LECTURE NOTE

SUBJECT CODE- KCE 602

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

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 UNIT-1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview
From the beginning of history, human sensitivity has revealed an urge for mobility leading to a
measure of Society's progress. The history of this mobility or transport is the history of
civilization. For any country to develop with right momentum modern and efficient Transport as
a basic infrastructure is a must. Transport (British English) or transportation (American
English) is the movement of people and goods from one place to another. The term is derived
from the Latin trans ("across") and portare ("to carry").

1.2 Means of Transport

Fig.1.1 Means of Transport

1.3. Advantage and Disadvantage Different Modes of Transport

(A) Road Transport
Advantages Disadvantages
1. Less Capital Outlay 1. Seasonal Nature
2. Door to Door Service 2. Accidents and Breakdowns
3. Service in Rural Areas 3. Unsuitable for Long Distance and Bulky
4. Flexible Service Traffic
5. Suitable for Short Distance 4. Slow Speed
6. Lesser Risk of Damage in Transit 5. Lack of Organisation
7. Saving in Packing Cost
8. Rapid Speed
9. Less Cost

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10. Private Owned Vehicles
11. Feeder to other Modes of Transport

(B) Railway Transport

Advantages Disadvantages
1. Dependable 1. Huge Capital Outlay
2. Better Organised 2. Lack of Flexibility
3. High Speed over Long Distances 3. Lack of Door to Door Service
4. Suitable for Bulky and Heavy Goods 4. Monopoly
5. Cheaper Transport 5. Unsuitable for Short Distance and Small
6. Safety Loads
7. Larger Capacity 6. Booking Formalities
8. Public Welfare 7. No Rural Service
9. Administrative Facilities of Government 8. Under-utilised Capacity
10. Employment Opportunities 9. Centralised Administration

(C) Air Transport

Advantages Disadvantages
1. High Speed 1. Very Costly
2. Comfortable and Quick Services 2. Small Carrying Capacity
3. No Investment in Construction of Track 3. Uncertain and Unreliable
4. No Physical Barriers 4. Breakdowns and Accidents
5. Easy Access 5. Large Investment
6. Emergency Services 6. Specialised Skill
7. Quick Clearance 7. Unsuitable for Cheap and Bulky Goods
8. Most Suitable for Carrying Light Goods of 8. Legal Restrictions
High Value
9. National Defence
10. Space Exploration

1.4. Elements of transport

The movement of goods or passenger traffic, through rail, sea, air or road transport requires
adequate infrastructure facilities for the free flow from the place of origin to the place of
destination. Irrespective of modes, every transport system has some common elements:

a) Vehicle or carrier to carry passenger or goods

b) Route or path for movement of carriers
c) Terminal facilities for loading and unloading of goods and passengers from carriers
d) Prime Mover
e) Transit time and cost
f) Cargo

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These elements influence the effectiveness of different modes of transport and their utility to
users.

• Vehicles: The dimension of vehicles, its capacity and type are some of the factors, which
influence the selection of a transport system for movement of goods from one place to the other.

• Routes: Routes play an important role in movement of carriers from one point to another point.
It may be surface roads, navigable waterways and roadways. Availability of well-designed and
planned routes without any obstacle for movement of transport vehicles in specific routes, is a
vital necessity for smooth flow of traffic.

• Terminal Facilities: - The objective of transportation cant be fulfilled unless proper facilities
are available for loading and unloading of goods or entry and exit of passengers from carrier.
Terminal facilities are to be provided for loading and unloading of trucks, wagons etc on a
continuous basis.

• Prime Mover: - The power utilized for moving of vehicles for transportation of cargo from
one place to another is another important aspect of the total movement system.

• Transit time and cost: - Transportation involve time and cost. The time element is a valid
factor for determining the effectiveness of a particular mode of transport. The transit time of
available system of transportation largely determines production and consumption pattern of
perishable goods in an economy.

• Cargo: - Transportation basically involves movement of cargo from one place to another.
Hence, nature and size of cargo constitute the basis of any goods transport system.

