CIV5404 – 2019/2020

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTIO TO TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

Transportation is referred to as the movement of people and goods from one place to
another. The movement should reasonably be safe, efficient, reliable and sustainable.
Transportation engineering is a field in civil engineering that deals with various aspects of
transportation systems and infrastructures associated with it. These include all the
elements which support the movement of people and goods. It also deals with the
application of 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 persons and goods.

The need for mobility is a necessity for human as resources are naturally not concentrated
in one place. This makes transportation a derived-demand; that is people do not travel for
travel’s sake. Rather, they make trip in order to satisfy their desires relating to many
aspects of life. Each trip is therefore made for a particular purpose. From the times
immemorial, people travel either for food or leisure. A closely associated need is the
transport of raw materials to a manufacturing unit or finished goods for consumption.
Transportation fulfils these basic needs of humanity. Transportation plays a major role in
the development of the human civilization. Transportation engineering comprises of
various disciplines as outlined and discussed as follows:

1. Areas/Disciplines of Transportation Engineering

Transportation engineering comprises of many areas, included are; Transportation
planning, Geometric design, Pavement analysis and design, Traffic engineering, Public
transport, Accident analysis, Financial and economic analysis, Environmental impact
assessment, Intelligent transport system, and so forth. It also involves the different aspects
relating to transportation systems as well as the various modes (highways, railways,
airways, waterways, pipelines, and conveyors).

1.1 Transportation planning: This involves the development of a transport model which
will accurately represent both the current and future (travel demand) transportation
system. Transportation planning may be defined as the application of planning techniques
to estimate the existing and predict future travel demands as well as ensuring sufficient
provision of facilities and services. The fundamental goal of transportation planning is to
accommodate the need for mobility in order to provide efficient access to various
activities that satisfy human needs.

1.2 Geometric design: This deals with design of physical features associated with
transportation facilities. The topics include the cross-sectional features, horizontal
alignment, vertical alignment and intersections. Although there are different modes of
travel such road and rail, the underlying principles are common to a great extent.

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1.3 Pavement analysis and design: Pavement design deals with the structural design of
roads (flexible pavements and rigid pavements). It deals with the design of paving
materials, determination of the layer thickness, and construction and maintenance
processes. The design mainly covers structural aspects, functional aspects, drainage
facilities, etc. Structural design ensures that the pavement structure has sufficient strength
to withstand the impact of traffic loads. Likewise, the functional design emphasizes on
the riding quality, and the drainage design protects the pavement from damage due to
water infiltration.

1.4 Traffic engineering: Traffic engineering covers a wide range of transportation

engineering applications with an emphasis on the safety of the public, the efficient use of
transportation resources, and the mobility of people and goods. Traffic engineering
involves a variety of engineering and management skills, including design, operation, and
system optimization. In order to address these requirements, the traffic engineer must
understand the traffic flow characteristics by extensive collection of traffic flow data and
analysis. Based on the analysis, traffic flow is controlled so that the transportation
infrastructures are utilized optimally as well as with good service quality. In short, the
role of traffic engineer is to protect the environment while providing mobility, to preserve
scarce resources while assuring economic activity, and to assure safety to people and
vehicles through acceptable practices.

1.5 Public transportation: Public transportation deals with study of the transportation
system that meets the travel need of many people by sharing a vehicle. Generally, this
focuses on the urban travel by bus and rail transit. The key areas include characteristics of
various modes (taxi, bus, train, tricycle, etc); planning, management and operations; and
policies for promoting public transportation.

1.6 Accident analysis and reduction: This discipline of transportation deals with the
causes of accidents, from the perspective of human, road, and vehicle and formulate plans
towards minimizing it.

1.7 Financial and economic analysis: Transportation facilities are usually associated
with intensive capital investments. Therefore, it is imperative that whoever invests money
should get the returns. When government invests in transportation, its objective is not
often monetary returns; but social benefits. The economic analysis of transportation
project tries to quantify the economic benefit which includes saving in travel time, fuel
consumption, accident reduction, etc. This helps in planers and analysts in evaluating
various projects and to optimally allocate funds. On the contrary, private sector
investments require monetary profits from the projects. In this regard, financial evaluation
attempts to quantify the return from such investments.

1.8 Environmental impact assessment: The depletion of fossil fuels and the degradation
of the environment has been of utmost concern. Despite the numerous benefits derived
from transportation by the society, yet it contributes a lot in polluting our environment.
The environmental impact assessment attempts in quantifying the environmental impacts

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and to develop strategies for the mitigation and reduction of the impact due to both
construction and operation. The primary impacts are fuel consumption, air pollution, and
noise pollution.

1.9 Intelligent transport system: With advent to computers, communication, and vehicle
technology, it is possible in these days to operate transportation system much effectively
with significant reduction in the adverse impacts of transportation. Intelligent
transportation system offers better mobility, efficiency, and safety with the help of the
state-of-the-art-technology. In addition, disciplines specific to various modes are also
common. This includes railway engineering, port and harbor engineering, and airport
engineering.

