Transportation Engineering

ASSIST. PROF. DR. M. ALI MOSABERPANAH| CVLE361

What is Transportation?? 2

 Transportation is the movement of people and

goods over time and space...
 Transportation should be…
- Safe
- Environmentally Friendly
 3

Source:
http://inventorspot.com/what_is_the_future_of_transportation
 4

Source:
http://inventorspot.com/what_is_the_future_of_transportation
Emissions from Vehicles 5

Emissions
Transportation Modes 6

Motorized Non-Motorized
• Automobile •Biking

•Transit •Walking

-Bus
-Rail
- Rapid Transit
(subway)
 Development of Transportation
Modes 7

Ridership
Automobile

Bus

Electric
Tramway

Cable car

Horse-drawn
Omni bus

Time
1860 1893 1923 1948
Life Cycle of a Transportation 8
Mode
Ridership
Growth to
Maturity
Decline

Decline

Innovation Nostalgia
Period
Nostalgia

Time
History of Transportation
9
 10

Hybrid
Cars

Environmentally
Friendly
Hybrid Cars 11

Gasoline power + Electric power

History of Transportation 12

Year: 1804 Year: 2008

Speed: 8 km/h Speed: ~ 500 km/h
 Railway 13
In Japan nearly 40
years, In Europe nearly
25 years
Long distance

Locomotives Very High speed

High speed

Interurban
Regional

Tram Metro

Speed
 320 km/h 300 km/h 230 km/h 14

TGV Duplex (France) AVE (Spain) New Pendolino (Italy)

200 km/h 300 km/h

Virgin West Coast Pendolino (UK) KTX (South Korea)

 3 ways we transport on planet earth:
15

1) Land
-Railway

-Highway

-Pipeline
 16

2) Sea

3) Air
Which mode has the most
17
problems??
Why people like cars? 18

 We like the cars

 It often (but not always) is the fastest
mode, depending on levels of
congestion, time of day and the
available alternatives
 Privacy
 Automobiles suggest that you are at a
higher level of society
 People simply enjoy the sensation of
driving
Importance of Transportation 19

Necessary for economic growth, but not

sufficient
- The speed, cost, and capabilities of
available transportation have a
significant economic impact on an area
- Countries with better/advanced
transportation networks and services are
leaders in industry and commerce
USA, Japan, Germany, ...
Importance of Transportation 20

 Determines the location and character of

cities and regions by interacting with land
use (e.g. silk road)
 National security
Components of the Transportation 21
System

 Infrastructure (supply):
-Physical facilities: highways, railroads, ports
-Transfer points: parking areas, driveways
-Supporting elements: signals, signs, safety
hardware, etc.
 Vehicles (demand): Planes, trains, autos,
buses, ships, trucks
 Operators/users: Drivers, pilots, freight,
passengers
What is Transportation Engineering 22

 The engineering profession is involved

in all aspects of
-Aeronautical (aircraft)
-Chemical (fuel)
-Mechanical (vehicles)
-Electrical (communications, control
system)
-Civil (development of facilities and
manage demand)
Transportation Engineering 23

 One of the specialty areas of civil

engineering
- Development of facilities for the
movement of goods and people
- Planning, design, operation and
maintenance
 People oriented
 24

Multi-disciplinary

-Economic
-Environmental
-Planning
-Statistics
-Law
-Psychology & human factors
-Public administration
Problems ==> solutions
Areas of Transportation Engineering 25

Roadway Geometric Design

Pavement Engineering
Traffic Operations (signs, signals,..)
Transportation Planning
Railway Engineering
Design and Planning of Airports
Development of Transportation 26
Network

 Planning

 Design

 Construction
Geometric Design 27

 Problem Statement
 Objective and Constraints
 Horizontal Alignment
 Vertical Alignment
 Mass Diagram
 Final Report - Blueprint for construction
Problem 28

Lombard Street, San

Highway in west China
Francisco, CA
Constraints 29

 Environmental
-Wetland, ponds and creeks.
 Geometric
- horizontal curve
- vertical curve
 Safety
- Maximum grade
- Minimum radius
- Enough stopping sight distance
 Budget
- Maximum cut-and-fill depth
- Mass balance
Alignment 30

