Transportation Engineering

CETRANSPO
 Module 1
Introduction to
Transportation Engineering
At the end of this module, the students will be able to:

• Discuss what are the disciplines related

to transportation engineering
• Describe the relation of transportation to society
• Define traffic management
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: . Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
It is the application of scientific principles and
technologies to the planning, design, analysis,
operation, and management of transportation systems
for a full range of modes of transportation in order to
provide for the movement of people and goods from one
place to another in a safe and efficient manner

- University of Hartford (College of Engineering,

Technology, and Architecture)
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
There are 5 branches in Civil Engineering that is closely
related to transportation engineering, that is:

1. Highway Engineering
2. Railway Engineering
3. Port and Harbor Engineering
4. Airport Engineering
5. Pipeline Engineering
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
Image retrieved from: The INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics (TSL) Society
• Direct costs include: capital and operation costs.

• Indirect costs include: environmental effects,

congestion, property damage injuries and death.
Transportation engineers are involve in several
transportation, including:
1. Transportation planning
2. Transportation design
3. Transportation construction
4. Transportation operations and management
5. Transportation infrastructure maintenance
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Behavioral challenges
• Among all of the available urban transportation
modes, private vehicles appears to be most
convenient mode of transportation
• In the last 50 years the trips taken using private
vehicle rise from around 70% to 90%
• Around the same time frame, the private vehicle to
owner ratio drops from 1.22 persons/vehicle to 1.09
persons/vehicle
Technological challenges
• The three types of technologies that affect
transportation are; (1) Infrastructure technology, (2)
Vehicle Technology (3) Traffic control technology
Technological challenges
• Infrastructure technology
• Technology that is used to improve highway, bridges and
toll ways
• Infrastructures are considered to be a long-lasting
investments that require maintenance and rehabilitation
from time to time
Technological challenges
• Vehicle technology
• Until early 1970s, vehicle technology evolved slowly and
is driven by demand
• 3 factors began a cycle of unparalleled advances in vehicle
technology; (1) government regulation, (2) energy
shortages, (3) intense competition
• Despite the development of technology and policy in
transport system that provided opportunities for
mobility and development, number of lives and
property are still lost in some uneventful accidents in
the field of transportation
• Highway safety involves technical and behavioral
components and the complexities of the
human/machine interface
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
• Philippines is an archipelagic country comprised of
more than 7100 islands
• Land area = 300000 sq. km.
• Population = 110 million (annual growth rate = 1.6%)
• Metro manila
• Land area = 636 sq. km. (3% of the
total land area)
• Population = 12.8 million (12.4% of the
total population)
Road Transport Network
• Majority of domestic passenger and freight traffic use
the road
• 75% of government expenditure on transport
infrastructure goes to road system (Abueva, 2004)
• Majority is comprised of concrete pavements that
suffers wear and tear due to heavy overloaded
trucks and flood
Public Transportation
• Public transportation is predominantly road based
consisting largely of jeepneys and buses for primary
and secondary routes and tricycle and pedicabs for
feeder routes
• About 330 routes for bus and 600 for jeepneys
DOTr - The Department of Transportation
Attached Agencies for Land (Road):
• Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory
Board (LTFRB)
• Land Transportation Office (LTO)
• Toll Regulatory Board (TRB)
Attached Agencies for Rail:
• Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA)
• Metro Rail Transit Corporation Though MRTC is not
under the government, the DOTr supervises the
operation of Line 3 (MRTC)
• Philippine National Railways (PNR)
• Philippine Railway Institute (PRI)
Attached Agencies for Air:
• Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC)
• Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB)
• Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)
• Davao International Airport Authority (DIAA)
• Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA)
• Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA-NAIA)
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
The two distinct type of traffic management
• Utilization of traffic engineering tools or simple
devices
• Utilization of Intelligent Transport System (ITS)
Effective Traffic Regulation must comply with the
following requirements:
 Regulations should be rational
 Regulations should be developed progressively
 Regulations alone are often not enough
Traffic control devices has three distinct functional
groups:
1.Regulatory devices – has the authority of law which
imposes requirements to road users
2.Warning devices – informs road users of possible
hazards and unusual traffic movement
3.Guiding devices – inform road users of route,
destination and other pertinent information
Traffic control devices has four elementary
requirements (FHWA 1988):
1. It should compel attention
2. It should convey simple clear meaning at a glance
3. It should allow adequate time for easy response
4. It should command respect
International standard traffic signs allows the
following traffic signs:
1. Warning signs
2. Priority signs
3. Prohibition signs
4. Obligatory signs
5. Other prescription signs
6. Information signs
7. Direction signs
8. Additional information signs
Warning signs
Priority signs
Prohibition signs
Obligatory signs
Other prescription signs
Information signs
Direction signs
Additional information signs
 University of Hartford Brochure, Retrieved July 29, 2017,
from http://www.hartford.edu/ceta/about-
us/facultystaff/ceb/fang/research/transportation-eng.aspx
 The Civil Engineer Article, Retrieved July 29, 2017, from
http://www.thecivilengg.com/transportation_engineering.php
Images:
 dpw highway engineering – 0101
 highway engineering 7
 2.10- Highway engineering
 highway engineering 2 highway engineering 3
 Balfour Beatty
 China Harbour Engineering Company will help to upgrade
Guinea's port of Conraky
 plogconsulting.com
 QUESTIONS?

PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez

Transportation Engineering
CETRANSPO
 Module 2
Elements of Traffic
Analysis
At the end of this module, the students will be able to:
• Describe and estimate traffic characteristics, including
 Time – mean speed and space – mean speed;
 Flow and (time) headway;
 Density and spacing (space headway); and
 Occupancy
• Understand the fundamental relationship between flow, speed,
and density
PORTATION ENGINEERING: Intro| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez
 Traffic flow is usually described as interrupted or
uninterrupted.
 Flow occurring at long highway segments are considered to
be uninterrupted.
 Flow occurring at intersections, driveways or those
approaching a stop due to traffic signals or external traffic
flows are considered interrupted.
 For uninterrupted flow the following variables are
considered in analyzing the traffic flow:
• Major traffic variable
1. Flow rate or volume
2. Speed
3. Density
• Other traffic variable – these are other useful variables
used to describe uninterrupted traffic flows. However,
these are just variations of the previous variables
1. Time headway
2. Spacing
3. Time occupancy
1.Flow rate or volume
• Number of vehicles passing a point for a specified
period of time.
• It is referred as volume when measured over an
hour.
1.Flow rate or volume
• Mathematically expressed as:
𝒏
𝒒=
𝑻
Where: q = flow rate or volume (veh/hr)
n = number of vehicles
T = allotted time for counting the veh.
Sample Problem:
Given below is a 15-minute count of vehicles bound for
Manila conducted at a particular location on Quezon City,
estimate the flow rate of vehicle per minute.
Type 15 - minute count
Car/Van 420
Jeepney 300
Bus 16
Truck 28
Solution:
𝑛 = 420 + 300 + 16 + 28
𝑛 = 764
Type 15 - minute count
Car/Van 420
𝑞=
764
Jeepney 300
𝑞 = 50.933
15
Bus 16
Truck 28 𝒒 = 𝟓𝟏 𝒗𝒆𝒉/𝒎𝒊𝒏

𝒏
Formula for flow rate:

𝒒=
𝑻
2.Speed
• Rate of motion in a given distance per unit time.

• There are two types of speed used in traffic analysis:

2.1. Time mean speed
2.2. Space mean speed
2.1. Time mean speed
• Also called spot speed
• Used as basis in establishing speed limit
• The arithmetic mean of the speeds of vehicle passing a
point
• Can be measured over a short distance called trap length
usually about 15-50m spread
2.1. Time mean speed

σ𝑛 𝑢𝑖
• It could be solved using the given formula:

𝑢𝑡 = 𝑖=1
𝑛
Where: 𝒖𝒕 = time mean speed
𝒖𝒊 = individual vehicle speed
n = number of observed vehicles
Sample Problem:
The speed of 25 cars were observed. 10
cars were noted to travel at 35 kph, 8 cars at 40
kph, 2 cars at 50 kph, and 5 cars at 45 kph.
Assuming that each car was traveling at a
constant speed, determine the time mean
speed.
Solution:
Speed (kph) No. of Veh. 35 10 + 40 + + 45(5)
𝑢𝑡 =
50 8 2
35 10
10 + 8 + 2 + 5
𝑢𝑡
40 8
50 2 995
=

