(W1) Highway Engineering - (also known as roadway engineering and - GDP In many developed economies, transportation accounts

street engineering) is a professional engineering discipline branching for between 6% and 12% of the GDP.
from the civil engineering subdiscipline of transportation engineering
that involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and Social Cost
maintenance of roads, highways, streets, bridges, and tunnels to - Providing remote areas with medical and other facilities and
ensure safe and effective transportation of people and goods. allowing people to socialize who live some distance apart are
only a few examples of the benefits provided by
Transportation transportation.
- A system or means of transporting people or goods.
- Transport or transportation is the movement of humans, Mode of Transportation
animals and goods from one location to another. In other - Freight Traffic - A goods that is being transported and the
words the action of transportation is defined as a particular principal mode intercity freight transportation are highways,
movement of an organism or thing from a point A to the railroads, water, and pipelines. It is measured in terms of
Point B. amount of goods traveled over the period of time.
- Passenger Traffic - The four-transportation intercity
IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPORTATION passenger movement are by air, highway, transit, andrailway.
Supply Chain Passenger traffic is described as the miles traveled by
- The sequence of processes involved in the production and passengers divided by the total distance covered by the time
distribution of a commodity. period.
- The idea of JIT (Just-in-time) delivery it may be critical to
modern economic but when executed effectively it gives Airways
significantly reduce to consumer cost and ensure that a ● Fastest among all other modes
sufficient quantity of goods is available to satisfy consumer ● More comfortable
demand. ● Time saving
● Uneconomical
Economic Growth
- Good transportation helps industry or trade to become Waterways
specialized, decreases the cost of raw materials or ● Slowest among all other modes
manufactured products and increases competition between ● It needs minimum energy to haul unit load through a unit
regions, resulting in lower prices and greater customer distance.
choice. ● Economical
● This can be possible between ports on the sea routes or
Importance of Transportation to the Economy along the river
- Increase in Travel speed A study found that every 10%
increase in travel speed leads to a 15% expansion of the labor
Highways
market and a 3% increase in productivity.
● It gives the maximum service to one and all
- Investing in infrastructure Investing in infrastructure, including
transport and logistics, leads to economic development.
 ● It gives maximum flexibility for travel with reference to bicycles, motorcycles, and etc. But railway tracks are only
route,dire4ction,time and speed of travel used by train locomotives and wagons, only ships and boats
● It provides door to door service use waterways.
● It requires small investment for the government Motor - Road transport requires a relatively small investment for the
vehicles are cheaper that other carriers like rail locomotive government. Motor vehicles are much cheaper than carriers
and wagons like rail locomotives and wagons,water and air carriers.
● It saves the time for short distance. Construction and maintenance of roads is also cheaper than
● High degree of accident due to flexibility of movement. that of railway track, docks, harbors and airports
- Road transport completely offer a freedom to : Road users
Railway to transfer the vehicles from one lane to another and to
● The transportation along the railways track could be from one road to another according to the need and
advantageous by railways between the stations both for the convenience. This flexibility of changes in location, direction,
passengers and goods, particularly for long distance. speed and timings of travel is not available to other modes of
● It depends upon the road transport i.e. road serve as a transport.
feeder system. - Speed of movement is directly related with severity of
● Safety accident
1. The road Safety decreases with increase dispersion in
speed.
Transit Modes:
Mass Transit 2. Road Transport is subjected to high degree of accidents
a.) Fixed routes due to flexibility of movements offered to the user.
b.) specified stops 3. Derailment of railway locomotives and air planes and air
c.) Designated Network crashes are not uncommon they are in fact more disastrous.
d.) includes buses,light railway ,rapid transit.
Scope of Highway and Traffic Engineering
Paratransit
Highway engineering's scope:
a.) flexible and personalized service
- To minimize complex drainage and maintenance issues, road
b.) intended to replace conventional fixed routes
pavements are often built on modest embankments, slightly
c.) available to public demand
above the normal ground level where practicable.
d.) car rental, specialized service for elderly,medical,etc.

