CE 244 Transportation Engineering

Module 1: Introduction to Transportation Systems

Engineering and Course Overview

Dr. Solomon Debbarma, Department of Civil Engineering

IIT Bombay, Email: [email protected]; 883-723-7899
Learning Outcomes from this course

• Introduction to transportation systems

• Highway infrastructure overview
• Recent advanced in highways and railways
• Fundamentals of Geometric design: Highways,
Railways and airports
• Pavement materials: characteristics and
testing, Design of flexible and rigid pavements,
• Fundamental of traffic engineering, and
• Introduction to transportation planning.
Overview of this lecture class

• Course overview
• Course schedule
• Lecture session
• Class rules and grading policy
• Reference textbooks
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Course Overview:
• Course format
―This is a face-to-face course in which you will attend
lecture and practical sessions

• Course objectives
―This course aims to provide students with a
comprehensive understanding of the planning, design,
operation, and management of transportation systems
including transportation planning, geometric design of
highway infrastructure, pavement materials
characterization and design, railways, airports, and
traffic engineering.
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Course Overview:
• Course content
―Introduction to transportation systems engineering
―Fundamentals of geometric design of highways,
railways and airports
―Pavement materials: characteristics and testing
―Design of flexible and rigid pavements
―Fundamentals of traffic engineering
―Introduction to Transportation planning
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Course Schedule (subject to change):
Module Topics
Course overview, introduction to transportation engineering,
1. Introduction and course
transport modes and their characteristics, disciplines of
overview
transportation systems, role of transportation engineering
Highways: design control factors, horizontal and vertical
alignment, design elements of curves, radius and
2. Fundamentals of
superelevation, IRC method of attaining superelevation,
geometric design of
negative superelevation, sight distance; Railways: structural
highways, railways and
and design components of railway tracks, geometric design of
airports
railway tracks, gradient, cant; Airports: Runway design, sight
distance, gradient, geometric design of taxiways, turning radii
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Course Schedule (subject to change):
Module Topics
Definition of pavement, cross-section, types of pavements,
importance of different layers, load transfer mechanism in
materials, load transfer mechanism in flexible and rigid
3. Pavement materials:
pavements,
characteristics and testing
Importance of materials in pavements and their
characterization, need of joints in rigid pavements, types of
rigid pavements

Factors affecting the design of flexible and rigid pavements,

4. Design of flexible and rigid
flexible pavement design for major highways considering
pavements
different loading and environmental conditions
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Course Schedule (subject to change):
Module Topics

Traffic stream parameters, fundamental relations

5. Fundamentals of traffic engineering of traffic flow, traffic data collection, traffic
stream models, capacity and level of service

Transportation planning surveys and data

collection, travel demand modelling (trip
6. Introduction to transportation planning
generation, trip distribution, mode choice, traffic
assignment)
*each module consists of several lectures
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Lecture Session:
• Contact information
• Instructor Name: Prof. Solomon Debbarma
• 236, Second Floor, Department of Civil Engineering
• Face to face office hours: Mondays 10:00am to 10:30am
• Prior appointment required for both face-to-face and virtual office
hours
• [email protected]

• Teaching Assistants
• TAs Name: TBA
• TSE Lab, VMCC
• Face to face/Virtual office hours by prior appointment only
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Lecture Session:
• Class Location
• TBA soon (likely lecture hall complex)
• Class Time
• Slot 1A (Mondays 8:30 – 9:25 AM)
• Slot 1B (Tuesdays 9:30 – 10:25 AM)
• Slot 1C (Thursdays 10:35 – 11:30 AM)
• Practical class (participation and problem solving) will be after every 5/6th
lecture. Will be informed prior. Can be surprise as well.

• Course Materials
• Course materials will be made available on Moodle site.
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Class Rules:
• Arrive on time for class!!!
• Attendance is not compulsory. However, class exercise will not
be repeated for absentee students
• If you have questions, please be patient – the instructor will be with
you as soon as possible.
• Bring calculator, notepad, pen and pencils in the class.
• Submit your solved worksheets at the end of each tutorial class! Late
submission will not be entertained.
• Please take notes in the class as the text book may not be followed
directly.
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Grading Policy:
Your overall course grade will be based on the assignments listed above, as follows:
Component Weight
Practical 20-25%
Mid-term exam 25-30%
Final exam 40-50%
Total 100%
Grade Grade Description of Grading Scheme
Points Performance
AA 10 Outsdanding
AB 9 Excellent
BB 8 Very Good
BC 7 Good
CC 6 Fair Relative grading will be followed
CD 5 Poor
DD* 4 Marginal
FF 0 Fail (eligible for re-exam)
FR 0 Fail repeat
XX 0 Fail repeat (re-registration)
II - Incomplete due to medical reasons
NP - Not passed
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Guidelines for Success:
Conduct and Civility
• Students should create a learning environment and refrain from interfering with
the learning of fellow students. When students voice opinions with which you
do not agree, feel free to voice your opinion in a polite and civil manner. This
approach can help us enhance the free flow of ideas.
Investment in Learning
• Each student is expected to demonstrate investment in learning through your
attitude and work ethic. Specifically, each class member will be expected to
submit assignments in a timely and correct manner, seek help promptly when
necessary, and treat others with respect.

Communication Skills & Online Writing Support

• Students must be proficient in their written presentations, including strategies
for developing ideas, citing scholarly references, writing style, wording,
phrasing, and using language conventions. Students must use non-racist and
non-sexist language and include sufficient references to support their answers.
CE 244 Transportation Engineering
Reference Textbooks:

• C.S. Papacostas and P.D. Prevedouros, Transportation Engineering and

Planning, 3rd Ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersey
• J.H. Banks, Introduction to Transportation Engineering, McGraw-Hill,
New York, 2010.
• P.H. Wright and K. Dixon, Highway Engineering, Wiley, 7th Ed., New
York, 2009
• S.K. Khanna and C.E.G. Justo, Highway Engineering, Khanna
Publishers, Roorkee, 10th Edition, 2018
• L.R. Kadiyali, Principles and Practice of Highway Engineering, Khanna
Technical Publications, Delhi, 2014.
• Y.H. Huang, Pavement Analysis and Design, Prentice Hall, New Jersey,
2003.
• R. Horonjeff and F.X. Mckelvey, Planning and Design of Airports,
McGraw Hill New York, 2010.
• S.C. Sexena and S.P. Arora, A Text Book of Railway Engineering,
Dhanpat Rai & Sons, New Delhi, 1998.
 Office Hours
Office: Room 236, Second Floor, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
IIT Bombay.
Time: Mondays 11 to 12 PM
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]