a.

) History of highways

 Early road with hard surfaces were found to have been constructed in
Mesopotamia as early as 3,500 BC. Stone surface roads found in the island of
Crete in the Mediterranean were also found to have been similarly constructed in
the western hemisphere by the Mayans, Aztec and the Incas of central and south
America.

 The early road system was constructed primarily for the following purposes
1. For the movement of armies in their conquest or for defense against
invasion.
2. For transport of food and trade of goods between towns and cities.

 The romans, who discovered and introduced the use of cement, expanded their
vast empire through an extensive road network radiating in many directions from
the capital city of Rome. Many of the roads that were built by the Romans are
still existing even after 2,000 years

 The romans roads were characteristically laid on three courses:

1. A layer of small broken stones.
2. A layer of small stones mixed with mortar and firmly compacted.
3. A wearing course of massive stone blocks properly set and bedded with
cement mortar.

 In the 17th century under the reign of napoleon the great France made a great stride
n road building. Jerome Tresaguet, (1716-1796) the famous French engineer,
introduced new methods of construction and maintenance of stone roads. He
improved the crown, the drainage and the grade of the road including the stone
foundation by reducing the depth of broken stones to 25 centimeter. Tresaguet
made it possible for napoleon to build the massive highways in France. He was
accredited as the father of modern road building.

 Thirty years later, a Scottish engineer born in Westminster abbey, Thomas

Telford (1757-1834), the president and founder of the institute of civil engineer,
introduced some improvements in the construction methods of Jerome Tresaguet.
He road foundation course of Telford was made of stone having 3-inche minimum
thickness, 5-inch breadth and 7-inch height. Smaller stones were driven by mauls
on top voids and the surface was trued by breaking the projecting points. Telford
employed a flat subgrade providing a slight crown using stones of varying sizes.
 England followed the ongoing highway development in France. The macadam
road concept which was named after John Louden McAdam (1755-1836), another
famous Scottish engineer road builder and contemporary of Telford was
developed and widely accepted. The inventions of road building equipment
enhances the development of roads. In 185, Eli Blake invented the first stone
crusher and at the same period, a steam road roller was invented in France. The
road roller weighing 20 tons was invented by Aveling and Porter
b.) Highway Engineering and its Development in the Philippines

 In the early part of 1900, transportation in this country depended largely on trailed
water, railroad, earth road and partially graveled roads. Highway in the
Philippines was practically non-existence and is nothing more than a dream to
most Filipinos.

 The American government in the Philippines initiated most of the development

of the roadway system which during the Spanish era were mostly trails and earth
roads. It was the Americans who initiated the construction of the then very
popular Macadam roads to connect towns and provinces in the country.

 After world war II, the newly independent Philippine government gave special
attention to the development of the roads through finances coming from the war
damage reparations paid by the Japanese government and other financial aid
extended by the U.S. government. The newly installed government embarked on
a massive road building program were previously constructed macadam roads
were treated with hot bituminous asphalt.

 Twenty years later, major highways and expressways were constructed with
financial assistance and loans from the World Bank and the IMF. The Philippine
government's industrialization program plus the boom in vehicles import which
was flooding the roadways needs an impact projects to boost the economy
necessitated the loan from foreign banks. The year 1950 to the early 1980 was
considered as the automobile age. Cars which were considered as a rich man's toy
was a vital means in transporting persons and goods. Under the new government
concept, development is to get the farmers out of the mud. It was during this
period that road construction and improvement becomes a matter of priority the
government with a slogan saying that "This nation is on Wheels".

 Modern highways development continued alongside with the technical advances.

Development in equipment and management techniques have revolutionized
Construction and maintenance methods. Advanced knowledge in the field of soils
and various highway materials including designs were adopted for reliability and
economic considerations.

 Highway engineering is an engineering discipline branching from civil

engineering that involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and
maintenance of roads, bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe and effective
transportation of people and goods. [1][2][3] Highway engineering became
prominent towards the latter half of the 20th Century after World War II.
Standards of highway engineering are continuously being improved. Highway
engineers must take into account future traffic flows, design of highway
intersections/interchanges, geometric alignment and design, highway pavement
 materials and design, structural design of pavement thickness, and pavement
maintenance.

 DPWH is the highest administrative agency responsible for the construction and
maintenance/management of highways, bridges and other infrastructures in the
Republic of the Philippines.

 As of February 2014, the present total length of roads in the Philippines is 216,612
km composed of national roads (32,227 km), provincial roads (31,620 km),
city/municipal roads (31,063 km), and the barangay roads/others (121,702 km).
The proportion of paved roads is about 83% and the remaining 17 % is still
unpaved. Although surface conditions of the national roads have been improved
year by year, about 24% of the paved roads still need repair and rehabilitation and
steady implementation of continuous repair/rehabilitation of the national roads is
required. On the other hand, the total number of bridges in the Philippines as of
February 2015 is 8,131 which consist of 7,922 permanent bridges (6,861 concrete
and 1,061 steel ones) and 209 temporary bridges (170 bailey and 39 timber ones).

 The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016) sets “development of road and

bridge infrastructure” as one of prioritized areas since it will reduce transportation
costs and revitalize economic activities. In addition, the Medium-Term Program
(2011-2016) prepared by DPWH pledged that remaining unpaved roads shall be
paved, all temporary bridges shall be replaced by permanent ones and
strengthening of the maintenance management of the roads and bridges as to the
highest priority.

 The JICA’s Technical Cooperation Projects for the "Improvement of Quality

Management for Highway and Bridge Construction and Maintenance Phase-I
(February 2007 - February 2010) and Phase-II (October 2011 – September 2014)”
were implemented.

 Under the above-mentioned Phase-I and Phase-II, technology transfer to

counterpart engineers of the Central Office, model 3 Regional Offices [CAR
(Cordillera Administrative Region), VII, and XI] and their DEOs was carried out
through preparing related manuals/guidelines and conducting
seminars/inspection, OJTs, and pilot projects on road slope stability and bridge
repair were implemented in these 3 ROs. As a result, it was confirmed that
capability of these ROs/DEOs on road and bridge maintenance management was
highly enhanced. However, the capacity enhancement of the DPWH as a whole
remained an issue to be realized. The Government of the Republic of the
Philippines requested JICA to assist implementing the subsequent project to these
projects.
 After a series of discussions between DPWH and JICA, this project was decided
to be started as the third phase of the above-mentioned project, namely JICA
Technical Cooperation Project for the "Improvement of Quality Management for
Highway and Bridge Construction and Maintenance, Phase-III", hereinafter
referred to as "the Project" and/or "TCP-III".Considering the above-mentioned
background, the framework of the project was agreed and it includes activities in
DPWH Central Office and all regions for improvement of road and bridge
maintenance and enhancement of capabilities of DPWH engineers as well as the
previous project.
CE 473-Highway Engineering

DATE ASSIGNMENT NO. GRADE