- how highways are planned and developed, as well as how

Ridesharing
they're built and maintained
a.) two or more person traveling together by pre rearrangement.
b.) includes carpool,vanpool
Development, Planning and Location
Historical background, basis for planning,master plan,engineering
Characteristics of Road Transportation
surveys and highway alignment.
- Roads are used various types of road vehicles. In the manner
of roads only passenger cars, trucks, buses, tricycles,
Highway Designs, Geometrics, and structure Highways - describe as a public road that built by digging ditches on
Road Geometrics and their design, rigid or flexible pavement,design both side and heaping up the earth in the middle creating a way higher
factors and thickness design,overlay design,design of drainage than the adjacent land.
system.
Urban Roads - Roads which are located within the cities, town, and
Traffic Performance and its control other inhabited areas and come under the jurisdiction of
Traffic studies analysis,need for new road links, traffic regulation municipalities, cantonment boards and post trusts.
and controls with sign,signals and markings. Functional System of Urban Roads
a) Urban Principal Arterial System - an arterial route that carries
Materials Constructions and Maintenance traffic to the nearest access point or through traffic. It carries a
Highway materials and mix design, highway construction, earthwork,
high portion of the total vehicle-miles of travel within urban area. The
construction of different types of pavements. WBM, pavement
system also serves trips that bypass the central business districts
failure, pavement evaluation, maintenance of pavement.
(CBDs) of urbanized areas
b.) Urban Minor Arterial System - Streets and highways that
Economic Finance and administration
interconnect with and augment the urban primary arterials are
Road user cost and economic analysis of highway projects,pavement
classified as urban minor arterials. Both arterial and sub arterial are
types and maintenance measures, highway finance.
roads that are primarily for through traffic on a continuous route.

Pan-Philippine Highway – also known as “Daang Maharlika” is the

Urban Collector Street System – The main purpose of streets within
Philippines longest highway with the length of 3,517 km long. It was
this system is to collect traffic from local streets in residential
conceptualized during the Marcos administration. Subic-Clark-Tarlac
areas or in CBDs and convey it to the arterial system. Large
commercial enterprises or amusement facilities like drive in theaters
Expressway - is the longest expressway in the Philippines with a total
are mostly fronting arterial road where the collector street usually
length of 93.77 km long
go through

Commonwealth Avenue - also known as “the killer road” due to

Urban Local Street System - is defined as street or road primarily
frequent accidents in this area. It is the widest road in the Philippines.
for access to abutting properties like residence, business, or other
It has a span of ten (10)- eighteen (18) lane.
adjoining properties and to the collector street. It is also a road that
constructed and maintained by the local government.
(W2) Highway Development and Planning

