INTRODUCTION TO

TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERING
Transportation Engineering (CE123=2)
The Importance of Transportation:

3. Economic 4. Political
The Importance of Transportation:

5. Environmental
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Bureau of Design

Bureau of Equipment

Bureau of Construction
Bureau of Maintenance

Bureau of Research and Standards

Bureau of Quality and Safety
Transportation engineering is the application of technology and scientific
principles to the planning, functional design, operation, and management of
facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for the safe,
rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical, and environmentally
compatible movement of people and goods.
 Four Major Modes of Transportation:

1. Roadways

2. Railways
 Four Major Modes of Transportation:

3. Waterways

4. Airways
Road Transport:
Advantages:

1. Provides good commercial link

between cities;
2. Offers quick and assured deliveries;
3. Roads can be constructed at
comparatively lower cost;
4. Offers flexible service, free from
fixed schedules; and
5. For short haults road transport is
the only economical means.
Road Transport:

Disadvantages:

1. Poor record of safety;

2. One of the major causes of
environmental pollution;
3. Low carrying capacity of
passengers and goods;
4. Parking space problems; and
5. Consumes greater energy.
Railway Transport
Advantages:

1. Railway journey is cheap especially

for long distance;
2. Railways can handle heavier loads at
high speed;
3. Provides cheap, convenient and safe
mode of transport; and
4. Easy means of transporting food and
clothes in times of emergencies such
as floods and famines, etc.
Railway Transport
Disadvantages:
1. Require constant maintenance;
2. High construction cost;
3. Tracks are reserved only for
the movement of trains;
4. Operational Controls
Requirements; and
5. Suitable for specific service
only.
Water Transport:
Advantages:
1. Promotes international trade;
2. Cost of maintaining and
constructing routes is very low
most of them are naturally made;
3. Relatively economical mode of
transport for bulky and heavy
goods; and
4. Safe mode of transport with
respect to occurrence of accidents
Water Transport

Disadvantages:
1. Longer Lead/delivery times;
2. Affected by adverse weather
conditions;
3. Difficult to monitor exact
location of goods in transit;
4. Customs and Excise
restrictions; and
5. Could be costly.
Air Transport:
Advantages:
1. Fast mode of transport;
2. Very useful in transporting goods
and passengers to the areas,
which are not accessible by any
other means;
3. Convenient mode of transport
during natural calamities; and
4. Provides vital support to the
national security and defense.
Air Transport
Disadvantages:
1. Relatively more expensive mode
of transport;
2. Not suitable for transporting
heavy and bulky goods;
3. Affected by adverse weather
conditions;
4. Not suitable for short distance
travel; and
5. In case of accidents, it results in
heavy losses of goods, property
and life.
URBAN TRANSPORTATION

ENGR. JOMAR S. RAMOS

Urbanization has been one of the dominant contemporary
processes as a growing share of the global population lives in
cities.
It is the process of transition
from a rural to a more urban
society.

Statistically, urbanization
reflects an increasing
proportion of the population
living in settlements defined
as urban, primarily through
net rural to urban migration.
 Urbanization as the outcome of demographic trends:

1. Natural increase. It is simply the outcome of more births than deaths

in urban areas, a direct function of the fertility rate as well as the
quality of healthcare systems (lower mortality rates, particularly for
infants).

2. Rural to urban migrations. This has been a strong factor of

urbanization, particularly in the developing world where migration
accounted between 40 and 60% of the urban growth. 

3. International migration. The growth in international migration has

been an important factor in the urbanization of major gateway cities,
such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London and Paris. 
Urban form. Refers to the spatial imprint of an urban transport system as
well as the adjacent physical infrastructures. Jointly, they confer a level of
spatial arrangement to cities.

Urban (spatial) structure. Refers to the set of relationships arising out

of the urban form and its underlying interactions of people, freight and
information. It tries to evaluate to what extent specific urban structures
can be achieved with specific transport systems.
The urban spatial structure can
be categorized by its level of
centralization and clustering:

Centralization. Refers to the

setting of activities in relation
to the whole urban area.

Clustering. Refers to the

setting of activities in relation
to a specific part of the urban
area.
The urban form and its spatial structure
are articulated by two structural
elements:

Nodes. These are reflected in the

centrality of urban activities, which can
be related to the spatial accumulation of
economic activities or to the accessibility
to the transport system.