1.4 Major disciplines of transportation

Transportation engineering can be broadly consisting of the four major parts:

1. Transportation Planning

2. Geometric Design

3. Pavement Design

4. Traffic Engineering

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 HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
2.1 Overview
Road network provides the arterial network to facilitate trade, transport, social integration and
economic development. It facilitates specialization, extension of markets and exploitation of
economies of scale. It is used for the smooth conveyance of both people and goods.
Transportation by road has the advantage over other means of transport because of its easy
accessibility, flexibility of operations, door-to-door service and reliability. Consequently,
passenger and freight movement in India over the years have increasingly shifted towards roads
vis-à-vis other means of transport.

2.2 History of highway engineering

The history of highway engineering gives us an idea about the roads of ancient times. Roads in
Rome were constructed in a large scale and it radiated in many directions helping them in
military operations. Thus they are considered to be pioneers in road construction. In this section
we will see in detail about Ancient roads, Roman roads, British roads, French roads etc.

2.2.1 Ancient Roads

The most primitive mode of transport was by foot. These human pathways would have been
developed for specific purposes leading to camp sites, food, streams for drinking water etc. The
invention of wheel in Mesopotamian civilization led to the development of animal drawn
vehicles. To provide adequate strength to carry the wheels, the new ways tended to follow the
sunny drier side of a path. After the invention of wheel, animal drawn vehicles were developed
and the need for hard surface road emerged. Traces of such hard roads were obtained from
various ancient civilization dated as old as 3500 BC. The earliest authentic record of road was
found from Assyrian empire constructed about 1900 BC.

2.2.2 Roman roads

The earliest large scale road construction is attributed to Romans who constructed an extensive
system of roads radiating in many directions from Rome. Romans recognized that the
fundamentals of good road construction were to provide good drainage, good material and good
workmanship. Their roads were very durable, and some still exist. The roads were bordered on
both sides by longitudinal drains. A typical corss section is shown in Fig.2.1. This was a raised
formation up to a 1 meter high and 15 m wide and was constructed with materials excavated
during the side drain construction. This was then topped with a sand leveling course. In the case
of heavy traffic, a surface course of large 250 mm thick hexagonal ag stones were provided They

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mixed lime and volcanic puzzolana to make mortar and they added gravel to this mortar to make
concrete. Thus concrete was a major Roman road making innovation.

Fig.2.1 Roman roads

2.2.3 French roads

The significant contributions were given by Tresaguet in 1764 and a typical cross section of this
road is given in Figure 2.2. He developed a cheaper method of construction than the lavish and
locally unsuccessful revival of Roman practice. The pavement used 200 mm pieces of quarried
stone of a more compact form and shaped such that they had at least one at side which was
placed on a compact formation. Smaller pieces of broken stones were then compacted into the
spaces between larger stones to provide a level surface. Finally the running layer was made with
a layer of 25 mm sized broken stone. All this structure was placed in a trench in order to keep the
running surface level with the surrounding country side. This created major drainage problems
which were counteracted by making the surface as impervious as possible, cambering the surface
and providing deep side ditches.

Fig. 2.2. French roads

2.2.4 British roads

The British government also gave importance to road construction. The British engineer John

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Macadam introduced what can be considered as the first scientific road construction method.
Stone size was an important element of Macadam recipe. By empirical observation of many
roads, he came to realize that 250 mm layers of well compacted broken angular stone would
provide the same strength a better running surface than an expensive pavement founded on large
stone blocks. Thus he introduced an economical method of road construction. A typical cross
section of British roads is given in Fig. 2.3.

Fig. 2.3. British roads

2.2.5 Modern roads

The modern roads by and large follow Macadam's construction method. Use of bituminous
concrete and cement concrete are the most important developments. Development of new
equipments helps in the faster construction of roads. Many easily and locally available materials
are tested in the laboratories and then implemented on roads for making economical and durable
pavements.

2.3. Road Development in India

Excavations in the sites of Indus valley revealed the existence of planned roads in India as old as
2500-3500 BC. The Mauryan kings also built very good roads. During the time of Mughal
period, roads in India were greatly improved. Roads linking North-West and the Eastern areas
through gangetic plains were built during this time. The construction of Grand-Trunk road
connecting North and South is a major contribution of the British.

