Transcript LAND TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING (Notes for Guidance )

SPECIAL TRANSPORTATION STRUCTURE
(Notes for Guidance )
The profession of transportation
engineering
Radu ANDREI, PhD, P.E.,
Professor of Civil Engineering
Technical University “Gh. Asachi” IASI
Lecture
One
The Profession of Transportation
Engineering
Importance of Transportation
Transportation and economic growth.
Transportation history. Significant events
Employment and specialties in Transportation Engineering
Problems
Additional Readings
Importance of Transportation
• Transportation is essential for a nation’s development and
growth.The transportation system includes highway, rail,
airport and mass transit systems .
• These systems are permanently planned, designed, built,
operated and maintained by specific organizations and
agencies
• New techniques are being applied for operating and
maintaining these systems , safely and economically.
Transportation and Economic
Growth (1)
• Transportation is a necessary condition for human interaction
and economic survival. If a country wishes to develop and
grow it must have a strong internal transportation system
as well as excellent linkages to the rest of the world.
• Availability of transportation facilities may strongly influence
the growth and development of a region or of a country.
Good transportation permits the development of industry
and commerce, reduce costs for raw materials or
manufactured goods, encourages competition between
regions, resulting in lower costs and better choices for the
consumer.
Transportation and Economic
Growth (2)
• Transportation is also a necessary element of governing
services such delivering mail, defending a nation and
retaining control of its territories.
•
Building or improvement of vast transportation systems,
involves significant social costs , risks and some change of
the natural environment. A major task for the modern
transportation engineer is to balance society’s needs for fast
and efficient transportation with the costs and the risks
involved , so that the most efficient and cost-effective
transportation system to be created.
Transportation History. Significant
Events (1)
• Transportation history involves the development of
many separate modes of transportation such as
travel by foot and horseback , the automobile and
track travel, the development of roads and
highways, the construction of railroads, the the
building of canals and inland waterways, the
creation and use of public transportation like bus
and metro systems in the cities, the development of
air transportation including the aircraft, airports,
and air navigation facilities.
Transportation History. Significant
Events (2)
• 1794 :First toll road in England
• 1807 : Robert Fulton demonstrates a steamboat on the
Hudson River
• 1830: Construction of first railroad in USA ( Ohio and
Baltimore )
• 1838: Steamships service on the Atlantic ocean begins
• 1866: Bicycles are introduced in United States
• 1903: The Wright brothers fly the first airplane
Transportation History. Significant
Events (3)
• 1914: Panama Canal opens for traffic
• 1927: Charles Linbergh flies from New York to Paris
• 1961: Space flight begins
• 1960: The American Association for State Highway officials
(ASHTO) research program
• 1969: Men land on the Moon and return
• 1981: Space shuttle Columbia orbits and lands safely (it fails
returning from its last mission, when entered into the
Earth’s atmosphere in 2003)
Transportation History. Significant
Events (4)
• 1987 : The strategic highway Research Program (SHRP) in
USA followed by similar Strategic European Highway
Research Programs ( SEHRP)
• 1992: Intelligent Transport Systems open a new era of
research and development in transportation
• 1993: The initiation of the huge road rehabilitation program
in Romania
• 1998:Electric vehicles are introduced in the world, as an
alternative to internal combustion engines
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(1)
• The professional skills required to plan, build, and operate
the extensive transportation system require a variety of
disciplines , including engineering, planning, law, economic
management and social sciences.
• Thus, transportation offers one of the broadest opportunities
for employment, because it involves so many disciplines and
modes.
• Transportation services are provided within and between
cities by rail, air, bus, truck and private automobile.The
service sector provides jobs for vehicle drivers,maintenance
people,flight attendants, train conductors, and other
necessary support personnel.
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(2)
• The service sector provides also jobs for other professionals
such as lawyers, economists, social scientists and ecologists ,
when their skills are required to draft legislation, to facilitate
right -of-way acquisition, or to study and measure the
impacts of transportation on the economy, society and
environment
• Vehicle design and manufacture involves the application of
the professional skills of mechanical, electrical and aerospace
engineers and also those of technical trained mechanics and
workers
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(3)
• Civil engineers are involved primarily for the planning,
design, construction, operation and maintenance of the
transportation system
• Transportation planning deals with the selection of projects
for design and construction.