𝒖𝒕 = 𝟑𝟗. 𝟖𝟎 𝒌𝒑𝒉
45 5 25

σ𝑛 𝑢𝑖
Formula for Time Mean Speed:

𝑢𝑡 𝑖=1

= 𝑛
2.2. Space mean speed
• Used to describe the rate of movement of a traffic stream
within the given section of the road
• Also called as harmonic mean speed
• The speed is estimated by dividing the total length of the
road section by the travel time
2.2. Space mean speed
𝑛
• It could be solved using the given formula:
𝑢𝑠 = 𝑛 1
𝑢𝑖
σ𝑖=1
Where: 𝒖𝑠 = space mean speed
𝒖𝑖 = individual vehicle speed
n = number of observed vehicles
Sample Problem:
The speed of 25 cars were observed. 10
cars were noted to travel at 35 kph, 8 cars at 40
kph, 2 cars at 50 kph, and 5 cars at 45 kph.
Assuming that each car was traveling at a
constant speed, determine the space mean
speed.
Solution:
𝑢𝑠 =
Speed (kph) No. of Veh. 10 + 8 + 2 + 5
1
35 10 1 1
+ +
1 2 + (5)
35 10 8 45
40 8 4 50
0

𝑢𝑠 =
50 2 25
45 5 1003/1575
𝒖𝒔 = 𝟑𝟗. 𝟐𝟔 𝒌𝒑𝒉
𝑛
Formula for Space Mean Speed:
𝑢𝑠
= σ𝑖𝑛=1 1
𝑢 𝑖
3.Density
• Number of vehicles in a given length of road at an
instant of time
• Proves to be the most difficult and expensive to observe
• Aerial photography is required to solve for the actual
density
3.Density
𝑛
• It is mathematically expressed as:
𝑘=
𝐿
Where: k = density
L = given length of the road
n = number of observed vehicles
Sample Problem:
Six vehicles are observed in a 200 m. section of
a highway. Average time headway is 4 sec. Determine
the density in veh/km
Solution:

𝑛 = 6 𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝐿 = 0.2𝑘𝑚

𝑛
Formula for Density:

𝑘
𝐿
=
6
𝑘 0.2

𝒌 = 𝟑𝟎 𝒗𝒆𝒉/𝒌𝒎
=
1.Time headway
• Defined as time interval between passage of
consecutive vehicles at a specified point.
• This is given in unit is time per vehicle
Headway

Gap
1.Time headway

𝟏
• It is given by the formula

𝒉𝒕 =
𝒒
Sample Problem
Six vehicles are observed in a 200 m. section of a
highway. Average time headway is 4 sec. Determine the
traffic flow in veh/hr
Solution:

ℎ𝑡 = 4𝑠𝑒𝑐 1
ℎ𝑡 = ℎ𝑟
Formula for Time Headway:
900
𝑞 1/900
1
1
=
ℎ𝑡 =
𝑞 𝒒 = 𝟗𝟎𝟎 𝒗𝒆𝒉/𝒉𝒓

𝑞
1
ℎ𝑡
=

ℎ𝑡 = 4 sec 1ℎ𝑟

𝑐
3600𝑠𝑒
2.Spacing
• Defined as the distance between two vehicles
measured from the front bumper of the vehicle to
that of another.
2.Spacing

𝑳
• This could be expressed as
𝒔 =
𝒏−𝟏
For longer observation n-1 could be taken as n,

𝑳 𝟏
making the equation equal to:
𝒔 = =
𝒏 𝒌
3.Time occupancy
• Can only be measured using a detector installed
at certain point of the road
• Identified as the total time that the detector is
occupied over the total time of observation
3.Time occupancy
3.Time occupancy
• Time occupancy could be solved by the given
formula:
𝑂𝑡 = 𝑖=
σ1𝑛
𝑡𝑖 𝑥100%
𝑇
 University of Hartford Brochure, Retrieved July
29, 2017, from http://www.hartford.edu/ceta/about-
us/facultystaff/ceb/fang/research/transportation-
eng.aspx
 The Civil Engineer Article, Retrieved July 29, 2017,
from
http://www.thecivilengg.com/transportation_engineer
ing.php
QUESTIONS?

TYPES OF TRAFFIC FLOW| Prepared by: Engr. Joshua Joseph R. Rodriguez