 Alignmentis a 3D
problem broken
down into two 2D
problems
 Horizontal
Alignment (plan
view)
 Vertical Alignment
(profile view)
 31

Vertical Horizontal
Alignment Alignment
Vertical Alignment 32

 Objective:
 Determine elevation to ensure
 Proper drainage
 Acceptable level of safety

 Primary challenge
 Transition between two grades
 Vertical curves

Sag Vertical Curve

G1 G2
G1 G2
Crest Vertical Curve
Horizontal Alignment 33

 Objective:
 Geometry of directional transition to ensure:
Safety
Comfort

 Primary challenge
 Transitionbetween two directions
 Horizontal curves

 Fundamentals
 Circularcurves
 Superelevation
Mass
Fill areas Cut areas
34
Indicate grade points
Diagram
Indicate points where  cuts =  fills
Ground
Profile
Elevation

Grade

Mass
diagram
Volume
Pavement Design 35

Flexible
(WsDOT, u.d.)
Rigid

Pavements Pavements
Surface layer is asphalt Surface layer is portland
concrete cement concrete
What is transportation planning? 36

Activities that:
1. Identify problems, gather and
analyze data
2. Forecast future traffic demands
and estimate the environmental
and social impacts
3. Evaluate alternatives and
determine the alternative that
meet the requirements and
constraints of the problem at the
lowest cost
The 4 step transport planning 37
process

Demographic
OUTPUT
Step 1: Trip
Data Generation
•Estimated trips
Transportatio Step 2: Trip •Estimated modal
n Network Distribution shares
•Estimated travel
Step 3: Mode
Choice
speeds
•Estimated travel
Step 4: Trip/ Traffic
delays
Assignment
 Trip Generation 38

 Decisionto travel for a specific purpose (e.g. Trip generation

eat lunch)
-How much do people use the transport
system?
-Why do people use the transport
system?
-Where can different types of activities
be satisfied?

Potential
Trip Distribution 39

 Choice of destination (a
Trip distribution
particular restaurant?
The nearest
restaurant?)
-Given a location,
where do people go
to satisfy demand for
an activity type?
-Determine origin and
destination of trips Travel demand
Mode Choice 40

 How do people use the transport system? Mode choice

 What modes do they choose
(transit, walk, carpool, drive alone,…)?
 How do they react to varying
transport service quality?

Transport demand
Trip / Traffic Assignment 41

 How do people use the transport system? Route choice

 Given a mode, which route do they choose (e.g. E-
5..)?
 Which parts of the transport system do they use?

Assigned flows
Demographic Data 42

Household size

Income level

Autosper
household
Capacity Restraint for Highways 43

 A qualitative measure describing operational

conditions within a traffic stream and their
perception by drivers and/or passengers
 Different for different facilities (freeway, multilane,
2-lane rural, signals)
Level of Service (LOS) 44

 Chief measure of “quality of service”

 Describes operational conditions within a traffic
stream
 Does not include safety
 Different measures for different facilities
6 measures A through F
Introduction to Highway
Engineering and Traffic
Analysis
INTRODUCTION 46

 Highways have played a key role in the

development and sustainability of human civilization
from ancient times to the present.
 Today, around the world, highways continue to
dominate the transportation system providing
critical access for the acquisition of natural
resources, industrial production, retail marketing and
population mobility.
 The influence of highway transportation on the
economic, social and political fabric of nations is
far-reaching and, as a consequence, highways
have been studied for decades as a cultural,
political, and economic phenomenon.
INTRODUCTION 47