• A transportation planner investigates the physical feasibility
of a project and makes comparisons between various
alternatives , to determine which one will accomplish the task,
at the lowest cost, consistent with other criteria and
constraints.
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(4)
•
Transportation design involves the technical specification of
all features of the transportation system so that it will
function smoothly, efficiently, and in accord with physical laws.
The design process results in a set of detailed plans that can
be used for estimating the facility costs and for carrying out
its construction.
• For a highway, the design process involves the following:
• - the selection of dimensions for all geometric features (
longitudinal profile, vertical curves and elevations, highway
cross sections, etc),
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(5)
•
-the design of the pavement itself, including the structural
requirements for every layer of the pavement structure,
• -the design of bridges and drainage structures as well the
provision for traffic control devices, roadside rest areas and
landscaping.
• The most important aspect of the highway designer’s work is
to produce a balanced design in which all elements of the
geometry of a highway- its curve radii, sight distance,
superelevation, grade and vertical curvature- are consistent
with a chosen design speed, so that if a motorist travels at
that speed, can proceed safely and comfortably his journey.
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(6)
•
Transportation construction involves all aspects of the
building process, beginning with clearing of native soil,
preparation of the surface, placement of the pavement
material, and preparation of the final roadway for use by
traffic.
• Traffic engineers are responsible for operation of the
transportation system, by the harmonious integration of
vehicle, driver and pedestrian characteristics to improve the
safety and capacities of streets and highways.
Employment and Specialties in
Transportation Engineering(7)
•
Highway maintenance involves all the works , such as
pavement patching and repair, and any other actions
necessary to maintain the roadway pavement at a desired
level of serviceability.
• Maintenance also involves record keeping and data
management for work activities and project needs, as well as
analyses of work activities , to determine that they are carried
out in the most economical manner.
• Maintenance involves maintaining an inventory of traffic signs
and markings, redesign of existing highway sections,
economic evaluation of maintenance programs, testing of new
products and prioritization of works.
Problems (1)
• To illustrate the importance of transportation in our life, for
one-week period, clip out several transportation-related
articles that appear in local or national newspapers. Consider
the issues involved, discuss them and formulate your own
comments and views.
• Arrange an interview with a transportation professional in
your city, and attempt to learn about the job he or she
performs, why he or she entered the profession, and what he
or she sees as future challenges in his field.
• Review the classified section of the telephone directory of
your city and identify at least ten different jobs or industries,
that are related with transportation
Problems (2)
• Keep a diary of all trips you make for a period of one week,
recording the the purpose of each trip, how you traveled, the
approximate distance traveled , and the trip time. From this
estimate the proportion of your monthly budget is spent for
transportation and try to extrapolate these data to the tripmaking characteristics for all students of your group
• Most departments or agencies for transportation incorporate
at least five major transportation engineering subspecialties
within their organizations. List and indicate at least three
tasks falling under each subspecialty.
Problems (3)
•
In the hypothesis that a country has a population of 23
million people and a average ownership of 0,5 cars per
person, each driven an average of 10,000 Km per year, at
100Km per 7 liter of gasoline. Officials estimate that an
additional EUR 75 million per year in revenue will be
necessary to improve the highway system and they
proposed an increase in the gasoline tax, to meet this
need. Determine the required in cents per liter.
• List at least three major detrimental effects that are directly
related to the construction and use of our highway
transportation system. Do the same exercise for our rail
transportation system.
Problems (4)
•
For the city of Iasi, describe briefly the actual transportation
system, including its transportation modes. Try to formulate
your own opinion about how this transportation system
meet the needs and expectations of the citizens of Iasi.
Which improvements or corrections are necessary to by
applied ?
• Estimate the number of motor vehicles in the city of Iasi, and
the total number of km driven each year. What is the total
revenue raised for each 1cent/ liter tax? Assume that the
average vehicle achieves 36 Km per 3.785 liter of gasoline.
Additional Readings
• Andrei R. Land Transportation Engineering, Technical
Publishers, Chisinau, 2002
• Garber j.N., Hoel A.,L, Traffic and Highway Engineering,
revised second edition, PWS Publishing,1999
• American Highways
• www.trb.org/trb newsletter
• www.andnet.ro