable nor resilient

 Transportation systems operate at capacity for
substantial periods of the day.
 Unanticipated events (e.g. accidents, inclement weather)
disrupt traffic and intensify congestion and delays.
 Routine delays experienced by bus and train commuters
because expansion of transport systems has slowed
despite the continuing growth in population and the
economy.

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 Issues in Transportation
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 Safety has improved, but avoidable losses are still

significant
 Despite improvements in safety, the fatality and injury rate
remains high. Most transportation fatalities occur on
highways and mostly involve passenger vehicle crashes.
 New entertainment and navigation systems threaten to
increase driver distraction.
 As safety technologies become increasingly automated and
complex, the task of integrating the human with the system
becomes more important and demanding, as does the
process of safety assurance to avoid electronic / software
failures.

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 Issues in Transportation
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 The impacts on energy, climate and the environment

are unsustainable
 Transportation accounts for majority of petroleum
consumption, which has significant climate impacts as
demand for transportation continues to grow.
 Transportation is one of the top producers of
greenhouse gas emissions, which causes global
warming.
 There are also concerns about sustainability, personal
physical activity, health and livability.
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 Issues in Transportation
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 Funding sources for public infrastructure are

inadequate
 While much money has been invested in transportation,
these systems need to be maintained and expanded to
accommodate growing population.
 The infrastructure that supports the transportation
demand wears out and requires maintenance to avoid
premature failure.
 Obtaining federal funds to maintain and expand will
be a challenge, as will increased reliance on state and
local governments.

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 Issues in Transportation
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 Innovation lags and investment in research and

development is low and declining
 New techonologies and innovations that promise more
efficient and sustainable travel have been implemented
haltingly and incompletely.
 Safety regulators are hard-pressed to ensure that new
safety technologies will work as intended.
 Major investments in information and communications
technologies have yet to produce dramatic changes in
mobility services such as dynamic ridesharing or
demand-responsive transit.

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 Transportation Systems Management
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 In most situations, transportation facilities are already

built, and the problem faced by transportation
engineers is to operate these systems at their most
productive and efficient levels.
 Thus, strategies in Transportation Systems Management
(TSM) are used to improve the performance of
transportation facilities.
 The basic objective of TSM is to create more efficient
use of existing facilities through improved management
and operation of vehicles and the roadway.
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 Transportation Systems Management
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 For example, a highway that carries 1,500 vehicles

per day with only 1 person per vehicle could
increase its carrying capacity to 6,000 persons per
day if ridesharing (assuming 4 persons per vehicle)
is encouraged.
 TSM strategies involve:
Improving the Improving the Using information
“supply” (changing “demand” technology to
the facility itself) (changing the way improve safety
people travel) and efficiency

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 Transportation Systems Management
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 The TSM planning process includes:

Estimating costs
Identifying TSM and impacts
Defining the actions
problem

Selecting TSM Post-facto

projects monitoring of
Establishing Deriving measures project results
objectives and of effectiveness
criteria

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 Transportation Systems Management
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 TSM strategies can be classified into three basic

categories:

Creating Reducing Improving

Efficient Use of Vehicle Volume Transit Service
Road Space

Traffic Operations Traffic Signalisation Improvements for Special Roadway

Improvement Improvement Pedestrians and Designations
Cyclists

Creating Efficient Use of Road Space

Vehicle Restrictions in Parking Management Work-Schedule Intermodal
Pedestrian Areas Management Coordination

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 Transportation Systems Management
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Traffic Operations Improvements

 Widening intersections
 Creating one-way streets
 Installing separate lanes for right and left turns
 Restricting turning movements

Traffic Signalisation Improvements

 Physically improving intersections
 Coordinating signal timing for arterial roadways
 Computerising areawide signal coordination in downtown grid networks
 Controlling traffic for freeways, including variable message signs
 Ramp metering
 Television monitoring of traffic
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Improvements for Pedestrians and Cyclists

 Widening sidewalks
 Providing lighting, benches and pedestrian malls
 Building underpasses or overpasses to avoid conflict at intersections
 Building bikeways
 Installing pedestrian controls at intersections

Special Roadway Designations

 Reserving the curb lane or entire street for buses
 Reserving a lane in the opposite direction for contra-flow operations
 Providing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes
 Permitting use of road shoulders during peak hours
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 Transportation Systems Management
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Vehicle Restrictions in Pedestrian Areas

 Peak hour pricing in which vehicles that use the pedestrian area during
congested hours are charged
 Auto-restricted areas that limit the use of private automobiles within the central
business district (CBD)
 Pedestrian malls that restrict streets to pedestrians only, or sometimes pedestrian
and transit traffic only