 In the twenty-first century, the role of highways in

the transportation system continues to evolve.
 In most nations, the enormous investment in
highway transportation infrastructure that
occurred in the middle of the last century, which
included the construction of the U.S. interstate
highway system (the largest infrastructure project
in human history), has now given way to
infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation,
improvements in operational efficiency, various
traffic-congestion relief measures, energy
conservation, improved safety and environmental
mitigation.
HIGHWAYS AND THE ECONOMY 48
 Highway systems have a direct effect on industries that
supply vehicles and equipment to support highway
transportation and the industries that are involved in
highway construction and maintenance.
 Highway systems are also vital to manufacturing and retail
supply chains and distribution systems, and serve as
regional and national economic engines.
 In the U.S., more than 15% of average household income
is spent on highway vehicle purchases, maintenance, and
other vehicle expenditures. As a consequence, the
industries providing vehicles and vehicle services for
highway transportation have an enormous economic
influence.
HIGHWAYS AND THE ECONOMY 49
 In the U.S. alone, in the light-vehicle market (cars, vans,
pickup trucks, and so on), as many as 16 million or more
new vehicles can be sold annually (depending on
economic conditions), which translates to over 400
billion dollars in sales and more than a million jobs in
manufacturing and manufacturing-supplier industries.
 Add to this the additional employment associated with
vehicle maintenance and servicing, and more than five
million U.S. jobs can be tied directly to highway vehicles.
 The influence of the highway economy extends further
to the heavy-vehicle sector as well, with more than 1.3
million jobs and billions of dollars expended annually by
the trucking, freight movement, and other industries in
conducting operations and expanding, replacing, and
maintaining their fleets of commercial vehicles in the
U.S.
HIGHWAYS AND THE ECONOMY 50

 The direct influence that highways have also extends

to the construction and maintenance of highways,
with over 200 billion dollars in annual expenditures in
the U.S. alone. This too has an enormous impact on
employment and other aspects of the economy.
 It has long been recognized that highway
construction and improvements to the highway
network can positively influence economic
development. Such improvements can increase
accessibility and thus attract new industries and spur
local economies.
HIGHWAYS, ENERGY, AND THE 51
ENVIRONMENT

 As energy demands and supplies vary, and nations become

increasingly concerned about environmental impacts, the role
that highway transportation plays has come under close
inspection.
 As a primary consumer of fossil fuels and a major contributor to
air-borne pollution, highway transportation is an obvious target
for energy conservation and environmental impact mitigation
efforts.
 In the U.S., highway transportation is responsible for roughly 60
percent of all petroleum consumption. This translates into about
12 million barrels of oil a day. In light of the limitations of oil
reserves, this is an extremely surprising rate of consumption.
HIGHWAYS, ENERGY, AND THE 52
ENVIRONMENT
 In terms of emission impacts, highway transportation is responsible
for roughly 25 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (including
over 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions).
 Highway transportation’s contribution to other pollutants is also
substantial.
 Highway travel is responsible for about 35 percent of all nitrous
oxide emissions (NOx) and 25 percent of volatile organic
compound emissions (VOC), both major contributors to the
formation of ozone.
 Highway travel also contributes more than 50 percent of all carbon
monoxide (CO) emissions in the U.S. and is a major source of fine
particulate matter (2.5 microns or smaller, PM2.5), which is a known
carcinogen.
HIGHWAYS AS PART OF THE 53
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
 It is important to keep in mind that highway transportation is part of a
larger transportation system that includes air, rail, water and pipeline
transportation.
 In this system, highways are the dominant mode of most passenger
and freight movements. For passenger travel, highways account for
about 90 percent of all passenger-miles.
 On the freight side, commercial trucks account for about 37 percent
of the freight ton-miles and, because commercial trucks transport
higher-valued goods than other modes of transportation (with the
exception of air transportation), nearly 80 percent of the dollar value
of all goods is transported by commercial trucks.
 While highways play a dominant role in both passenger and freight
movement, in many applications there are critical interfaces among
the various transportation modes. For example, many air, rail, water
and pipeline freight movements involve highway transportation at
some point for their initial collection and final distribution. Interfaces
between modes, such as those at water ports, airports and rail
terminals, create interesting transportation problems but, if handled
correctly, can greatly improve the efficiency of the overall
transportation system.
HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND 54
THE HUMAN ELEMENT

1. Passenger Transportation Modes and Traffic Congestion

2. Highway Safety
HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND 55
THE HUMAN ELEMENT

1. Passenger Transportation Modes and Traffic Congestion

Of the available urban transportation modes (such as bus, commuter train,
subway, private vehicle, and others), private vehicles (and single-occupant
private vehicles in particular) offer an unequaled level of mobility.
The single-occupant private vehicle has been such a dominant choice that
travelers have been willing to pay substantial capital and operating costs,
confront high levels of congestion, and struggle with parking-related
problems just to have the flexibility in travel departure time and destination
choices that is uniquely provided by private vehicles.
In the last 50 years, the percentage of trips taken in private vehicles has
risen from slightly less than 70 percent to over 90 percent (public transit and
other modes make up the balance). Over this same period, the average
private-vehicle occupancy has dropped from 1.22 to 1.09 persons per
vehicle, reflecting the fact that the single-occupant vehicle has become
an increasingly dominant mode of travel.
HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND 56
THE HUMAN ELEMENT