It is important to note that transportation engineering deals with facilities or

infrastructures and all the elements associated with them to

2. INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

A transportation system may be defined as consisting of fixed facilities, flow elements,

and control system that permit people and goods to overcome the friction of geographical
space (to move from one point to another) efficiently in order to participate in a timely
manner in some desired activities.

(a) Fixed Facilities

Fixed facilities are the physical components of the system that are fixed in space and
constitute the network of links (e.g., roadway segments, railway track, pipes, etc) and
nodes (e.g., intersections, interchanges, terminals, harbours, and airports) of the
transportation system.

(b) Flow Elements

Flow elements are the units that traverse the fixed facilities. They include vehicles,
container units, railroad cars, etc. In the case of highway system, the fixed facilities are
expected to accommodate a wide variety of vehicle types ranging from bicycles to large
vehicles combinations such as trucks and trailers.

(c) Control System

The control system consists of vehicular control and flow control. Vehicular control
refers to the technological way in which individual vehicles are guided onto the fixed
facilities. Such control can be manual or automated. The proper geometric design of the
fixed facilities must incorporate, in addition to the characteristics of the vehicle, the
characteristics of the vehicular control system. In the case of highway facilities, where the
vehicles are manually controlled, these include driver characteristics, such as the time a
driver takes to perceive and react to various stimuli. In the case of automated systems,
similar but more precisely definable response times exist as well.

The flow control system consists of the means that permit the efficient and smooth
operation of streams of vehicles and the reduction of conflicts between the vehicles. This

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system includes various types of signing, marking, and signal systems and the related
rules of operation.

2.1 Modes of Transportation System

Transportation system can be categorized into various modes. For example, they may be
classified according to the types of technology employ, according to the function or type
of service they provide, according to who owns or responsible for their implementation
and operation, and so forth.

Generally, there are six basic modes of transportation system. These are highways,
railways, waterways, airways, pipelines, and conveyors. To move people or goods from
one location to another, each of these transportation modes requires some essential
components to effect the movement. There are four essential components associated with
each modes of transportation. These include; way, vehicle (or carrying unit), terminal,
and control. The relationship between these components and each of the transportation
modes is discussed as follows.

For instance, for people and goods to be moved from one point to another, a path (or way)
is usually required. It is on this path that the vehicle or carrying unit will move along to
effect the movement. In the course of transporting people or goods, there is need for
loading and unloading activities. These couple of processes are performed at designated
locations referred to as terminals. In transportation process, number of vehicles or
carrying units are operated which require some form of control and guidance. Hence, the
way, vehicle, terminal, and control are essential components for each mode of
transportation.

In terms of the way component, for highways, the roadway is provided based on specified
standard which serves as the way for the highway mode of transportation. The highway
facilitates for simultaneous longitudinal and lateral movement of the vehicles, allowing
for some flexibility in vehicular movement. The technology used in effecting the
movement for highways involves the use of rubber-tyre wheel on a smooth firm roadway.

However, for railway mode, the way is simply the rail track resting on sleepers which is
laid on ballast. The railway can be described to some extent as rigid system as it does not
allow for concurrent longitudinal and lateral movement of the vehicles. It usually
operates longitudinally, which requires some other system to enable lateral movement.
Flanged-wheel on rail track is the technology utilized in effecting the movement.

Regarding the waterways, its route is simply an identified water surface or body upon
which the boats, ships, vessels, etc, float on. In this case, movement is achieved by the
propulsion of floating object through the water body. For airways, the routes are simply
identified instead of constructed as in the case of waterways. Movement is achieved
through the use of air space at higher altitudes above the ground. In the case of pipeline,
the way for this mode is the pipe itself and the movement is achieved through flow of
liquids under pressure or by gravity. Similarly, for the conveyor, which can be a belt or

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bucket conveyor; the belt and the bucket serve as the way for this mode of transportation.
The technology employed in effecting the movement is through frictional resistance as in
pulley system.

With regard to the vehicle (or carrying unit) component of the transportation modes, for
the highway mode; the carrying unit is the vehicle itself. The vehicle has broad ranges of
type as well as varying dynamic and static characteristics. For instance, the vehicle
includes passenger car, trucks, buses, tricycle, motorcycle, and so forth. Interestingly, the
way is capable of accommodating all the different categories of vehicles. This is due to
the flexibility nature of highway mode. Conversely, this is not the case with the railway
system, where the vehicle is characterized by a fixed configuration depending on the
gauge of the rail track. The vehicle in this case is the coach. For the waterways, the
vehicle could be boat, ship, or vessel. These vehicles vary in size, shape and their
dynamic characteristics; ranging from small size boats utilized for inland waterways
transportation to large vessels used for ocean transportation. Movement of people and
goods in waterways mode is reasonably flexible as the vehicles can move in both
longitudinal and lateral directions. More so, for submarines, the vehicle can move
longitudinally, laterally and vertically. For airways transportation, the vehicles vary in
size and configuration as well as its dynamic and static characteristics. The vehicle can
be helicopter, small plane or large aircraft capable of carrying many passengers and large
cargo tonnage. For the pipeline, the pipe or tube serves as both the way and the vehicle
while in the case of conveyor, the vehicle is the conveyor belt or lift cab.

