HIGHWAY ENGINEERING & TRANSPORTATION - Ability

to
accommodate various types of vehicles at a
time.
- Quick and assured door to door service
- Faster and cheaper service particularly for
- The movement of people or goods (freight) from short distance travel
one place to another
- Begins at an origin and ends at a destination. Importance
There are at least four known modes of - Road transport is the most common mode of
transportation (Papacostas & Prevedorous): transport.
1. Land Transportation - Good highways are so interwoven with every
2. Air Transportation phase of our daily activities that it is almost
3. Water Transportation impossible to imagine what life would be like
4. Pipelines without them.
- We depend on highways for the following:
Impact of Road Transport 1. Movement of goods
2. Travel to and from work.
- Urbanization and growth are increasing the 3. Services
number of vehicles on the road everyday so that 4. Social and recreational purposes
the design capacity of roads are slowly being
reached or exceeded causing severe traffic Brief History of Roads/HW’s
congestion problems
- In the U.S. alone, around 35,000 to 40,000 people • Important Periods
die each year due to road vehicle accidents (safer - Invention of the wheel was supposed to have
to travel in an airplane) occurred 10,000 years ago.
- Earliest travel: Foot, later pack animals
What Have You Heard in the News Lately? were utilized, crude sleds were developed,
and simple wheeled vehicles evolved.
- Streets of the city of Babylon – 2000 B.C.
• Daily newspapers or television news will
- Great Pyramids of Egypt Construction – 3000
inevitably produce one or more articles on
B.C.
transportation:
- Traces of early roads
- Traffic fatality
- Island of Crete
- Road construction project
- Chinese
- Price of gasoline
- Carthaginians
- Trends in purchases of motor vehicles
- Incas
- Traffic enforcement and road conditions
• Terms and Derivations
- New laws
- Road: from ‘ride’ then ‘rode’, civil wars
- Motor vehicle license requirements
- Street: from ‘via straeta’; after dropping
- Proposal to increase road user fees or
‘via’, just ‘straeta’ then street
gasoline taxes to pay for maintenance and
- Pavement: from ‘pavimentum’ which was
construction projects.
referred by the Romans as thick stone slabs-
- Need for public transit services.
- Way: originated in the Dark Ages; can be
Characteristics of Road Transport prefixed by almost anything
• Road Construction Through Time
• Among all the modes of transport, road
- The Roman era was undoubtedly the greatest
transport is the nearest to the people.
road building age not only in Britain but
- Low capital investment
throughout Europe
- Flexible service
- After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire,
- More freedom to users while traveling.
road building, along with virtually all other forms
 of scientific activity, practically ceased for a Designed BasedModern
On: Roads
period of 1, 000 years.
✓ Safety
- Interest in the art of road building was revived in
✓ Cost
Europe in the late 18th century.
✓ Efficiency
• The regime of Napoleon of France (1800 –
✓ Behavior of users
1814) gave a great impetus to road
✓ Impact on the environment
construction.
Important Names Functional Classification of Highways
- Pierre Tresaguet
What is Functional Classification?
- John Metcalf
- A way of grouping roadways together by the
- Thomas Telford
character of service they provide.
- John Macadam
- Initial division is between urban and rural
Advent of the Motor Vehicle What is Functional
roadwaysClassification?
- In America, 1904 marked the year of
considerable increase in motor vehicles. A way• of Defined
groupingdifferently
roadwaysintogether
various countries.
by the
• One definition is by population.
• Henry Ford found Ford Motor Company in
1903 character of service they provide
Why Classify?
- By 1917 every state participated in highway Initial division is between urban toandfunction:
rural roadways
construction in some fashion HW’s are classified according
Defined1. differently in various
To facilitate orderly countries
HW development
Development Of Philippine Roadways In 1900 2. To facilitate efficient fiscal planning
One definition is by population
3. Ensure logical assignment of jurisdictional.
Department of Public Works and 4. Responsibility
- Procedure involves grouping streets and HW’s
Highways (DPWH)
into classes or systems according to the character
- the infrastructure arm of the Philippines It of service they are intended for.
started during the Spanish Colonial Era. - Establish the design controls.
- It was 1900’s when transportation depended on Mobility vs. Access (Hierarchical System)
roads.
- Roadways were developed during the American Urban Roads Rural Roads
period in the Philippines. ➢ Interstate ➢ National Highway
- Rehabilitation and construction of roads ➢ Expressway ➢ State Highway
occurred after World War II since lots of roads ➢ Freeway ➢ District Roads
were destroyed due to bombs thrown in different ➢ Arterial Street ➢ Village Roads
areas. ➢ Sub-arterial Street
➢ Collector Street
- Funded by Japanese Government ➢ Local Street
- Also received a grant from US government Interstate
Maximo Paterno – who was first the Roadways with the highest design speeds and the
Minister of the Ministry of Public Works highest design standards
and Communication (1899)
Expressway
- The country construct and repair roads through
international bank loans and aid from other Divided arterial highway with full or partial control
countries. of access and generally having grade separations at
JICA- Japan International Cooperation Agency major intersections.