2. Highway Safety
 The mobility and opportunities that highway infrastructure
provides also have a human cost.
 Although safety has always been a primary consideration in
highway design and operation, highways continue to exact
a terrible toll in loss of life, injuries, property damage, and
reduced productivity as a result of vehicle accidents.
 Highway safety involves technical and behavioral
components and the complexities of the human/machine
interface. Because of the high costs of highway accidents,
efforts to improve highway safety have been intensified
dramatically in recent decades. This has resulted in the
implementation of new highway-design guidelines and
countermeasures (some technical and some behavioral)
aimed at reducing the reducing the frequency and severity
of highway accidents.
HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND 57
THE HUMAN ELEMENT

2. Highway Safety
 Fortunately, efforts to improve highway design (such as more
stringent design guidelines, breakaway signs, and so on), vehicle
occupant protection (safety belts, padded dashboards, collapsible
steering columns, driver- and passenger-side airbags, improved
bumper design), as well as advances in vehicle technologies
(antilock braking, traction control systems, electronic stability
control) and new accident countermeasures (campaigns to
reduce drunk driving), have gradually managed to reduce the
fatality rate — the number of fatalities per mile driven.
HIGHWAYS AND EVOLVING 58
TECHNOLOGIES

1. Infrastructure Technologies
2. Vehicle Technologies
3. Traffic Control Technologies
HIGHWAYS AND EVOLVING 59
TECHNOLOGIES

1. Infrastructure Technologies
 Investments in highway infrastructure have been made continuously
throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Such investments have
understandably varied over the years in response to need, and political
and national priorities. For example, in the U.S., an extraordinary capital
investment in highways during the 1960s and 1970s was undertaken by
constructing the interstate highway system and upgrading and
constructing many other highways.
 The economic and political climate that permitted such an ambitious
construction program has not been replicated before or since.
 It is difficult to imagine, in today’s economic and political environment,
that a project of the magnitude of the interstate highway system would
ever be seriously considered.
 This is because of the prohibitive costs associated with land acquisition
and construction and the community and environmental impacts that
would result.
HIGHWAYS AND EVOLVING 60
TECHNOLOGIES

2. Vehicle Technologies
 Until the 1970s, vehicle technologies evolved slowly and often in
response to mild trends in the vehicle market as opposed to an
underlying trend toward technological development. Beginning in
the 1970s, however, three factors began a cycle of unparalleled
advances in vehicle technology that continues to this day:
 (1)government regulations on air quality, fuel efficiency, and
vehicle-occupant safety,
 (2) energy shortages and fuel-price increases, and
 (3) intense competition among vehicle manufacturers (foreign and
domestic).
HIGHWAYS AND EVOLVING 61
TECHNOLOGIES

3. Traffic Control Technologies

 Intersection traffic signals are a familiar traffic control technology.
 At signalized intersections, the trade-off between mobility and safety is
brought into sharp focus. Procedures for developing traffic signal control plans
(allocating green time to conflicting traffic movements) have made
significant advances over the years.
 Today, signals at critical intersections can be designed to respond quickly to
prevailing traffic flows, groups of signals can be coordinated to provide a
smooth through-flow of traffic, and, in some cases, computers control entire
networks of signals. In addition to traffic signal controls, numerous safety,
navigational, and congestion-mitigation technologies are now reaching the
market under the broad heading of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
 Such technological efforts offer the potential to significantly reduce traffic
congestion and improve safety on highways by providing an unprecedented
level of traffic control.
 There are, however, many obstacles associated with ITS implementation,
including system reliability, human response and the human/machine
interface. Numerous traffic-control technologies offer the potential for
considerable improvement in the efficient use of the highway infrastructure,
but one must also recognize the limitations associated with these
technologies.
62
Questions and Discussion 63