Parking Management
 Curb parking restrictions to reduce the amount of on-street parking
 Off-street parking restrictions, such as variable parking fees to discourage all-
day parking, the elimination of free parking and parking subsidies
 Preferential parking and low parking fees for carpools or vanpools
 Displaying parking information regarding space availability
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Intermodal Coordination
 Park-and-ride facilities to assist transfer between cars and rail or bus transit
 Transit interface improvements that simplify transfer between modes by
eliminating fare collection or locating bus stops to minimise walking
 Integrated multimodal transit terminals that combines stops for various transit
modes

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Increasing Vehicle Discouraging Auto Reduction of Truck Encouraging Travel

Occupancy Use by Economic Traffic in by Means Other
Through Means Congested Areas Than Auto
Ridesharing
Reducing Vehicle Volume

Increasing Vehicle Occupancy Through Ridesharing

 Encourage commuters to carpool, vanpool, subscribe to bus service, and share
taxi rides
 Provide incentives to those who rideshare, for example faster travel times by
introducing HOV lanes, preferential parking spaces and lower parking rates.

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Discouraging Auto Use by Economic Means

 Increased parking fees in downtown area
 Special licenses required for parking in restricted areas
 Charges for each trip based on vehicle metering of travel
 Tolls on highways and bridges

Encouraging Travel by Means Other Than Auto

 Restrictions in auto travel such that transit becomes more competitive, for
example, tolls, auto-restricted zones, freeway ramp metering and parking
elimination
 Provision of fringe parking lots in outlying areas connected with rapid transit or
express bus service
 Provision of special facilities such as park-and-ride facilities and bikeways

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Reduction of Truck Traffic in Congested Areas

 Arrange truck deliveries during off-peak periods
 Limit the size of trucks permitted for downtown delivery
 Create separate truck-only street
 Streamline truck deliveries and scheduling operations
 Limit truck traffic to designated routes

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Improving Transit Service

Make transit economical, reliable Attract more transit users

and fast In order to compete with private autos,
Improving the flow of traffic (through transit vehicles should have its own right
TSM) should also improve transit of way, have flexible routing patterns,
service. and be hassle-free, comfortable and
Eliminating congestion will result in easy to use.
savings in fuel cost and the use of Provide shuttle services from fringe
biofuels can help reduce transit fares. parking areas to city, quick and easy
Exclusive bus lanes and bus priority at fare collection systems, shelters, park-
signalised intersection will make and-ride facilities, modern fleet, and
journeys quicker and more reliable (on travel information services.
schedule).

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 Intelligent Transportation Systems
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 ITS refers to the use of information technology

including computers, electronics and communications
to improve traffic operations.
 The approaches used in the highway field are
focused on three broad categories of ITS strategies:

Advanced Advanced Advanced

Traveler Traffic Vehicle
Information Management Control
Systems (ATIS) Systems Systems
(ATMS) (AVCS)

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 Intelligent Transportation Systems
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 Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS)

 The purpose of ATIS is to furnish the motorist with up-to-the-minute information
about highway conditions in the region where a trip is being planned or
executed.
 Information is provided in real-time about congestion, bottlenecks caused by
accidents or road works, and weather to assist the motorist in making informed
decisions regarding the best departure time and route.
 Information is provided for pre-trip planning and while the motorist is en route.
 Pre-trip information can include parking availability, toll facilities and charges,
and alternative routes.
 Motorists are most interested in information regarding unexpected incidents,
weather and roadway conditions, travel times and delays, and construction or
maintenance activity.

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 Intelligent Transportation Systems
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 Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS)

 The purpose of ATMS is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing
highway system while minimising environmental effects.
 ATMS applications include:
 Urban traffic control

 Incident detection

 Freeway management

 Examples of ATMS include:

 Variable message signs to inform road conditions and alternative routes

 Ramp metering to control flow entering a freeway

 Surveillance of traffic, weather and road conditions, using loop detectors, video
camera, image processing, radar technology, etc.
 Incident detection system to detect and remove traffic incidents

 Electronic toll collection systems

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 Intelligent Transportation Systems
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 Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS)

 The purpose of AVCS is to enhance the control of the vehicle through
electronics and computer technology, thus increasing safety by minimising
the potential for crashes and the damage they cause.
 Among the components of AVCS are:
 Rear-end collision avoidance system

 Intelligent cruise control

 Protection from unsafe maneuvers such as lane changing minimising the

potential for crashes and the damage they cause.
 The ultimate goal of AVCS is to develop a fully automated highway system
in which the driver is on ‘automatic pilot’ while monitoring the situation.

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 Application of ITS technologies:

Providing real-time • The availability of this information can influence a traveler to
traveler change routes or mode, from highway to transit, thus reducing
information congestion.

Parking • Provides the motorist with information about the availability of

management parking spaces, thus eliminating uncertainty in finding a space.

Dynamic pricing of • Has the potential of reducing congestion by charging higher prices
highway capacity during peak periods, through electronic toll collection systems.

• Employees can work at home or other remote sites, thus reducing the
need to travel. Supported by technologies such as video-
Telecommuting conferencing, high-speed voice and data links, portable computers,
etc.
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