- During this era, it serves as a Golden Age of Freeway

Infrastructure because the government aims to An expressway with full access control and no at-
build a lot of road networks and improvement of
grade intersections
transportation service to the public.
Arterial
 Facility primarily used for through traffic, usually
on a continuous route.
Collector
Intermediate roadway system which connects
arterials with the local road or street systems
Local road or street
Provides access to residences, businesses, or
other abutting properties.
National Highway
High order of road for long distances, most are
two-lanes in each direction.
State Highway
Slightly of lower order, a broad highway designed
for high speeds.
District Roads
Categorized as major or minor roads.
Village Roads
Connects villages, low volume road that gives
access to rural roads.
- Sometimes, there is a mismatch or confusion on
road classification, why?
- All roadways will need upgrades and
improvements over time.
- Common trend: Operating environments have
not improved despite increase in demand and
volume of traffic.
 HIGHWAY ENGINEERING & TRANSPORTATION
“G-Force, g” – acceleration of an object
relative to free-fall (9.81 m/s2, 32.2 ft/s2)
Ex:
•0.30g of lateral acceleration: 24KPH at 90⁰
Road Transport Mode turn
Different Components • 0.10g of lat’l accel.: long horizontal curve at
97 KPH
1. Human - Derived by movement and equilibrium.
- Driver of Vehicle - ‘Kinesthesia’ or Kinesthetic: Sensation of bodily
- Pedestrian position; muscles, tendons, joints
2. Vehicle
• Lateral/Longitudinal Accel. – seats, steering
3. Road/highway
wheel, brake pedal, arm rest, seat belts,
4. Environment
head rest, etc.
- Weather
• Proprioceptors – stimulated by
- Time of Day
moving/shifting of the body
Driver Characteristics • Provides feedback for the driver to take
some other action
- Challenges by the transportation engineer:
- Vestibular: messages received through the
- Drivers have varying skills and perceptual
vestibular nerve (inner ear)
abilities.
- Different abilities in hearing, seeing, Three fluid-filled semicircular canals –
evaluating, and reacting to a traffic direction of movement and balance
situation.
- Kinesthetic/Vestibular
- Driver age, old drivers
- Affected by fatigue, alcohol, time of day. • Change of direction
- Use an average value: 85th or 90th • Steering
percentile. • Braking, vibrations
• Vehicle Stability
SENSING
SEEING
- Feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling: Driver
receives useful information regarding safe -The sense of sight is the most important sense in
control of the vehicle. driving
- Ex: Pieces of information:
• Temperature and humidity -90 percent of received information is visual.
• Forces, rate of change, vibration and Foveal or Peripheral Vision
oscillations
• Foveal - images are concentrated in a small
- Received through the eyes, ears and
area of the eye.
sensory nerve endings.
• Peripheral - vision outside the center or
direct line of vision
FEELING
5 VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
- Drivers experience forces acting on a vehicle. EYE
• Force of gravity 1. Visual Acuity
• Acceleration 2. Peripheral Vision
• Braking deceleration 3. Color Vision
• Cornering acceleration 4. Glare Vision and Recovery
5. Depth Perception
 VISUAL ACUITY - 8% of all men and 4% of all women suffer from
some degree of color blindness.
- Ability to see fine details of an object clearly. - Color blindness: reduced ability to distinguish
- Represented by a visual angle. between red and green.
- Static (Stationary) vs. Dynamic (Moving) - Not of great significance in highway driving
- Static Acuity: 0.50 sec-1.0 sec (optimal time for • Compensate: Shape
object identification: visual factors held constant) • Black/White or Black/Yellow Colors:
- Dynamic Acuity: ability to detect relatively Sensitive to eye
moving objects.
GLARE VISION AND RECOVERY
Cone of Vision
Glare Vision: Seeing when subject to bright light
- Direct and Specular Glare (Rowland et. Al.)
• Direct: Relatively bright light
• Specular: Reflected relatively bright light
• Cause dec. visibility and eye discomfort
- Important in night driving: older people and people
who see poorly at night.
- Should be considered in the design and location of
street lighting.

