DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
COURSE SYLLABUS: Transportation Planning (CVEG 563V-001)

Meeting Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 11:50AM – 12:40PM

Location: Bell Engineering Center 2268

Instructor: Sarah Hernandez, PhD

(Office) 4159 Bell Engineering Center
(Lab) 239 Cato Springs Research Center
(479) 575-4182
sarahvh@uark.edu
Open door policy for office hours (Bell M, W, F and Cato T, TH)

Course Description: This course covers the theoretical foundations of transportation

planning methods. This course will cover the theory and application of aggregate and
disaggregate models for trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, and trip assignment.
The focus of the course will be on passenger based travel demand models but will also
introduce state of the art models including activity based models as well as freight
forecasting models. Students will be introduced to transportation planning software
through lab tutorials.

Course Objectives: By the end of this course students should be able to…
1. Recognize the role of travel demand modeling in transportation planning.
2. Identify and evaluate current and anticipated transportation network problems
based on travel demand and network performance.
3. Estimate, validate, and apply models for trip generation, trip distribution, mode
choice, and trip assignment.
4. Develop and compare alternative scenarios for transportation system
improvements.
5. Contrast traditional and state-of-the-art models used for passenger travel demand
forecasting.
6. Describe freight forecasting models used in practice.
7. Use transportation planning software to apply models for trip generation, trip
distribution, mode choice, and trip assignment.

Materials:
Handouts: By email
Textbook: Ortuzar & Willumsen (2011). Modeling Transport (4th) Wiley
(ISBN 978-0-470-76039-0), older versions okay
Computing: TransCAD Transportation Planning Software (Caliper Corporation) will
be provided in the CVEG computer labs; arrangements will be made for dedicated
class meetings in the computer labs; Software manuals will be provided by email

1
Student Evaluation: The following weighting scheme will be applied:

 Quiz (5%)- Unannounced quiz based on reading assigned in the previous lecture,
conducted at start of class, late arrivals will not be given extra time; make-ups on
extreme emergency basis only
 In-class activities (5%)- To be performed in class; based on TransCAD workshops,
Excel exercises, and guest speaker preparation
 Homework (15%)- Eight assignments as shown on course schedule; due at start of
class; neatly hand written or typed; no late work accepted
 Presentation and Paper (25%)- Students will work in pairs to conduct a literature
review, write a synthesis paper, and present findings for an approved advanced
transportation planning topic (eg. commodity based freight forecasting models,
activity based models, scenario analysis in freight or passenger travel demand
models, project evaluation and comparison using planning models, resiliency in
transportation planning).
 Exam I (15%) – Scheduled on 9/26 in class; covers material from 8/22 to 9/23
 Exam II (15%) – Scheduled on 11/11 in class; covers material from 9/28 to 11/7
 Final Exam (20%) - Scheduled on 12/14 10:15AM to 12:15AM; cumulative

Tentative Grading Scale:

A: 90-100%
B: 80-89%
C: 70-79%
D: 60-69%
F: less than 59%

Academic Integrity and Emergency Procedures:

Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the
University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at
http://provost.uark.edu/. Students with questions about how these policies apply
to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact me.

In addition, many types of emergencies can occur on campus. Instructions for

specific emergencies such as severe weather, active shooter, or fire can be found at
http://emergency.uark.edu/.

Tentative Course Schedule (see attached)