TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

The first form of transport on land was, of course,

WALKING!
Content
 Animals
 Carts, wagons and coaches
 The bicycle
 The steam engine and the train
 The motor car
 Common forms of transport of people and goods on land
today
• Then, thousands of years ago, people started to use donkeys and
horses to travel and to transport things on land. Around 3,500 BC,
the wheel was invented. The first wheels were simply solid discs,
carved from one lump of wood. The wheel changed the way that
people travelled and transported things. Before the wheel was
invented, the amount of things people could transport over long
distances were limited. Today wheels are used in many forms of
transportation such
as cars, bicycles and skate boards,
but did you know that they are also
found in clocks and pencil sharpeners.
• Wagons, coaches and carriages
• Before people started to use wagons and carts, they would put big logs under goods they wanted to
move, and roll the logs along the ground. But that was still a lot of work and probably not that easy.
So they invented small vehicles with two or four wheels, which could be pulled along by people or
animals.

image of a cart pulled along by people Image source

The first kinds of wheeled vehicles were carts (two wheels) and wagons (four wheels). They were drawn by animals
like donkeys, horses and oxen. The first types of wagon and carts were found in Central Asia and in the Tigris-
Euphrates valley in the Middle East, about 5 000 years ago. Later they were also used in Crete, Egypt, Turkey,
Russia and China. Wagons and carts have been described before as 'boxes on wheels'. They could be used to carry
a lot of goods over long distances, and to transport people. About 4 000 years ago people began to cover their
wagons with leather or cloth. This protected the riders from the sun and rain. Animals used to draw wagons included
donkeys, horses and oxen.
cart Image source
A carriage is a closed, horse-drawn vehicle with four wheels, used
to transport people. Both the carriage and the wagon developed
from the sled, which is probably the first land vehicle and was
invented in prehistoric times. The sled was used in ancient Egypt to
transport building materials such as heavy stones. Today sleds are
known for high speed transportation through snow covered areas.
Viking ship. Image source
From the carriage developed the coach, a big, closed vehicle also used to
transport people. A coach could carry up to eight people. Most people believe that
the coach was developed in Hungary in the 15th century. The use of these
vehicles spread to other parts of Europe and England in the 16th century. There
have been many different kinds of carriages and coaches through the ages. Some
examples are: Cabriolet, Chaise, Drag, Phaeton and Stagecoach. A stagecoach
was a public transport vehicle that carried people, baggage and mail from one
station to another, like a train or a bus.
A Wells Fargo stagecoach from the mid 1800’s Image source
 Animals as transport
• A beast of burden is an animal that is used for transporting goods or for doing other heavy
work. Since ancient times, people have used animals to get from one place to another, to
carry and transport things or to do work like turning mills. Many different kinds of animals
have been used, and are still used today. Here are some of the animals that have been used
and domesticated by people to help with various tasks:
• A Homing pigeon. Note the message and the thin message tube lying in front of him.
Source:

The Pigeon tube on its back. Image source

The Homing Pigeon is a bird that is able to find its way home from very far off. This made it
possible for people to send messages to others. The message would be written on a very
thin piece of paper and put into a small tube. It was then tied to the pigeon's leg. The pigeon
would then be thrown in the air to fly back home to deliver the message. It is possible that
pigeons have been used to deliver messages as long ago as 1150, in Baghdad.

Homing pigeons played a very important role during the First World War. It is estimated
that over 100 000 pigeons were used to transport messages during WWI. One of these
birds was called 'Cher Ami' which means 'Dear Friend'. He received a special award from
the French army for his services during the war. He delivered more than 10 important messages, and
was even shot once.

A painting of horses used for transportation during the 18th
dynasty in Ancient Egypt. Image source
Horses
The horse has been one of the most important
beasts of burden for hundreds of years. They
have been used for travel, to draw carts,
carriages, trams and other wheeled vehicles, to
plough fields and to carry loads. People use a
range of different tools to ride on a horse. These
include the saddle, stirrups, and reins. Horses
were even used to draw boats between about
1630 to about 1850. Horse-drawn boats were
also called tow-boats. They would sail on a
canal and were drawn by horses walking along
special paths along the canal. These paths were
called the 'tow-paths'. Horse-drawn boats were
used for goods as well as for public transport.
 TRANSPORTATING ENGINEERING
• Description:
• Transportation has always played an essential role in the development of society, originally
with regard to trade routes and harbours, but more recently with regard to land- and air-based
systems as well. It is the transportation engineer's responsibility to plan, design, build, operate
and maintain these systems of transport, in such a way as to provide for the safe, efficient and
convenient movement of people and goods.