Glare Recovery: Time required by a person to recover

- 3 to 5° conical angle: Very Clear
from the effects of glare.
- Within 1° to 12°: Somewhat Clear (Fairly
- Clear) • 3 sec. moving from dark to light
- Objects outside 12°: Blurred • 6 sec. moving from light to dark
- Visual acuity = measured by recognition acuity
Glare Effects
obtained using standard Snellen Chart.
- Normal vision (20/20 vision) = means that in a 1. Minimized by reducing luminaire brightness.
well-lit environment a person can recognize a 2. Minimized by increasing background
letter of about 1/3" in 20 feet. brightness.

DEPTH PERCEPTION
Average Horizontal Fixation
Experienced Drivers vs. Novice Drivers - Ability of a person to estimate speed and distance
- Binocular vision, monocular parallax -Important on
2-lane HW's during passing maneuvers: head-on
- Experienced Drivers- scan a wider range:30 to
crashes
48°. - Human eye-poor estimator of speed, distance, size,
- Novice Drivers acceleration
• Eye fixations are concentrated on a smaller • Standardization
area and closer to the front of vehicle.
• Observe the guardrail and lane edges for Human Factors Applied to Highway Design
about 1 sec. (lateral position): Similar, sleep
deprived. FIVE PROPOSITIONS
PERIPHERAL VISION 1. As speed increases, visual concentration
- Relates to an individual's ability to see objects, increases
not necessarily clearly. 2. As speed increases, the point of visual
- Serve as warning sign. concentration recedes (farther away).
- Varies between 120 to 180° 3. As speed increases, peripheral vision diminishes.
- The head can move: 45° to the right/left and 4. As speed increases, foreground details begin to
- 30° up/down fade.
5. As speed increases, space perception becomes
COLOR VISION impaired.
- Ability to differentiate colors.
 PERCEPTION-REACTION - American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
HEARING AND SMELLING
• Recommends 2.50 sec for stopping sight dist.
- Important to driver and pedestrian 90th percentile decision time
- Helpful in preventing collision Engine. • Inadequate for complex/instantaneous
• Tires decisions or unexpected/unusual maneuvers
• Sirens • Decision Sight Distance
• Horns
Two Parts of Perception
• Bells
• Radios 1. Perception Delay: the time between visibility
• Traffic Sounds and point of perception.
- Hearing problems: 1.80 times more accidents 2. Apperception Interval: the time required to
determine that there is a potential hazard.
PERCEPTION-REACTION
Two Elements of Reaction Time
- Perception: Process of extracting necessary
information from the environment 1. Reaction: involves the analytical and
decision- making portions of the driver's
- Perception-Reaction Time (PRT): Interval between reaction process
seeing, feeling, or hearing a stimulus and making an 2. Total reaction: includes reaction plus the
initial response actual control response.
• Ex: Object becomes visible, driver steps on • e.g. Bringing the foot to the brake
brake pedal

- PRT has been subdivided into four subprocesses: DRIVER STRATEGY

Perception, Identification, Emotion, Volition (PIEV)
times - Vanstrum and Caples (1971) describe a simple
PIEV TIME (PRT) driving task model useful in understanding the
relationship between driving behavior and the
- Perception: driver sees the object on the road possibility of anticipating a hazard.
- Driver Performance
-Identification (Intellection): driver identifies the
object and thus understands the stimulus • Decision
• Timing
- Emotion (Decision): driver decides what action to • Location/type of obstacle
take • Relative speed of driver
- Volition (Reaction): driver executes action • Physical characteristics of the road b/n
driver and obj.
Time is elapsed during each of these subprocesses.

PRT
- Perception-Reaction Time: Important factor in
determining braking distances Other Human Elements

• Minimum sight distance - What other human roles are relevant to the highway
• Yellow phase (signalized intersection) system besides being the driver?