Linkages. These are the infrastructures

supporting flows from, to and between
nodes. The lowest level of linkages
includes streets, which are the defining
elements of the urban spatial structure.
Transportation, Urban Form and Spatial Structure:

Elements of the urban transport system, namely modes, infrastructures and

users, have a spatial imprint which shapes the urban form. Considering that each
city has different socioeconomic and geographical characteristics, the spatial
imprint of transportation varies accordingly.

For instance, while North American cities tend to have an urban form that has
been shaped by the automobile, cities in other parts of the world, because of
different modal preferences and infrastructure developments, have different
urban forms.

The urban transport system is also represented by its spatial interactions since

each city has its own circulation pattern of passengers and freight.
The major components of the spatial imprint of urban transportation are:

1. Pedestrian areas. Refer to the amount of space

devoted to walking.

2. Roads and parking areas. Refer to the amount of

space devoted to road transportation, which has two
states of activity; moving or parked. In a motorized city,
on average 30% of the surface is devoted to roads while
another 20% is required for off-street parking. 
The major components of the spatial imprint of urban transportation are:

3. Cycling areas. In a disorganized form, cycling simply shares access to

pedestrian and road space. However, many attempts have been made to create
spaces specifically for bicycles in urban areas, with reserved lanes and parking
facilities. 

4. Transit systems. Many transit systems, such as buses and tramways, share
road space with automobiles, which often impairs their respective efficiency.

5. Transport terminals. Refer to the amount of space devoted to terminal

facilities such as ports, airports, transit stations, railyards and distribution
centers. 
Broad Categories of Urban Transportation

1. Collective Transportation (public transit). The purpose of collective

transportation is to provide publicly accessible mobility over specific
parts of a city. 

2. Individual Transportation. Includes any mode where mobility is the

outcome of a personal choice and means such as the automobile,
walking, cycling and the motorcycle.

3. Freight Transportation. As cities are dominant centers of production

and consumption, urban activities are accompanied by large
movements of freight.
In developed countries, there have been three general eras of urban
development, and each is associated with a different form of urban mobility:

1. The Walking-Horsecar Era (1800-1890). Even during the industrial

revolution, the dominant mean of getting around was on foot.

2. The Electric Streetcar or Transit Era (1890 - 1920s). The invention of

the electric traction motor created a revolution in urban travel.

3. The Automobile Era (1930 onward). The automobile was introduced

in European and North American cities in the 1890's, but only the
wealthy could afford this innovation.
Four Types of Spatial Urban Structure

Type I - Completely
Motorized Network:
Representing an
automobile-dependent
city with a limited
centrality and dispersed
activities.
Four Types of Spatial Urban Structure

Type II - Weak Center:

Representing the
spatial structure of
many American cities
where many activities
are located in the
periphery.
Four Types of Spatial Urban Structure

Type III - Strong Center:

Representing high
density urban centers
with well developed
public transit systems,
particularly in Europe
and Asia.
Four Types of Spatial Urban Structure

Type IV - Traffic Limitation.

Representing urban areas
that have implemented
traffic control and modal
preference in their spatial
structure. Commonly, the
central area is dominated by
public transit.
Taxonomy of Urban Mobilities:

1. Pendulum movements. These are obligatory movements involving

commuting between locations of residence and work.

2. Professional movements. These are movements linked to

professional, work-based, activities such as meetings and customer
services, dominantly taking place during work hours.

3. Personal movements. These are voluntary movements linked to the

location of commercial activities, which includes shopping and
recreation.
Taxonomy of Urban Mobilities

4. Touristic movements. Important for cities having historical and

recreational features they involve interactions between landmarks and
amenities such as hotels and restaurants. 

5. Distribution movements. These are concerned with the distribution of

freight to satisfy consumption and manufacturing requirements. 
Trip generation. On average, an urban resident undertakes between 3 and 4 trips per
day. Moving in an urban area is usually done to satisfy a purpose such as employment,
leisure or access to goods and services. 

Trip assignment (routing). Involves which routes will be used for journeys within the
city. Passenger trips usually have a stable routing.

Trip destination. Changes in the spatial distribution of economic activities in urban

areas have caused important modifications to the destination of movements, notably
those related to work.

Modal split. Implies the use of a series of transportation mode for urban trips, which is
the outcome of a modal choice. This choice depends on a number of factors such as cost,
technology, availability, preference, travel time (distance) and income.