Introduction to Highway and  In major cities, transportation can consume

as much as half of all the land area.

Railway Transportation  Travel is not without danger; every mode of
Importance of Transportation transportation brings to mind some major
disaster.
Tapping natural resources and markets and  Society has indicated a willingness to
maintaining a competitive edge over other regions accept some risk and changes to the
and nations are linked closely to the quality of the natural environment in order to gain the
transportation system. The speed, cost, and advantages that result from constructing
capacity of available transportation have a new transportation systems.
significant impact on the economic vitality of an
area and the ability to make maximum use of its A major task for the modern transportation
natural resources. engineer is to balance society’s need for fast and
efficient transportation with the costs involved.
 How does speed influence your Thus, the most efficient and cost-effective system
transportation preferences? is created, while assuring that the environment is
 Does cost affect your transportation not compromised or destroyed.
preferences?
 How often do you see a vehicle at its full
capacity? Specialties within Transportation
Infrastructure Engineering
Transportation and Economic Growth Transportation engineers are typically employed
by the agency responsible for building and
Good transportation, in and of itself, will not assure maintaining a transportation system, such as the
success in the marketplace, as the availability of federal, state, or local government, a railroad, or a
transportation is a necessary but insufficient transit authority. They also work for consulting
condition for economic growth. However, the firms that carry out the planning and engineering
absence of supportive transportation services will tasks for these organizations.
serve to limit or hinder the potential for a nation or
region to achieve its economic potential.

“Good transportation permits the specialization of

industry or commerce, reduces costs for raw
materials or manufactured goods, and increases
competition between regions, thus resulting in
reduced prices and greater choices for the Transportation Planning
consumer.” Transportation planning deals with the selection of
projects for design and construction. The
transportation planner begins by defining the
Social Costs and Benefits of problem, gathering and analyzing data, and
Transportation evaluating various alternative solutions
The improvement of a region’s economic position Transportation Infrastructure Design
by virtue of improved transportation does not come
Transportation design involves the specification of
without costs. Building vast transportation systems
all features of the transportation system to assure
requires enormous resources of energy, material,
that it will function smoothly, efficiently, and in
and land.
accord with physical laws of nature.
Highway Construction
Highway construction involves all aspects of the  to be a good steward of people’s
building process beginning with clearing of the investment in transportation
native soil, preparation of the surface, placement  to be good listeners, especially under trying
of the pavement material, and preparation of the and tense conditions
final roadway for use by traffic.  to deal ethically and fairly with everyone
Traffic Operations and Management involved in a transportation project,
including contractors, suppliers, real estate
The operation of the nation’s highway system is developers, funding agencies, construction
the responsibility of the traffic engineer. Traffic and maintenance workers, and fellow
engineering involves the integration of vehicle, employees
driver, and pedestrian characteristics to improve
the safety and capacity of streets and highways. In summary, if transportation engineers are to
meet the challenges of the twenty first century,
Maintenance Operations and Management they will require technical knowledge and
Highway maintenance involves all the work judgment as well as emotional intelligence. Good
necessary to ensure that the highway system is technical judgment is based on personal behavior
kept in proper working order. Maintenance and work experience and includes persistence,
includes pavement patching, repair, and other high performance standards, emphasis on quality,
actions necessary to ensure that the roadway a sense of priorities, and adaptability to change.
pavement is at a desired level of serviceability. Different Modes of Transportation
transportation system today is a highly developed,
Professional Challenges in complex network of modes and facilities that
Transportation Engineering furnishes shippers and travelers with a wide range
of choices in terms of services provided. Each
What will be the challenges for the transportation mode offers a unique set of service characteristics
engineer whose career can be expected to in terms of travel time, frequency, comfort,
encompass the better part of the twenty-first reliability, convenience, and safety.
century? How can these challenges be addressed,
The term level of service is used to describe the
and what are the necessary attributes and skills
relative values of these attributes. The traveler or
that will be needed? The answers to these
shipper must compare the level of service offered
questions have many facets and will require
with the cost in order to make tradeoffs and mode
continued renewal of knowledge and experience
selection
through life-long learning and participation in
professional society activities. Land Transportation
Some examples of challenges and expectations in focuses on the transfer of goods and people from
transportation engineering: one place to another by travelling through land.
 to meet the expectation of the public that  Road/Highway
transportation will be efficient, effective,  Railway
long lasting, and safe  Pipeline
 to possess a long-term vision of the future
 to understand how innovation and new
technology can be used to transport people
and goods in new and different ways.
 to distinguish between technology with
solutions that are looking for a problem and
solutions that successfully compete with the
old way at its own game.
Air Transportation These ‘hauling ways’ initially had a surface of
stone slabs or timber baulks, which soon proved
 Airplanes unsatisfactory as the loads carried inevitably grew
 Helicopters, heavier. As the Industrial Revolution progressed,
 Balloons the idea was developed further by adding cast iron
 Rockets or wrought iron plates to reduce wear on the
wooden baulks. This evolved further to iron edge
rails enabling the use of flanged wheels for the first
time.

Water Transportation
 Ships and freights
 Submarines

Other forms of Transportation

 Belt and cable systems Development and Diversification
On the early an engineer would be responsible for
all the engineering of the railway parts, both
moving and fixed. Often the engineer would also
be involved in the actual day-to-day operation of
the railway.
This had considerable advantage from a point of
view of co-ordination. As the development of
railways progressed, inevitably individual
engineers became more specialized.
Railway Transportation
The Customer
In the new millennium, the transport of people and
materials has an even greater significance world- In any consideration of the various engineering
wide than it had in the immediate past. The birth functions of a railway, the needs and aspirations of
and evolution of railways during the last two the customer must always be kept in the forefront
centuries has had an enormous influence on of the mind. The passenger’s basic needs are to
industrial, social, and economic development. travel comfortably and to arrive safely at the
Engineers of all backgrounds and professional destination reasonably on time. The freight
disciplines have played a leading role in the customer needs confidence that his goods will be
development, operation, and management of delivered safely and on time. Both want this
railways. service at a reasonable cost.

Early Beginnings The Operator

In medieval times people mostly travelled on foot If the customer’s needs must be kept paramount,
or horseback and any form of transportation was then it follows that the operator’s requirements in
mainly for moving goods. The first railways were satisfying the customer’s needs are also very
laid down in the seventeenth and eighteenth important. The operator must be able to deal with
century for horse drawn trains or wagons in emergencies during periods of engineering work
collieries and quarries. and contingency plans must be drawn up for this.
Overall Planning
In constructing and maintaining any railway
system infrastructure, there always are many
activities which are carried out in each of the
engineering disciplines which overlap onto other
disciplines/activities.
A good example of this might be the requirement
to renew a number of bridges on a certain line all
of which carry signal cables or equipment which is
nearing the end-of-life expectancy. Depending on
relative costs in each area, an optimum program
could be drawn up jointly which would keep overall
costs and disruption to a minimum in the long
term.

Choice of Route and Level

In the earliest stages of planning of any railway,
choices have to be made relating to the best route,
and which parts will need to be elevated or in
tunnel. The route will be largely dictated by traffic
demands and existing physical constraints,
although in some instances, alternatives might be
available where engineering and cost variations
should be compared.
Resources Required
For the satisfactory operation and maintenance of
a railway, certain basic resources are required,
which can be grouped into human resources, fixed
assets, and mobile machinery. Inadequacy in any
of these three sides of this fixed triangle will mean
that good operation cannot be maintained,
irrespective of the performance on the other sides.