- Varies among individuals PEDESTRIANS

• Age - Crash Involvement Rate:
• Tired or influence of drugs/alcohol - Highest for 5-to 9-yr. Olds
• Environmental conditions • 69% of fatalities where male Pedestrian
• Expected/unexpected stimulus. injury rate was 58% higher for males than
- Triggs and Harris: 85th percentile to brake varied for females.
from 1.26 to over 3 seconds.
In the Philippines, an increasing trend of road traffic
- Percentile?
deaths was seen in the past decade, with road traffic
deaths increasing by 39% from 7,938 deaths in 2011
 to 11,096 deaths based on the Philippine Statistics - Handicapped Pedestrian: 0.60 to 1.12 m/s
Authority (PSA) Report in 2021.
What other human roles are relevant to the highway
Around 1.35 million people die due to road traffic system besides being the driver?
accidents yearly. In the Philippines, there is an
increasing trend of mortality and morbidity caused CYCLISTS
by road crashes. (Lu, Herbosa, Lu, 2011)
Becoming more prevalent and are now an important
- Rates for older people (over 65 years) are lower
component of the highway mode.
than for most age groups. Why?
• Greater caution exercised. Cyclist: Not only the driver, provides power to move
• Infrequence of walking near traffic the bicycle
• Older pedestrians are more vulnerable to
Three Classes of Cyclists
injury or death than younger pedestrians.
-Classes (AASHTO):
Other causes of vehicular accidents in Iloilo,
according to the HPG, were: A- advanced cyclists
B- less experienced cyclists
• bad overtaking
C- children riding on their own or with
• loose brakes/mechanical malfunction parents.
• weather condition/loss of control
• distracted/inattentive driving Accdg. to a study by Pein:
• drunk driving/under the influence of illegal • Level terrain speeds-32 km/h
drugs
• Downgrade speeds-50 km/h
• night driving, wrong way driving/bad turning
• Upgrade speeds - 13 km/h
poor/rough road/lack of or inappropriate
• Crossing an intersection from a stopped
signage, and
position: -13 km/h with an acceleration of 1
• lack of drivers' education/ driving
m/s
experience.

PEDESTRIAN CHARACTERISTICS ROAD VEHICLE PERFORMANCE

- Walking speeds: 0.90 to 2.40 m/s
- At intersections:
Vehicle Characteristics
• Males: 1.50 m/s; Females: 1.40 m/s
• Design Value: 1.22 m/s - How are vehicle characteristics important in the
• Accdg. to Rouphail, average walking speeds design of highways?
depends on the population of elderly
pedestrians -Form the basis for highway and design guidelines
• 1.22 m/s when elderly population: 20% and and traffic analysis
lower Determine/quantify the following:
• 0.90 m/s when elderly population: more than
20% • Length of freeway acceleration and
deceleration lanes
Pedestrians influence the design and location of
• Maximum highway grades
pedestrian facilities!
• Stopping sight distances
PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES • Passing sight distances
• Numerous accident-prevention devices
- Control devices.
• Special pedestrian signals Criteria are partly based on static, dynamic, and
• Safety zones and islands at intersections kinematic characteristics of vehicles.
• Pedestrian underpass
• Static: includes weight and size of vehicle
• Elevated walkways
• Dynamic: involves the forces that cause the
• Crosswalks motion of the vehicle
• Traffic signals (All-red phase)
- Blind Pedestrian
 •Kinematic: involves the motion of the vehicle
without considering the forces that cause
the motion
Design Vehicle: has characteristics that
encompass those of nearly all vehicles expected to
use the highway.

Design Vehicle
- AASHTO has selected four general classes of
vehicles:

• Passenger cars: sport/utility vehicles,

minivans, vans and pickup trucks
• Buses: intercity motor coaches, city transit,
school and articulated buses
• Trucks: single-unit trucks, truck tractor-
semitrailer combinations, truck/truck tractors
with semitrailers in combination with full
trailers
• Recreational vehicles: motor homes, cars with
camper trailers, cars with boat trailers, and
motor homes pulling cars.

Static Characteristics
- Establish design standards for physical components
of the highway including:
• Lane width
• Shoulder width
• Length and width of parking bays
• Length of vertical curves

Expression for overall maximum gross weight of two

or more consecutive axles:
LN
𝑊 = 500 [ + 12N + 36]
N-1

Where:

W = overall gross weight (calculated to the nearest

500 lb.)

L = the extreme of any group of two or more

consecutive axles (ft)

N = number of axles in the group under construction

*** Gross load if 34,000 lb may be carried by two

consecutive sets of tandem axles if the overall
distance between the first and last arrives of the
consecutive sets is 36 ft or more. ***