Another essential component in transportation system is terminal. The characteristics of

the terminal vary depending on the type of transportation mode. For the highways, the
terminals are either on-street or off-street parking facilities, bus terminal, trucks terminal,
etc. The terminals for highways are often less costly to provide as compared to the cost
of providing the way. In the case railway mode, the terminal is the rail station, while for
waterways; the terminal is port, which can be seaport or inland waterway ports.
However, for airways, the terminal is airport; which is an important component for the
mode in question whose provision requires a huge amount of money. For the pipelines,
the initial and end points of the pipeline serve as the terminals; which could be ports,
factories, etc. Likewise, the terminal for conveyor is usually the initial and end points
such as stockpiling and packaging points.

Lastly, the control is equally an important component in any form of transportation

system. For highways, many facilities aid in the control of traffic flow; these include the
use traffic control devices such as signals, signs, traffic islands, rotaries, pavement
markings, etc. Similarly, with regard to railway system, signs and signals are used to
regulate the movement of trains, particular at crossing points and stations. For waterways
and airways, communication and use of light signals are used to regulate the route or the
vehicles navigation. In addition, for the airways’ mode, runways’ marking also
contributes in the control aspect. For pipelines and conveyors, the pumping and driving
mechanisms serve as the control systems, respectively.

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The characteristics of the transportation systems in terms of modes and associated

components are summarized and presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Types of Transportation Systems

Modes
Highways Railways Waterways Airways Pipelines Conveyors
Components
Natural and
Conveyor
artificial
Paved and Pipe and belts,
Rail track channels and Air space
Way unpaved roads tubes ropeways,
bodies of
rollers
water
Motor
vehicles, Coaches Self-propelled Conveyor
Aircraft, Pipe and
buses, lorries, and vessels, ships, belt, trams,
Vehicle helicopter tubes
motorcycles, wagons boats lift cab
etc.
Destinations
such as sea
Street and off- Airport, Stockpiles
Railway Harbours and ports,
street parking, Aerodrome, and baggage
Terminal station ports industrial
garages Heliport hold
plants,
homes
Signals, signs,
Signs, Communication,
markings, Communicati Pumping Driving
signals, light signs,
Control intersections,
etc
on, light signs
markings
mechanism mechanism
etc
Discrete flow systems Continuous flow systems

In addition to the characteristics in Table 1.1, the highway and railway systems facilities for
the “way” may be elevated (as in flyovers), on ground (or at-grade as in conventional roads),
or underground (as in tunnel and underpass). Further, the highways, railways, waterways,
and airways transportation systems are regarded as discrete flows while pipelines and
conveyors are considered as continuous flows.

The applications, advantages and disadvantages of the transportation modes discussed earlier
are summarized and presented in Table 1.2.

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Table 1.2: Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages of Transportation Systems

Transportation
Applications Advantages Disadvantages
Modes
Flexibility, especially of
Individual transport; also transport of merchandise Low productivity especially for the
routes; speed and ease of
and general cargo of medium size and quantity; smaller vehicles; high accident rate;
Highways movement in intra-
pickup and delivery service; intra-terminal and weather susceptibility; air and noise
terminal and local service;
short-to-medium intercity transport; feeder service. pollution.
door-to-door service.
Bulk commodity and general cargo transport; intra-
terminal freight traffic; commuting traffic in
Minimum propulsive
densely populated areas and intercity passenger Produces vibration; water pollution
resistance and general
Railways movement; also, long-haul passenger transport from engine house waste; noise
flexibility, dependability,
where speed is not paramount. However, currently pollution.
and safety.
high-speed train are common in many developed &
developing countries.
Slow-speed movement of bulk, low grade-freight
where waterways are available; general cargo High net-ton-mile-per-
Slow-speed; lack of route flexibility;
Waterways transport where speed is a not factor or where other ship-hour, productivity at
weather susceptibility; water pollution.
means are not available; not generally useful for low horsepower per ton.
domestic passenger service.
Movement of any traffic where speed is a key
Air and noise pollution, high energy
Airways requirement over a medium or long distance; traffic High-speed
cost.
with high value in relation to its weight and bulk.
Transport of liquids where total and daily volume
High energy requirement, especially to
are maximum and continuity of delivery is Continuous flow;
the crushing of ore or coal for
Pipelines required; have potential for use in movement of maximum dependability
suspension in the fluid and removal
suspended solids when adequate fluid supply is and safety.
from the fluid.
available.
High initial cost of belting or roping;
Transport of granular bulks where total and daily
loan route and cargo flexibility need to
Conveyors volumes are of maximum and continuity of Same as for pipelines
duplicate flights for two-way
delivery is required.
movement.

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