What is Transportation Engineering? History Of Transportation Engineering. Importance of Transportation Engineering.

What is Transportation Engineering? History Of Transportation Engineering. Importance of Transportation Engineering. 

Transportation engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation, and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for the safe, efficient, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical, and environmentally friendly movement of people and goods.

Transportation engineering's planning aspects are related to urban planning elements and involve technical forecasting decisions as well as political factors. Technical forecasting of passenger travel typically involves an urban transportation planning model, which necessitates the estimation of trip generation (number of purposeful trips), trip distribution (destination choice, where the traveller is going), mode choice (mode that is being used), and route assignment (the streets or routes that are being used). Other aspects of traveller decisions that can be included in more sophisticated forecasting include auto ownership, trip chaining (the decision to link individual trips together in a tour), and the choice of residential or business location (known as land use forecasting). Passenger trips are the focus of transportation engineering because they frequently represent the peak of demand on any mode of transportation.

Transportation engineering is primarily concerned with transportation facility planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation. Air, highway, railroad, pipeline, water, and even space transportation are supported by the facilities. Transportation engineering design aspects include transportation facility sizing (how many lanes or capacity the facility has), determining the materials and thickness used in pavement, and designing the geometry (vertical and horizontal alignment) of the roadway (or track).

Before any planning can begin, an engineer must conduct an inventory of the area or, if applicable, the previous system in place. Population, land use, economic activity, transportation facilities and services, travel patterns and volumes, laws and ordinances, regional financial resources, and community values and expectations must all be included in this inventory or database. These inventories assist the engineer in developing business models that provide accurate forecasts of the system's future conditions.

Traffic engineering is used in operations and management to ensure that vehicles move smoothly on the road or track. Signs, signals, markings, and tolling are examples of older techniques. Intelligent transportation systems, such as advanced traveler information systems (such as variable message signs), and advanced traffic control systems (such as ramps), are examples of newer technologies. 

History Of Transportation Engineering. 

The history of highway engineering provides insight into ancient roads. Roads were built on a large scale in Rome and radiated in many directions, assisting military operations. As a result, they are regarded as trailblazers in road construction. This section will go over Ancient roads, Roman roads, British roads, French roads, and so on.

1. Ancient Roads

The first mode of transportation was by foot. These human pathways would have been created for specific purposes, such as leading to camp sites, food, and streams for drinking water. The use of animals for transporting both people and goods was the next major mode of transportation. Because these loaded animals required more horizontal and vertical clearances than the walking man, track ways developed. The invention of the wheel in Mesopotamian civilization resulted in the development of animal drawn vehicles. The road surface then needed to be capable of carrying heavier loads. As a result, roads with rougher surfaces emerged. To provide adequate strength to carry the wheels, the new ways tended to follow the sunny, drier side of a path. These have resulted in the development of wheels. 

Animal drawn vehicles were developed after the invention of the wheel, and the need for hard surface roads arose. Traces of such difficult roads have been discovered in ancient civilizations dating back to 3500 BC. The earliest authentic record of a road was discovered in the Assyrian empire around 1900 BC.

2. Romans Roads 

The first large-scale road construction is attributed to the Romans, who built an extensive network of roads radiating out from Rome in all directions. They were an incredible accomplishment, providing travel times across Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa. The Romans recognized that good road construction required good drainage, good materials, and good workmanship. Their roads were extremely durable, and some of them are still in use today. Roman roads were always built on solid ground formed subgrade reinforced with wooden piles where necessary Longitudinal drains ran along both sides of the roads. The agger's construction was the next step. This was a raised formation up to 1 meter high and 15 m wide that was built with materials excavated during the construction of the side drain. This was followed by a sand leveling course. The agger made a significant contribution to moisture control in the pavement. The pavement structure on the agger's top varied greatly. A surface course of large 250 mm thick hexagonal flag stones was provided in the event of heavy traffic. A typical Roman road cross section The main characteristics of Roman roads were that they were built straight, regardless of gradient, and that heavy foundation stones were used at the bottom. They mixed lime and volcanic puzzolana to make mortar, which they then mixed with gravel to make concrete.

3. French Roads

The next significant advancement in road construction occurred during Napoleon's reign. Tresaguet made significant contributions in 1764, and a typical cross section of this road. He devised a less expensive construction method than the lavish and locally unsuccessful revival of Roman practice. The pavement made use of 200 mm pieces of quarried stone that were more compact in shape and had at least one flat side that was placed on a compact formation.

To provide a level surface, smaller pieces of broken stone were compacted into the spaces between larger stones. Finally, a layer of 25 mm broken stone was used to create the running layer. All of this was built in a trench to keep the running surface level with the surrounding countryside. This caused significant drainage issues, which were addressed by making the surface as impervious as possible, cambering the surface, and providing deep side ditches.

 He placed a high value on drainage. He also emphasized the importance of continuous organized maintenance over intermittent repairs if the roads were to remain usable at all times. For this, he divided the roads between villages into sections of sufficient length that an entire road could be covered.

4. British Roads

The British government also prioritized road construction. The first scientific road construction method was developed by the British engineer John Macadam. The size of the stones was an important factor in the Macadam recipe. By observing many roads empirically.

He realized that 250 mm layers of well compacted broken angular stone would provide the same strength and stiffness as large stone blocks, as well as a better running surface. As a result, he pioneered a cost-effective method of road construction.

The mechanical interlocking of the individual stone pieces gave the course strength and stiffness. However, the inter particle friction wore away the sharp interlocking faces, reducing the course's effectiveness. This effect was mitigated by incorporating high-quality interstitial finer material to create a well-graded mix. Such mixtures were also less permeable and easier to compact.