TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

AND ENGINEERING

Lecture 2

Transportation system
Classification of transportation studies
History of Tranposrtation
Evolution of Transportation
 The Transportation System
• Transportation system may be defined as consisting of the fixed,
the flow entities, and the control system,
• Which permit people and goods to overcome the friction of
geographical space efficiently in order to participate in a in a timely
manner in some desired activity.

Fixed Facilities
• Physical components of the system that are fixed in position
• Mainly involve the network of links and nodes
• Geometric design and structural design

Flow Entities and Technology

• These units travel over the fixed facilities
• Includes vehicles, container units, trains, aircraft and ships
 The Transportation System
Control system
• Consists of vehicular control and flow control.
• Vehicular control refers to the technological way in which
individual vehicles are guided on the fixed facilities.
• Control can be manual or automated.
• Proper geometric design of fixed facilities need to incorporate with
the characteristics of vehicle.
• In case of manually control, the characteristics of driver are also
considered. Such as perception and reaction time.
• Flow control system consists of the means that permit the
efficient and smooth operation of streams of vehicles and the
reduction of conflicts of vehicles.
• Includes traffic signals, signs, pavement marking and rules of
operation.
 CLASSIFICATION OF
TRANSPORTATION STUDIES

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Classification of transportation studies

• There are three basic classification of

transportation studies:
1. Modal classification
2. Elemental classification
3. Functional classification
 MODAL CLASSIFICATION
• Based on different modes of traveling ranging from walking to
driving.
• Mode: a means of transportation.
• Based on above definition a modes includes walking, automobile,
bus, train, ferry-boat, ship, aircraft, helicopter, etc.
• Transportation systems consist of group of modes which use a
particular’s surface.
• Based on above the major modal classification includes:
1. Roadways
2. Railways
3. Waterways
4. Airways
5. Ropeways
6. Pipe-ways 8
 Roadways
“The mode of transport, all vehicles use the roadway to
travel from one point to another.”
Vehicles:
• Motorized (i.e. automobile, trucks, buses etc.)
• Non-motorized (i.e. cycle, animal drawn carts etc.)
• Private vehicles (use by person(s) or a family.)
• Public transport vehicles (use by large no. of people.)
– Mass transit or Bus Rapid Transit

Characteristics:
• Flexible, freedom and common mode.
• The construction and maintenance of roads is much
cheaper than the other modes.
• It saves time and money for short distances. 9
 Roadways
Functional Classification of Roads:
• Arterials – Speed or Mobility (freeways or motorways)
• Collectors - both functions accessibility and mobility
• Local roads - high accessibility and low speeds.

Structural Classification of Roads:

• Structurally the kinds of road are:
– Flexible roads or pavement
– Rigid roads or pavement
• The natural earth surface cannot support the modern
heavy wheel loads → need pavement
• The natural earth surface cannot provide an adequate
smooth wearing surface → need pavement
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 Functional Classification of
Roads

Different types of roads and their accessibility and speed characteristics.11

Functional Classification of
Roads

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 PAVEMENT DESIGN
Scope of study of pavement design:
• Foundation soils (knowledge of soil mechanics)
• Paving materials or aggregates (grading and their
shear strength)
• Behavior of above materials under traffic loads
• Design of pavement to carry the above loads
• Construction, maintenance, evaluation and
rehabilitation

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Rigid or concrete pavement

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 Railways
In this mode of transport
all vehicles use rail tracks
to move from one place to
another.

Vehicles:
Vehicles in this class
consist of long train of
coaches attached to a
locomotive. These have
steel wheels (?), run on
steel rail tracks (?). Taipei Metro track

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Bullet train (long distance train) Cargo train

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 Waterways
Mode use
• All vehicle use channels in water bodies like rivers, lakes and
oceans.
• A channel is a charted corridor in an expanse of water which is
safe and a reasonably direct connection between origin and
destination.

Vehicle used
• Various kinds of vessels operate on waterways starting from the
small ferry boats to large oceans liners.
• Not all channels can be used by all types of ships .e.g. ocean
liner generally cannot use in land river channels.
• Today waterway are used either to ferry people and goods over
short distance (like across river or lake) or to transport goods
over long distance between different countries. 17
Waterways

Shanghai Ferry-boat
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Airways
“The mode of transport in which all vehicles
(aircrafts) use air routes to travel from one point to
other.”

Air routes
• The air routes are chartered paths in the air based
on various characteristics like directness of
connections, prevailing atmospheric and wind
conditions, international agreements and safety
issues.