Roads and Highways - defined as strips of land that have been A. Based on Capacity
improved and clean in order for the people and goods to be a) Light Traffic Road -A roads which are carrying 400 vehicles on
transported. daily average. The 400 vehicles per day split between very-low
volume and low-volume is basically a line where the number of
Roads - generally used to described a public through fare and vehicles in the busiest hour of the day is about 1 vehicle per minute.
somewhat a boarder application in usage. It can also refer to
railways.
b) Medium Traffic Road- A road which has a capacity of carrying Radial (Star) and Circular Pattern It is the pattern in which the
400-1000 of vehicles per day. radial roads radiated from the central point and are connected with
concentric roads (ring roads) that are also radiating outwardly.
c) High Traffic Road- A road that has more than 1000 vehicles on
daily average. Advantages:
1. It is safe as compared from other pattern because vehicles travel
C. Based on Pavement Pavement -is a structure that separates the in the same direction.
tires of a vehicle from underlying foundation material it could be soil, 2. Roundabouts present in this pattern improves the efficiency of
a structural concrete or a bridge deck. traffic flow.
3. Using a circular pattern in place of traffic signals reduces the
Rigid Pavement- is constructed from cement concrete or possibility of rear end crushes.
reinforced concrete slab. The Design of a rigid pavement is based
on providing a structural cement concrete slab of sufficient Disadvantage:
strength to resist the loads from traffic. 1. Providing good curve during the construction of this pattern is
quite challenging.
flexible pavement- a pavement that consist a mixture of asphaltic or 2. If affect the driving ability. (ex. Cognitive function)
bituminous material and aggregate placed on a bed of compacted 3. There is necessary of proper provision of the traffic signals,
granular material of appropriate quality in layers over the subgrade. road markings and lighting to alert the drivers that they approaching
roundabout.
Road Patterns
Radial or star and grid pattern
Rectangular pattern/block pattern: placed blocks to blocks having Radial network of road radiated from the center outwardly, then,
roads on their front. The construction and maintenance of roads of the main radial streets are interconnected by providing grid pattern
this pattern is comparatively easier.
Advantages:
Advantage 1. It increases the efficient of land usage and unit density
1. The rectangular plots may be further divided into small rectangular 2. It reduces the cut-through traffic
blocks for construction of buildings placed blocks to blocks having 3. It provides high safety to vehicular traffic.
roads on their front. The construction and maintenance of roads of
this pattern is comparatively easier. Disadvantages:
1. High Construction cost because of the need for extra traffic
Disadvantages signals, road markings and lighting.
1. This pattern is not very much convenient from traffic point view,
because at the intersections, the vehicle faces each other. Hexagonal Pattern
2. Can increase the rate of accidents due to poor visibility at a Roads meet the built-up area boundary by the sides of the hexagons
perpendicular junction In this pattern, the whole area is divided into at every corner of the hexagon which can be further divided in
rectangular blocks of plots, with street intersecting at right angles. suitable sizes
Advantages: A. Planning Difficulties Engineers are aware that the Roadway should
1) Three roads meet the built-up area boundary by the sides of the have a good quality. It needs to be safe, useful and durable but the
hexagons. highway planner confronted these three main problems.
1. Financial - Highway development plan sometimes has the
Disadvantages: temporarily lack of fund because of this some of the
1) Traffic signs, pavement markings, and lighting should be adequate ongoing project forcedly need to stop.
so that drivers are aware that they should reduce their travel 2. Political - •politician plays a big factor in planning or in
speed. implementing the road project. Politician have now control
over the DPWH project so, even we have development plan
HIGHWAY PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING that carefully studied by the technical experts it easy to
twist or to flexed down the project. Sometimes rational
Objective of Highway Planning planning is not the main objective it depends on the political
• A Highway should be plan according to the volume of daily traffic
decision or interest
flow from a particular path.
3. Technical - Our technical personnel lost their confidence
because their work is of this kind that it is not depend on
What Types of data to be collected?
Traffic Data- Data to be collected are traffic volume survey, origin their work but the final decision is based on the interest of
destination survey, vehicles damage surveys and etc. the politician

Environmental Data: A report regarding number of trees, flora and Location of the Proposed
fauna near construction sites, pollutants increased during
construction in air and water must be prepared and submitted to Highway Location - concerned with the gathering of pertinent data
the department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to for more effective highway planning, design, construction and
get a signal for development. operation.