• Increasing environmental concerns have revived an interest in the development and

management of public transportation systems. Professional activities can range from road and
transit design and operation at the urban scale, to railroad, seaway and airport location,
construction and operation at the regional and national scale. Transportation engineering in
North America focuses on automobile infrastructures, although it also encompasses sea, air and
rail systems.
• Automobile infrastructures can be split into the traditional area of highway design and
planning, and the rapidly growing area of traffic control systems. The transportation
engineer faces the challenge of developing both network links and major terminals to
satisfy transportation demands, with due regard for the resultant land-use,
environmental and other impacts of these facilities.

• Employment opportunities are available both in the public sector (e.g., federal and
provincial government transportation ministries, regional and municipal roads, traffic
and transit agencies) and the private sector (e.g., engineering consultants, trucking,
railroad and airline companies, vehicle manufacturing). The undergraduate core and
technical complementary program provide for a solid grounding in transportation
engineering sufficient for related professional employment.
Transportation engineering, primarily involves planning, design, construction, maintenance, and
operation of transportation facilities. The facilities support air, highway, railroad, pipeline, water,
and even space transportation. The design aspects of transportation engineering include the sizing
of transportation facilities (how many lanes or how much capacity the facility has), determining
the materials and thickness used in pavement designing the geometry (vertical and horizontal
alignment) of the roadway (or track).
Before any planning occurs an engineer must take what is known as an inventory of the area or, if
it is appropriate, the previous system in place. This inventory or database must include
information on population, land use, economic activity, transportation facilities and services,
travel patterns and volumes, laws and ordinances, regional financial resources, and community
values and expectations. These inventories help the engineer create business models to complete
accurate forecasts of the future conditions of the system.
Operations and management involve traffic engineering, so that vehicles move smoothly on the
road or track. Older techniques include signs, signals, markings, and tolling. Newer technologies
involve intelligent transportation systems, including advanced traveler information systems (such
as variable message signs), advanced traffic control systems (such as ramp meters), and vehicle
infrastructure integration. Human factors are an aspect of transportation engineering, particularly
concerning driver-vehicle interface and user interface of road signs, signals, and markings.
• What is a transportation engineer?
• A transportation engineer is involved primarily in design and planning, maintenance, operation and in the
construction of various transportation facilities. These facilities support highway, railroad, water, pipeline air
as well as space transport. The different designing aspects that transport engineers handle include:
• Sizing of transportation facilities
• Determining the thickness and materials used in pavement design
• The geometry (horizontal and vertical alignment) of the track or roadway
• Even before the planning stage commences, the transportation engineer has to take an inventory the
previous system and area.
• This database helps the transportation engineer create detailed business models to design accurate forecasts
of future conditions of this system.
• The engineers also handle operations and management and these are part of traffic engineering; this helps
vehicles move very smoothly on the track or road.
• They use traditional techniques such as signals, signs, tolling and marking and more current technologies
such as advanced traffic control systems including ramp meters, and intelligent traveller information systems
like variable message signs
• Human factors are also a very important aspect of transportation engineering and these are specifically
related to the user interface of signals, road signs, and markings and the river-vehicle interface.
• What Is the Difference Between a Civil Transportation Engineer
and a Civil Engineer?

Civil transportation engineers and civil engineers have similar

functions in that they both involve using design software to review
schematics to ensure projects are up to code and meet client
expectations. Civil engineers are not specialized and generally work on
planning and designing facility construction, and building or overall
infrastructure maintenance. Civil engineers are able to specialize in
various subcategories, one of these being transportation engineering.
This specialization focuses on the engineering of transportation systems
like highways, bridges, traffic systems, airports, and runways.
• .