Transportation Transportation

Engineering Engineering

Introduction
Design and construction of roads and bridges are major parts of the International Airport, China Steel and China Ship Building. It is clear to see
important infrastructures that civil engineers are heavily involved, and this that six of the ten national projects are transportation related developments
is reflected in the large proportion of relevant subjects provided in the which required the heavy involvement of transportation engineers.
Department of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University. In broad Currently, the division has 7 full time faculty members, 3 adjunct
definitions, ‘transportation’ means ‘communication’, while in respect of the professors, and more than 60 students in Ph.D. and master programs.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which includes transpor- Comparing with the situation in 1971, no full time faculty and only 5
tation, telecommunications, post, tourism, and weather forecasting. master students, the Transportation Engineering Division has shown its
Among those, the planning, design, operation and management of quality and quantity in a significant growth over the last 4 decades.
transportation facilities are the main research areas of the Transportation
Engineering Division in the Department of Civil Engineering
In early 1970, needs for land transportation facilities and ground
transportation system had dramatically increased due to the booming
economic growth. Traffic engineering, which originally was confined to the
road traffic area, attracted more and more attention and became a major
research topic in the area of transportation engineering. However, not only
the traffic engineering but also the infrastructure planning, design,
operation and management of land, air, sea and pipeline transportation are
all included in the research fields of the Transportation Engineering
Division these days.
The Transportation Engineering Division started recruiting postgradu-
ate students in 1970, while Taiwan was working on the Ten Fundamental
Infrastructure Developments, including National Freeway, Railway
Electrification, Northern Railway, Taizhong Port, Su’ao Port, C.K.S.
Transportation Engineering
Research Areas
The research areas of the division are always emphasized on practicality as a
prerequisite. In addition to the new technologies innovated through research projects,
from other developed regions, such as Europe and America, the division also aims to
“technology localization” to meet our own needs. In the late 1970s, the first freeway
was completed and opened for operation. We initiated the research work in the area
of analyzing traffic characteristics, and then move to the traffic control and ramp
metering control, pavement design and management systems, heavy vehicles size and
weight regulations, and O-D trip table estimation, etc. In relation to public bus
transit, the research works also began in the 1970s and cover on routes, bus operation
and management, bus lanes, costing and pricing, policies, up to the Automatic
Vehicle Location for advanced buses and dynamic information systems recently. At
the request of rail transportation, we have also conducted a study of land use planning
along the Muzha MRT Line, traffic impact assessment of station development, a
traffic planning for MRT stations of the Xindian and Songban Lines, as well as
demand forecasting, pricing mechanism, station planning, and ground access
planning for Taiwan high-speed rail system. For the last decade, research work also
involves airport runway design, maintenance and management system, air traffic
safety and improvement strategies. Regarding traffic engineering, we have cooperated
with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to publish the first version
of “Highway Capacity Manual”, and developed an image detection system of traffic
volume and characteristics, a remote sensing application system and a geographic
information system. Recently, our main research directions also include applications
of advanced technology to transportation systems, green transportation, as well as
sustainable transportation planning.
Our research outcomes have been applied in many infrastructure developments
and transportation policies by both central and local governments in Taiwan, such as
the freeway system planning, bus operation and management strategies as well as
rapid transit system construction and operation, highway capacity analysis and
service evaluation, nuclear plant evacuation plan, traffic impact assessment,
regulations of heavy vehicles size and weights, highway traffic control, electronic toll
collection for national highways, smart card ticketing systems, high-speed railway
demand analysis and fare mechanisms, runway skid resistance measurement
specification, urban street pavement management system, and public participation in
decision making about the best planning in major transport projects. In recent years,
we have also been involved in many international cooperation projects, including
mixed traffic flow and motorcycle management, green transport and sustainable
development, bicycle systems, bus rapid transit system and so on.
Adjunct Faculty
Professor Chia-Juch Chang
In addition to the research spaces of our faculty, Ph.D. and master students, Transportation & Urban Planning, Transportation Policy,
research associates and administrative assistant, we also have three teaching and
research laboratories, namely traffic engineering laboratory, pavement engineering Faculty Traffic Flow Theory
laboratory, and ITS laboratory. Computer software programs, such as remote
Professor Stanley T. Lung Associate Professor Kung Wang
sensing software, urban transportation plan kit software, highway design software, Economics of Science & Technology, Industrial Economics,
Transportation Engineering, Transportation Planning,
VISEM/VISUM/VISSIM traffic transportation and plan software, TransCAD, Behavior, Traffic Engineering Transportation Economics
PARAMICS transportation plan simulation software, RTC railway simulation
software are also available for the various research purposes. For the past years, many Professor Yi-Hwa Chou Assistant Professor Jian-Neng Wang
research equipments have been purchased through university fund and research Transportation Engineering, Transportation Planning, Transit Operations, Asphalt Concrete Materials and Mix Design, Pavement Engineering,
fund. These include traffic flow measurement device, radar speed guns, Portable Operations Research Pavement Structure Design and Analysis
Weigh-in-Motion, Traffic Engineering Experimental Van, Traffic Signal Controllers,
Laser Inertial Profilers, Grip Tester, Dynamic Friction Tester and other types of skid Professor S. K. Jason Chang
resistance measuring devices, Auto Rod and Level, noise detectors, ITS experimental Public Transportation Planning and Operation, Bus Rapid Transit,
car, driving visual simulation system, CUBE transport planning software, a model Sustainable Transportation, Transportation Economics and Policy, ITS (APTS, EPS)
railway system, and automatic pavement image capture systems.
Professor Chia-Pei Chou
Pavement Design and Management, Heavy Vehicle's Size and Weight,
Airport Design and Runway Safety
Professor Tang-Hsien Chang
ITS System Platform and Product Design, V2V and V2I Networking.
Traffic Measurement and Control, Vehicle Dynamics and Automatic Control
Associate Professor Tien-Pen Hsu
Traffic Simulation & Control, Traffic Engineering,
Traffic Safety & Design
Assistant Professor Yung-Cheng Lai
Railway Transportation Engineering, Railway Operations and Control,
Railway Safety, Transportation Operations Management,
Transportation System Efficiency Analysis
Sep 2009