Road Inventory and Condition Surveys- the survey under this is to We have 4 stages to conduct a location of Highways in Rural Areas.
check the condition of the pavement and structures along the road 1. Office Study - This phase is usually carried out in the office
are taken and making an action about this. For example, If the prior to any field or photogrammetric investigation. The
condition are good they are retained. following characteristics of the area:
● Engineering - Include topography, geology, climate,
Social Data- the data to be collected is about the people who live in traffic volumes
that area and have discussion about the project and ask for ● Social and Demographic - include the land use and
cooperation during the years for construction: zoning patterns
● Environmental - including the types of wildlife; location
Involvement of the Community- In a Democratic country the voice of of recreational, historic, and archeological sites; and
the community (may it be a private or a public person) should be the possible effects of air, noise, and water pollution
heard because he/she has that right. ● Economic - include the unit costs for construction and
the trend
 2. Reconnaissance Survey - Feasible routes are identified by a Horizontal Alignment - The horizontal alignment is a series of
stereoscopic examination of the aerial photographs, taking horizontal tangents (straight roadway sections), circular curves, and
into consideration factors such as: spiral transitions used for the roadway’s geometry.
● Terrain and soil conditions ● Straight path
● Serviceability of route to industrial and population ● Curves
areas
● Crossing of other transportation facilities, such as Vertical Alignment - generally defined as the presence of Heights and
rivers, railroads, and highways Depth in vertical axis with respect to horizontal axis. These Heights
● Directness of route. and Depth in roads may be in form of gradients. Vertical alignment
3. Preliminary Location Survey - During this phase of the study, specifies the elevation of points along a roadway. The elevation of
the positions of the feasible routes are set as closely as these roadway points is usually determined by the need to provide an
possible by establishing all the control points and determining acceptable level of driver safety, driver comfort, and proper
preliminary vertical and horizontal alignments for each. drainage (from rainfall runoff).
Preliminary alignments are used to evaluate the economic and ● Vertical Curves
environmental feasibility of the alternative routes. ● Vertical Gradient

Economic Evaluation - Factors usually taken into consideration Importance of Alignment: Improper alignment of the road may result
include road user costs, construction costs, maintenance to one or more of the following disadvantages
costs, road user benefits, and any disbenefits, which may ● Increase in cost construction
include adverse impacts due to dislocation of families, ● Increase in maintenance cost
businesses, and so forth. ● Increase in vehicle operation cost
Environmental Evaluation - Construction of a highway at any ● Increase in accident rates
location will have a significant impact on its surroundings. In
general, the requirements call for the submission of Elements of a good design of alignment
environmental impact statements for many projects. These
statements should include Short- desirable to have a short alignment between the two terminal
stations.
4. Final Location Survey - The final location survey is a detailed Easy- easy to construct and maintain the road with minimum problem
layout of the selected route. The horizontal and vertical also easy for operation of vehicle.
alignments are determined, and the positions of structures Safe- safe enough for construction and maintenance from the view
and drainage channels are located. point of stability of natural hill slope, embankment and cut slope also
safe for traffic operation.
ROAD ALIGNMENT Economical- total cost including initial cost, maintenance cost and
vehicle cost should be minimum.
Types of Alignment
The position of the layout of the center line of the highway on the
Factors controlling alignment:
ground is called the alignment.
Obligatory point - a point which the alignment is going to pass
(Examples: bridge site, intermediate town, mountains pass etc. Also,
remember the obligatory point through which the alignment should not
pass (examples: religious place, costly structure, unsuitable lands,
historical lands and etc.)

Earthwork, Materials and Land Agriculture -

● To avoid excessive cutting and filling, the alignment should be
changed where found necessary. As much as possible it
should be closely to the natural ground level.
● Earthwork should be balance.
● Location may be near sources of embankment and pavement
material.
● The alignment of roads should be decided so that costly
agricultural land and dense forests are avoided for the
acquisition of the land.

Traffic- the alignment should be provided according to the type of

vehicular traffic. For example: (for fast moving traffic, the road
alignment should be as straight as possible.

Geometric Design - Design factors such as gradient, radius of curve

and sight distance also govern the final alignment of the highways.
When designing avoid a sharp horizontal curves and road intersection
near bend.

Topographic control points - The alignment, where possible should

avoid passing through.
● Marshy and low-lying land with poor drainage
● Flood prone areas Unstable hilly features

Other consideration:
a) Existing right of way
b) Public demand
c) Cross drainage work