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1. What is Transportation Engineering?

Transportation engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with planning, designing,

operating and maintaining to make the transportation system/route safe, efficient and fast when

moving people and goods. Transportation Engineering does not only focus on infrastructure

(roadways, waterways, railways etc) but also on the users and individual units (cars, trucks) to

understand and meet transportation standards. Any product or system that can move people and

goods may fall under the scope of transportation engineering.

2. Explain the importance of Transportation Engineering.

As we all know, Transportation engineering deals with safety and efficiency and gives more

options for transportation. Thus, transportation engineers play a big role in the community since

the majority of the people's livelihood depends on transportation from going to the workplace or

transporting products. That is why acquiring the best possible route, materials to be used,

design of the road and budget of a community/area to ensure that the conditions should

be met. Transportation engineers not only focus on the infrastructure itself but also on the road

users and units. Therefore, it is necessary for transportation engineers to understand the

interaction of these three to make transportation more efficient, and that is why our shopee/lazada

orders would only take about a week or 2 to arrive at our doors.

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3. Discuss the following:

a. The importance of Transportation Engineering

As discussed, transportation engineering plays an important role not only in certain parts

of the country but rather worldwide. It may contribute through land, water or air to provide

adequate transportation options for personal and professional use. Land transportation is the

most common mode of transportation where it is easily accessible for many. Land transportation

includes highways and railroads. Here in the Philippines, traffic is one of the most common

problems faced by many. Thus, engineers investigate problems in order to identify solutions and

create plans and designs to smoothen the flow of traffic, from designing a number of roads or

installing traffic lights to make the most efficient and safest route. This is also applicable to

railways. For water transportation, it includes seaports or waterways. Water transportation is

applicable for transporting people, especially cargo/freights across long distances that are mostly

used by companies, and what engineers do is to make the terminals or waterways for boats to

have ports or waterways (e.g suez canal).

b. The history of transportation

History of transportation

Transportation was once limited in terms of distances before innovation was made where

transportation was done by walking or logs that turned into simple river boats. With the discovery

of the wheel, transportation began to develop. As trade increased, roads were purposely widened

for travelers or carriages to pass through. The ancient Romans were innovators of roads due to

the size of the empire and the wealth of trade. In 300 BCE, they constructed roads used by armies,

civilians and traders (Tourism Teacher, 2021).

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In 1760, invention of diesel-powered ships and steam-powered engines.

In 1783, the first human to travel on air was Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François

Laurent d’Arlandes by a hot air balloon invented by the Montgolfier brothers.

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In 1802, Cornish Engineer Richard Trevithick both designed and built the first steam

locomotive that runs on smooth rails and was later used for passengers in 1807 (Nguyen, 2021)

In 1817, the first bicycle was invented by a German inventor Karl von Drais where it had

no pedals.

1886 - First ever vehicle powered by a gas engine was patented by Carl Benz

While in the Philippines, back in the 20th century, transportation was already present

where horse carriages (Kalesa), Carabao Carriage (Balsa) and even jeepneys were used after

the Americans left on the end of World War II.

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As the country progressed, there were numerous modes of transportation added such as

modern jeepneys where it can accommodate more passengers or some have air conditions,

motorcycle with cabin (tricycles), bicycle with cabin (pedicabs), bus, tax, airplane, and ferry boats

(ro-ro). Moreover, in 2000, the Manila Metro Rail Transit (MRT) has been functioning in the

country

4. How does transportation impact people’s daily lives?

Transportation plays a vital role in our lives because it is why urbanization would take

place or a community would progress. The majority of the community’s economy usually depends

on trade industry where materials/products are transported to supply the demands, making it easy

for people to access goods that are unavailable or produced locally. For example, the demands

or supplies are insufficient, so other countries import to meet the supplies needed for a

community. Moreover, it does not limit the economic progress within an area. Example farmlands

where population is low therefore it needs to be transported to various locations to keep the cycle

of money or people. Thus, it makes the livelihood of the people more accessible and safer.

5. What can you say about the transportation in our country?

In the Philippines, transportation is one of the essential methods to move goods, and

people since most household has one or more vehicles used for daily transportation and the

exchange of goods. In the past few years, the quality of transportation has been average or below

average, especially in rural areas, because of misuse of budget, corrupt politicians or taking a

long time to respond. I still remember the road construction in our place that took almost a year

for a kilometer road to be accessible. However, the Philippines got lucky with the establishment

of the Build Build Build program, although some parts had poor completion, like connecting the

road widening to the current highway, where the progress is noticeable. For air and water

transportation, I only know that it was better compared to the past.

6. How do you see this course can help you in your future profession?
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From what I had in mind, this will help me give a different perspective that engineering is not only

limited to construction but also planning. Thus, this subject would allow me to become more

flexible in the field of engineering and possibly help to add more of my choices when there is a

change of plans or specialization.

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Reference

http://www.thecivilengg.com/transportation_engineering.php

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-is-transportation-

engineering#:~:text=Any%20product%20or%20system%20that,Traffic%20control%20systems

https://wonderfulengineering.com/what-is-transportation-engineering/

https://byjus.com/physics/transportation-

history/#:~:text=Around%203500%20BC%2C%20the%20first,oars%20to%20direct%20the%20v

ehicle

https://tourismteacher.com/history-of-transportation/

https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/jean-francois-pilatre-de-rozier/

https://conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2021/04/13/richard-trevithick-is-250-years-old-today-

who-changed-the-19th-century-more/

https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/frames1.html#:~:text=German%20Inventor%20Karl%20v

on%20Drais,rims%20and%20leather%2Dcovered%20tires

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bria.com.ph/articles/evolution-of-philippine-

transportation-then-and-

now/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1658555159598853&usg=AOvVaw0gatGWWDeO_f6U8lA8oh3