2.3.1 Modern developments

The First World War period and that immediately following it found a rapid growth in motor
transport. So need for better roads became a necessity. For that, the Government of India
appointed a committee called Road development Committee with Mr.M.R. Jayakar as the
chairman. This committee came to be known as Jayakar committee.

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Jayakar Committee

In 1927 Jayakar committee for Indian road development was appointed. The major
recommendations and the resulting implementations were:

 Committee found that the road development of the country has become beyond the
capacity of local governments and suggested that Central government should take
the proper charge considering it as a matter of national interest.

 They gave more stress on long term planning programme, for a period of 20 years
(hence called twenty year plan) that is to formulate plans and implement those plans
with in the next 20 years.

 One of the recommendations was the holding of periodic road conferences to

discuss about road construction and development. This paved the way for the
establishment of a semi-official technical body called Indian Road Congress (IRC)
in 1934

 The committee suggested imposition of additional taxation on motor transport

which includes duty on motor spirit, vehicle taxation, license fees for vehicles
plying for hire. This led to the introduction of a development fund called Central
road fund in 1929. This fund was intended for road development.

 The committee suggested imposition of additional taxation on motor transport

which includes duty on motor spirit, vehicle taxation, and license fees for vehicles
plying for hire. This led to the introduction of a development fund called Central
road fund in 1929. This fund was intended for road development.

Nagpur road congress 1943

A twenty year development programme for the period (1943-1963) was finalized. It was the first
attempt to prepare a co-ordinated road development programme in a planned manner.

The roads were divided into four classes:

 National highways which would pass through states, and places having national
importance for strategic, administrative and other purposes.
 State highways which would be the other main roads of a state.
 District roads which would take traffic from the main roads to the interior of the district.
According to the importance, some are considered as major district roads and the
remaining as other district roads.
 Village roads which would link the villages to the road system.

The committee planned to construct 2 lakh kms of road across the country within 20 years. They

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recommended the construction of star and grid pattern of roads throughout the country. One of
the objective was that the road length should be increased so as to give a road density of 16kms
per 100 sq.km

Bombay road congress 1961

The length of roads envisaged under the Nagpur plan was achieved by the end of it, but the road
system was deficient in many respects. Accordingly a 20-year plan was drafted by the Roads
wing of Government of India, which is popularly known as the Bombay plan. The highlights of
the plan were:

 It was the second 20 year road plan (1961-1981)

 The total road length targeted to construct was about 10 lakhs.

 Rural roads were given specific attention.

 They suggested that the length of the road should be increased so as to give a road
density of 32kms/100 sq.km

 The construction of 1600 km of expressways was also then included in the plan.

Lucknow road congress 1984

Some of the salient features of this plan are as given below:

 This was the third 20 year road plan (1981-2001). It is also called Lucknow road plan.

 It aimed at constructing a road length of 12 lakh kilometers by the year 1981 resulting in
a road density of 82kms/100 sq.km

 The plan has set the target length of NH to be completed by the end of seventh, eighth
and ninth five year plan periods.

 It aims at improving the transportation facilities in villages, towns etc. such that no part
of country is farther than 50 km from NH.

 One of the goals contained in the plan was that expressways should be constructed on
major traffic corridors to provide speedy travel.

 Energy conservation, environmental quality of roads and road safety measures were also
given due importance in this plan.

2.4 Current Scenario

About 60 per cent of freight and 87 per cent passenger traffic is carried by road. Although
National Highways constitute only about 2 per cent of the road network, it carries 40 per cent of

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the total road traffic. Easy availability, adaptability to individual needs and cost savings are some
of the factors which go in favour of road transport. Road transport also acts as a feeder service to
railway, shipping and air traffic. The number of vehicles has been growing at an average pace of
around 10 per cent per annum. The share of road traffic in total traffic has grown from 13.8 per
cent of freight traffic and 15.4 per cent of passenger traffic in 1950-51 to an estimated 62.9 per
cent of freight traffic and 90.2 per cent of passenger traffic by the end of 2009-10. The rapid
expansion and strengthening of the road network, therefore, is imperative, to provide for both
present and future traffic and for improved accessibility to the hinterland.

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