Transportation engineering

Transportation engineering, in general, encompasses expertise of pavement

engineering, alignment design, highway design, construction, and maintenance for the
highway engineering element. The field called traffic engineering, in turn, addresses
topics such as traffic characteristics, road and junction capacity, performance levels,
traffic management, and congestion management. Further areas of study involve
public transit, safety, environmental impacts, travel characteristics, and intelligent
transportation systems. Most people believe that transportation engineering is an
important motivation for sustaining the notion of sustainability. Highway engineering
is an engineering discipline which involves the design, construction and maintenance
of highway roads and systems, urban streets as well as parking facilities. Important
aspects of highway engineering include overall planning of routes, financing,
environmental impact evaluation and value engineering to compare alternatives

The Intelligent Transport System (ITS) is a new beginning in transportation, described

as a collection of goods and systems that use cutting-edge technologies in IT,
communication, electronics, and control to help assure an efficient, safe, and
environmentally friendly transportation system. Transportation engineering is a
discipline of civil engineering that focuses on the planning, design, operation, and
maintenance of transportation networks in order to help cities become smart, safe, and
livable. Road transportation involves any technology that transmits people and
products from one location to another, including motorways and roadways, trains, oil
pipelines, public transportation systems, traffic control systems, automated transport
systems, and space transport systems.

The transportation planning process comprises 7 basic elements, which are

inter-related and not necessarily carried out sequentially. The information acquired in
one phase of the process may be helpful in some earlier or later phase, so there is a
continuity of effort that should eventually result in a decision. The elements in the
process are situation definition, problem definition search for solutions, analysis of
performance, evaluation of alternatives, choice of project and specification and
construction. The transportation planning process is structured broadly and is based
on a systems approach to issue resolution. The approach is not limited to roads; it may
also be applied to intercity high-speed rail feasibility analysis, airport placement, port
and harbour development, and urban transportation systems. Most popular method is
in urban areas, which have been mandated by statute since 1962, when the Federal
Aid Highway Act required that almost all infrastructure improvements in urbanized
areas that have populations of 50,000 or even more be predicated on an ongoing,
comprehensive, as well as cooperative transportation planning process, also known as
the "3C" process.

The following are the functions and responsibilities of transportation engineers. The
first step is to create diverse transportation plans for effective traffic movement. The
transportation systems, including traffic signal systems, are then planned, designed,
and developed. Aside from that, it is necessary to create and manage traffic systems
and processes. Following that, produce administrative-technical and statistical reports
on traffic operations. Furthermore, when designing transportation, it is necessary to
examine and evaluate the traffic impact. To create project budget schedules and
material specs. Beside that to compare building materials to environmental norms. To
produce estimates for various transportation construction projects. To create and carry
out traffic control plans. Then to incorporate cost-effective technology into the
transportation system.

After that, review the traffic control devices to decide whether they need to be
modified or expanded. Incorporating safety procedures and standards into
transportation operations. Aside from that, transport engineers provide final project
plan drawings that incorporate various features of the Transportation system.
Transportation engineers assess whole transportation projects to verify safety and
adherence to norms and laws. Finally, to assess the probable traffic impact of the
different development plants. Transportation is critical to the overall growth of the
country. The following are some of the benefits of transportation engineering. For
starters, transportation contributes to the nation's economic, social, and commercial
development. Next, transportation contributes to the country's cultural and political
growth. Transportation must connect two countries or places and increase
employment prospects. Then, transportation increases the country's import and export
and aids in industrial growth throughout the country.
Transportation engineering, as it is currently performed, consists of three key
components. The design, building, and maintenance of structures such as roads,
bridges, tunnels, trains, airports, transit systems, and ports and harbour is one
component. The second part includes project conception, development, finance, and
management. The third aspect is concerned with operations and logistics, which
include traffic engineering, transit, trucking, and other facility operations, as well as
business logistics. As that the profession has developed, specialties have evolved in
each. Currently, the emphasis is on inter-modal transportation systems that promote
mode connection over the whole portal-to-portal journey length.

There are advantages for road transport such as road transport offers quick and
assured deliveries. Roads provide good commercial links between cities and it can be
constructed at comparatively lower cost. Roads transport also offers a flexible service,
free from fixed schedules. Next, road transport offers door to door service and its help
in the growth of trade and other economic activities. For short hauls road transport is
the only economical means. While the disadvantage are road transport is its poor
record of safety. The poor construction and maintenance of roads contribute to overall
increase of the operation cost of vehicles. Road transport has been one of the major
causes for environmental pollution. Road transport has low carrying capacity of
passengers and goods. Road transport consumes greater energy. Road transport has
caused problem of parking in cities streets.