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Elemental classification
 Elemental classification
• Classified in terms of basic elements which constitute in
any mode of transport.
– Driver
– Vehicle
– Way
– Control
– Terminal
– User
 Elemental classification
Driver
• Its importance in the analysis and design varies from mode to
mode.
• Has maximum importance in the roadways where a large number
of drivers interact with each other and the facilities.

Vehicle
• Vehicles used in transportation have certain characteristics (turning
radius, length and width of vehicle, weight of vehicle, braking
distance, accelerating capabilities).
• These characteristics influence the design and operation of the
facility.
 Elemental classification
Way
• Every mode uses a specific path.
• These path either constructed or charted.
• In case of roadways and railways path are constructed whereas in
case of airways and waterways path are charted.

Control
• Control systems are mainly used to ensure the safety and efficiency
of the operations of the vehicles and other infrastructure.
• Controls could be static (like rules, signs, no U-Turn) or dynamic
(road or railway signals, instructions from air traffic controllers).
 Elemental classification
Terminal
• Location where the vehicles of a mode stop for various activities
like boarding and alighting of passengers & goods, resting when
not in use (parking areas), refueling and maintenance.

User
• Every transportation systems runs to provide service to its users.
• The users are:
1. The Public for transport modes which cater to passenger transport
2. Organizations for transport modes which cater to goods transport
• The transportation system may be sensitive to its user.
Functional Classification
 Functional classification
• Based on different functions required of an engineer
working in this field.
• Functionally, transportation engineering can be divided
into following classes:

1. Traffic engineering
2. Pavement engineering
3. Public transportation
4. Transport planning
5. Transport economics
 Functional classification
Traffic engineering
• Deals with the analysis, design and operation of the transportation
facilities used by vehicles of various modes.
• Scope of traffic engineering is moreover limited to roadways traffic.
• The USA based institute of Transportation Engineers, ITE,
defines traffic engineering as
• “that phase of transportation engineering which deals with the
planning, geometric design and traffic operations of roads, streets
and highways, their networks, terminals, and relationship with other
modes of transportation.”
 Functional classification
Pavement Engineering
• Deals with the structural analysis and design of the pavement.
• Specifically, it is concerned with analysis, design, construction and
maintenance of roadway pavements, runways, taxiways.
• Characterization of materials used in pavement construction.

Public Transportation
• Concerned with the analysis, design, and operation of public
transportation systems.
• Public transportation system is a system which is used to move
the general public from one place to another place.
• Ranges from Para-transit system like shared-taxis to rapid
mass transit systems like greater metropolitan train services.
• Design work includes design of routes (including stop locations),
design of schedule, fare structures, and crew scheduling.
 Functional classification
Transport Planning
• Deals with planning of transportation facilities to meet the present
and future needs in a sustainable manner.
• Mainly focuses on estimation of future demands, needs and problems,
generation of alternative solutions, financial feasibility of plan,
economic, technological aspects and environment impact assessment
study of every alternatives, land use and demographic trends of an
area.
• Selection of the best alternative and preparing it for implementation.
Transport Economics
• Studies the various economics costs and benefits of building and
operating of various facilities.
• Focuses on:
1. Identifying economics costs and benefits
2. Analysis of financing and cost recovery aspects of projects
3. Suggesting economical ways to solve problems
 Functional Traffic Public Transport Transport Pavement
Classes Engineering Transportation Planning Economics Engineering

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

Modal Classes Roadways Railways waterways Airways

Driver Public Train driver Captain Pilot

Elemental vehicle Car Loco. & Coaches Ship Aircraft

classes Roads Rail tracks Shipping lines Air routes
Way
signals Signals Coastguard Air traffic
Control Control
Terminal Parking lots Stations ports Airport
Public Passengers & Passengers & Passengers &
User
goods goods goods
Examples of elements in different modes

Classification schemes used for transportation engineering

 Assignment # 1
• It is required to make a comparison between all available modes of
transportation from your daily origin (home/hostel) to university
considering distance, travel time and cost. You need to consider the
availability of private car, motorcycle, non-motorized modes
(consider your possibility of using these modes) and all available
public transport.
• Students living near campus in hostels have option to prepare this
assignments considering travelling between hometown and
residence in Lahore.
• Kindly enlist all incentives or disincentives in using all
available/possible modes.
• It is advised to include a Google-map of your routes for all available
/ possible modes.
• Submit a 2-3 page report after 2 weeks (both in hard and soft
form). On 27 February, 2014 @ 11:30 AM
 Group Presentation
• Group: 3-4 members
• By next Friday in lecture
• Presentation timing: 5-7 minutes per members

• Topics will be assigned from following books:

– The Geography of Urban Transportation
– The Geography of Transportation Systems
– Urban Transit: System and Technology