CE 103

HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

MODULE 2

1. DEFINITION OF HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

Highway engineering (also known as roadway engineering and street engineering)

is a professional engineering discipline branching from the civil engineering
subdiscipline of transportation engineering that involves the planning, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, highways, streets, bridges, and
tunnels to ensure safe and effective transportation of people and goods. 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.

2. HIGHWAY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Highway planning involves the estimation of current and future traffic volumes on a
road network. The Highway planning is also a basic need for the Highway development.
Highway engineers strive to predict and analyze all possible civil impacts of highway
systems. Some considerations are the adverse effects on the environment, such as noise
pollution, air pollution, water pollution, and other ecological impacts.

2.1 FINANCING

Developed countries are constantly faced with high maintenance cost of aging
transportation highways. The growth of the motor vehicle industry and accompanying
economic growth has generated a demand for safer, better performing, less congested
highways. The growth of commerce, educational institutions, housing, and defense have
largely drawn from government budgets in the past, making the financing of public
highways a challenge. The multipurpose characteristics of highways, economic
environment, and the advances in highway pricing technology are constantly changing.
Therefore, the approaches to highway financing, management, and maintenance are
constantly changing as well.

Prepared by: Engr. Krisaline Marie June G. Flores

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2.2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

The economic growth of a community is dependent upon highway development to

enhance mobility. However, improperly planned, designed, constructed, and
maintained highways can disrupt the social and economic characteristics of any size
community. Common adverse impacts to highway development include damage of
habitat and bio-diversity, creation of air and water pollution, noise and vibration
generation, damage of natural landscape, and the destruction of a community's social
and cultural structure. Highway infrastructure must be constructed and maintained to
high qualities and standards.

There are three key steps for integrating environmental considerations into the planning,
scheduling, construction, and maintenance of highways. This process is known as an
Environmental Impact Assessment, or EIA, as it systematically deals with the following
elements:

A. Identification of the full range of possible impacts on the natural and socio-
Economic environment.

B. Evaluation and quantification of these impacts.

C. Formulation of measures to avoid, mitigate, and compensate for the
anticipated impacts.

2.3 HIGHWAY SAFETY

Highway systems generate the highest price in human injury and death, as nearly 50
million persons are injured in traffic accidents every year, not including the 1.2 million
deaths. Road traffic injury is the single leading cause of unintentional death in the first
five decades of human life. Management of safety is a systematic process that strives to
reduce the occurrence and severity of traffic accidents. The man/machine interaction
with road traffic systems is unstable and poses a challenge to highway safety
management. The key for increasing the safety of highway systems is to design, build,
and maintain them to be far more tolerant of the average range of this man/machine
interaction with highways. Technological advancements in highway engineering have
improved the design, construction, and maintenance methods used over the years. These
advancements have allowed for newer highway safety innovations. By ensuring that all
situations and opportunities are identified, considered, and implemented as appropriate,
they can be evaluated in every phase of highway planning, design, construction,
maintenance, and operation to increase the safety of our highway systems.

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3. IMPORTANCE OF ROADS

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4. CLASSIFICATION OF ROADS

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4.1 PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ROAD NETWORK (DPWH ATLAS)

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5. TYPES OF ROAD PATTERNS

5.1 RECTANGULAR OR BLOCK PATTERN

BENEFITS

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DRAWBACKS

5.2 RADIAL ROAD PATTERN

5.2.1 RADIAL OR STAR & BLOCK PATTERN

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BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

5.2.2 RADIAL OR STAR & CIRCULAR PATTERN

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BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

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5.2.3 RADIAL OR STAR & GRID PATTERN

BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

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5.3 HEXAGONAL ROAD PATTERN

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BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

5.4 MINIMUM TRAVEL PATH

BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

5.5 GRID PATTERN

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BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

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5.6 LINEAR PATTERN

BENEFITS

DRAWBACKS

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  STUDENT ACTIVITY NO. 2

1. IN GOOGLE MAP, FIND EXAMPLES IN EACH OF THE DIFFERENT ROAD PATTERNS

AND INDICATE THE LOCATION.
2. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF HIGHWAY ENGINEERING?
3. HOW CAN YOU MAINTAIN SAFETY IN ROADS?

REFERENCES:

1. Wikipedia. Highway Engineering. https://en.wikipedia.org

2. Ujjal Roy. Highway Engineering – Its Scope and Importance, 2012.
https://www.indiastudychannel.com
3. OpenStreetMap, WikiProject Philippines. Philippines/Mapping
Conventions/Roads/Classification, May 2023. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org
4. Philippine National Road Network, 2022. DPWH Atlas. https://www.dpwh.gov.ph
5. The Constructor. 6 Types of Road Patterns. https://theconstructor.org/transportation/types-
road-patterns/567705/

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