SVBP 223

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Scope of Highway & Traffic Engineering

Compiled by: Engr. Jessa Mae A. Gomez, CE

Instructor
OUTLINE
 What is Highway Engineering?

 Scope of Highway Engineering

 What is Traffic Engineering ?

 Scope of Traffic Engineering

 Traffic System Components

 Traffic Characteristics
 Road User Characteristics
 Vehicular Characteristics
 Road Characteristics
What is Highway Engineering?

 A branch of civil engineering dealing with the

planning, location, design, construction, and
maintenance of highways and with the regulations
and control devices employed in highway traffic
operations.
Scope of the Highway Engineering

 Roads are generally constructed on small

embankments, slightly above the general ground
level, in order to avoid the difficult drainage and
maintenance problems.

 Such roads are therefore termed as highway and the

science and technology dealing with roads are
generally called highway engineering.
Scope of the Highway Engineering
 Highway engineering deals with various phase like,

 Development
 Planning
 Alignment
 Highway material
 Traffic control
 Highway geometric design and location
 Pavement design
 Construction and maintenance
 Economic considerations
 Financial and administration
What is Traffic Engineering?
 Traffic Engineering : It is
very important that
traffic flow on roads
should be efficient-safe-
rapid.

 Traffic Engineering is the

branch which deals
with science of
measuring traffic,
Designing & Operating
system to achieve Safe&
efficient movement of
persons as well as
goods.
Scope of Traffic Engineering

 Traffic Characteristics
 Traffic studies & analysis
 Traffic operation – control
 Planning & Analysis
 Geometric Design
 Administration & Management
TRAFFIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS

 Road users-drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and

passengers

 Vehicles

 Streets and highways

 Traffic control devices

 The general environment

 Traffic Characteristics

Road User Vehicular

Characteristic Characteristic
s s

Physical Mental Psychological Environmental

Permanent- Knowledge
Vision, Hearing, Re Attentiveness Traffic
Skill Stream
action time, Strength, Fear
Judgement Power Experience Facilities
Anger
Temporary- Intelligenc Atmosphere
Superposition
Fatigue, Alcohol,
Illness, Drugs,
e Literacy Locality
Disability,
Road User Characteristics
 Physiological – Measurable and Usually Quantifiable
 Psychological – Much more difficult to measure and quantify
• Psychological : Desired speeds
Desired safety distances
• Physiological : Perception-Reaction time
Visual factors
Hearing

 The traffic engineer must deal with elderly drivers as well as 18-year-
old, aggressive drivers and timid drivers, and drivers subject to
myriad distractions both inside and outside their vehicles.
Various aspects of human vision which
affects the road user
1. Visual acuity (eye sight)

2. Peripheral vision

It deals with total visual field for the two eyes.

Angle of peripheral vision:
a. horizontal direction = 160º
b. vertical direction = 115º

3. Eye movement

4. Color vision

Under a good light many colors may

differentiate but as light decreases, some
colors are less visible.

Color blindness is a condition where one

cannot distinguish between different color.
Various aspects of human vision which
affects the road user

5. Glare vision and recovery

Adaptability to light is an important factor of vision. Eye takes more time

to adapt when we go from light to dark.

Glare recovery time is the time required to recover from the effect of glare
after the light source is passed.

6. Perception of time and space

Perception of space refer to ability of eyes to judge the space depth and
time.
Other Permanent Physical Factor
Hearing

Hearing is an aid to the road-user which can at times be very

vital. The sound of a horn or the sound of the nearing vehicle
itself can alert a pedestrian to safety.

Strength

Though strength is not an important factor in general, lack of

strength may make parking maneuvers difficult, particularly for
heavy vehicles.
Other Permanent Physical Factor

Reaction time

The time required to perceive & understand the traffic situation

& to take the appropriate action is known as reaction time.

Judgement power

Ability to judge the coming situation depends upon experience

& one’s own judgement power. Before the actual response it is
the right judgement of the steps to be taken to avoid the
mishaps.
PRT / PIEV THEORY
According to theory, the total reaction time of the driver is split into
Four parts

 Perception time (Detection)

 Intellection time (Identification)
 Emotion time (Decision)
 Volition time (Response)
PRT / PIEV THEORY
 Perception time
 Perception time is the time required for the sensations received by
the eyes or ears to be transmitted to the brain through the nervous
system and spinal chord.

 Intellection time
 It is the time required for understanding the situation. it is also the
time required for comparing the different thoughts, regrouping and
registering new sensations.

 Emotion time
 It is the time elapsed during emotional sensations and disturbance
such as fear, anger, etc. with reference to the situation.

 Volition time
 Volition time is the time taken for the final action. the “will” to take
some act or produce some action is volition.
PRT / PIEV THEORY
 The PIEV time of a driver depends on several factors such as:

 Physical & psychological characteristics of the driver.

 Type of the problem involved.
 Environmental conditions.
 Temporary factors.

 The total reaction time (PIEV time) of an average driver may vary
from 0.5 sec for simple situation to as much as 3 to 4 sec for a more
complex problem, such as the decision to overtake and pass on a
two-lane road.
 Traffic Characteristics

Road Vehicular
Characteristics
User Characteristic
s

Static Dynamic

Speed
Dimension
Acceleration
s Weight Braking System
Maximum Lighting
Turning System Vehicle
Radius Design Tyre
VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS
Vehicle Categories : AASHTO - Four main categories

 Passenger type-all passenger cars, SUVs, minivans, vans, and

pickup trucks.
 Buses-intercity motor coaches, transit buses, school buses, and
articulated buses
 Trucks-single-unit trucks, tractor-trailer, and tractor semi-trailer
combination vehicles
 Recreational vehicles-motor homes, cars with various types of trailers
(boat, campers, motorcycles, etc.)
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS
 Braking and deceleration
 Acceleration
 Low-speed turning characteristics
 High-speed turning characteristics
 Size = Height*Width*Length
 Weight
 Sight Distance
 Super Elevation
 Curves
 Capacity
ROAD CHARACTERISTICS
 Friction – Skid + Slip
 Skid : vehicle slide without revolving
 Slip : wheel revolves more than longitudinal distance along
the road. (acceleration)
 Factors affecting :
 Type of Pavement
 Roughness of surface
 Dry-wet-smooth pavement conditions
 Conditions of tires
 Speed of vehicles
 Brake efficiency

 Unevenness

 Light Reflecting Characteristics