The transportation sector has undergone a sea change over the past few years, as more cities pilot smart city initiatives with intelligent transportation systems (ITS). With ITS technologies, cities can gather and analyze data to design safer roads, cleaner vehicles, and more efficient travel. New York City, for example, has installed cameras and sensors at over 10,000 traffic intersections to collect data and enact changes that improve safety and traffic flow.
Transportation engineering is a branch of civil engineering that involves the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of transportation systems to help build smart, safe, and livable communities.
Any system that moves people and goods from one place to another falls under the scope of transportation engineering, which includes:
- Highways and roadways
- Railways
- Oil pipelines
- Public transport systems
- Traffic control systems
- Automated transport systems
- Space transport systems
What Does a Transportation Engineer Do?
n planning projects, transportation engineers gather relevant data on the population in the surrounding area, travel patterns, socioeconomic characteristics, laws and ordinances, and financial resources. They consolidate this information and use decision-support tools to develop, design, and deliver various types of transportation projects in consideration of various performance measures (e.g., operations, safety, environmental impacts).
While their professional duties vary based on job level and specialization, some of the most common responsibilities of a transportation engineer are:
- Draft design and construction plans for new transportation systems
- Investigate traffic problems and identify solutions
- Analyze engineering data and draw conclusions and recommendations
- Estimate project budgets for labor, materials, and equipment
- Discuss plans with contractors, local organizations, and the public
- Inspect completed projects to ensure safety and compliance to standards
- Model transportation systems to assess impact
- Oversee survey, staking, and layout of projects
- Present reports and proposals to stakeholders
Highway engineering
Highway Engineering is a branch of transportation engineering which deals with the design, construction and maintenance of different types of roads. It is also called as road engineering and it involves the study of the following :
1) Planning, location and development of roads.
2) Materials required for their construction.
3) Highway traffic performance and its control.
4) Drainage of roads etc.
Highway plans :
The drawings prepared from the data collected during different surveys conducted for locating a highway are known as highway plans or drawings.
The various plans or drawings prepared in connection with a road project are key map, index map, preliminary survey plans, etc. The details of additional works such as bridges, culverts, railway crossing, etc. are also prepared on separate sheets.
Purposes, Objectives of Highway Plans :
1) To find the earth work evolved.
2) To prepare estimates of the road project.
Importance of Roads or Highway Engineering :
Following are the importance of roads or highway transportation.
1. They provide conveyance to the people, goods, raw materials, etc., to reach different parts of the country.
2. They are the only source of communication in hilly regions.
3. Helps in agricultural development.
4. Helps in dairy development.
5. Helps in tourism development.
6. Helps in fisheries development.
7. Helps in maintaining law and orders in a country.
8. Forestry development.
9. They improve the medical facilities.
10. They improve the land value.
11. They generate the more employment opportunities.
12. They play important role in defence activities.
13. They become the symbol of country’s progress and development.
Characteristics of Roads or Highway Engineering :
Following are the characteristics of road transport.
1. It can be used by all types of vehicles including cycles, rickshaws, automobiles, passenger cars, buses, trucks, etc.
2. It is nearest mode of transport for people or public.
3. It offers flexibility of changes in direction of travel as per need, comfort and convenience.
4. It saves time of travel especially for short distances and light traffic because the road vehicles can be taken upto or very near to the point of destination.
5. It requires small investments and maintenance costs as compared to railways, airports, docks and harbours.
6. Road transport save time particularly for short distance travel.
