CE-352

Transportation Engineering

Uday K V
Course content
• Introduction to transportation engineering: various methods of
transportation and their importance, PMGSY, Golden quadrilateral and
other road development plans of GOI.
• Geometrical design, camber, super elevation cross-sectional elements,
sight distances, horizontal and vertical alignments, transition curves.
• Highway Engineering: Pavement material and characterization, aspects of
analysis and design of flexible and rigid pavements.
• Highway Planning &maintenance, types of failure, evaluation and remedial
measures.
• Traffic Engineering: Vehicle and driver characteristics, Traffic design studies.
• Introduction to rail and air transport system, intelligent transport system.

Text books
S.K. Khanna and C.E.G. Justo, 'Highway Engineering', Nem Chand Bros., 2002.
Kadiyali L.R., 'Principles and Practice of highway Engineering', Khanna Publishers, Delhi, 1992.
Need for Transportation Engineering
• Mobility is a basic human need.
• From the age-old times, everyone travels either for food, meeting,
exchange, business or leisure.
• A closely associated need is the transport of raw materials to a
manufacturing unit or finished goods for consumption.
• Transportation plays a major role in the development of the human
civilization.
• Also, there is a strong correlation between the quality of transport facilities
and standard of living, because of which society places a great expectation
from transportation facilities.
• In other words, the solution to transportation problems must be
analytically based, economically sound, socially credible, environmentally
sensitive, practically acceptable and sustainable.
• Alternatively, the transportation solution should be safe, rapid,
comfortable, convenient, economical, and eco-friendly for both men and
material.
Scope
• In the last couple of decades transportation systems analysis has emerged as a
recognized profession. More and more government organizations, universities,
researchers, consultants, and private industrial groups around the world are becoming
truly multi-modal in their orientation and are opting a systematic approach to
transportation problems.
Diverse and complex characteristics
• Multi-modal: Covering all modes of transport; air, land, and sea for both passenger and
freight.
• Multi-sector: Encompassing the problems and viewpoints of government, private
industry, and public.
• Multi-problem: Ranging across a spectrum of issues that includes national and
international policy, planning of regional system, the location and design of specific
facilities, carrier management issues, regulatory, institutional and financial policies.
• Multi-objective: Aiming at national and regional economic development, urban
development, environment quality, and social quality, as well as service to users and
financial and economic feasibility.
• Multi-disciplinary: Drawing on the theories and methods of engineering, economics,
operations research, political science, psychology, other natural, and social sciences,
management and law.
Various modes
• Passenger transport: Regional passenger transportation, dealing with
inter-city passenger transport by air, rail, and highway and possible
with new modes.
• Freight transport: Routing and management, choice of different
modes of rail and truck.
• International transport: Issues such as containerization, inter-modal
co-ordination.
 Major disciplines of transportation
Transportation engineering can be broadly consisting of the four major parts:
1. Transportation Planning
2. Geometric Design
3. Pavement Design
4. Traffic Engineering

Other contributing disciplines

Transportation engineering can be broadly consisting of the four major parts:
• Public transportation
• Economics and Finance
• Environmental Impact assessment
• Accident analysis and mitigation
• Intelligent transportation system
 History of highway engineering
• Road transport is one of the most common mode of transport.
• Roads in the form of trackways, human pathways etc. were used even
from the pre-historic times.
• Since then many experiments were going on to make the riding safe and
comfort.
• Hence road construction became an inseparable part of many civilizations
and empires.
 Ancient roads
• The first mode of transport was by foot, then animals and later wheel driven by
animals.
• Initial development was for specific purposes leading to camp sites, food, streams for
drinking water etc. later extended to trade, business and material requisites.
• Since these loaded animals required more horizontal and vertical clearances than the
walking man, track ways emerged.
• The invention of wheel in Mesopotamian civilization led to the development of
animal drawn vehicles.
• Then it became necessary that the road surface should be capable of carrying greater
loads. Thus roads with harder surfaces emerged.
• To provide adequate strength to carry the wheels, the new ways tended to follow the
sunny drier side of a path. These have led to the development of foot-paths.
• After the invention of wheel, animal drawn vehicles were developed and the need for
hard surface road emerged.
• Traces of such hard roads were obtained from various ancient civilization dated as old
as 3500 BC. The earliest authentic record of road was found from Assyrian empire
constructed about 1900 BC.
Roman Roads
Roman Roads

British Roads

French Roads
 Highway planning in India
Jayakar Committee recommendations (1927)

• Committee found that the road development of the country has become beyond the
capacity of local governments and suggested that Central government should take the
proper charge considering it as a matter of national interest.
• They gave more stress on long term planning programme, for a period of 20 years
(hence called twenty year plan) that is to formulate plans and implement those plans
with in the next 20 years.
• One of the recommendations was the holding of periodic road conferences to discuss
about road construction and development. This paved the way for the establishment
of a semi-official technical body called Indian Road Congress (IRC) in 1934
• The committee suggested imposition of additional taxation on motor transport which
includes duty on motor spirit, vehicle taxation, license fees for vehicles plying for hire.
This led to the introduction of a development fund called Central road fund in 1929.
This fund was intended for road development.
• A dedicated research organization should be constituted to carry out research and
development work. This resulted in the formation of Central Road Research Institute
(CRRI) in 1950.
 Nagpur road congress 1943
The second World War saw a rapid growth in road traffic and this led to the
deterioration in the condition of roads. To discuss about improving the condition of
roads, the government convened a conference of chief engineers of provinces at
Nagpur in 1943. The result of the conference is famous as the Nagpur plan.
• A twenty year development programme for the period (1943-1963) was finalized. It
was the first attempt to prepare a co-ordinated road development programme in a
planned manner.
• The roads were divided into four classes:
• National highways
• State highways
• District roads
• Village roads
• The committee planned to construct 2 lakh km of road across the country within 20
years.
• They recommended the construction of star and grid pattern of roads throughout
the country.
• One of the objective was that the road length should be increased so as to give a
road density of 16kms per 100 sq.km
 Bombay road congress 1961
The length of roads envisaged under the Nagpur plan was achieved by the end of it,
but the road system was deficient in many respects. The changed economic,
industrial and agricultural conditions in the country warranted a review of the
Nagpur plan. Accordingly a 20-yearplan was drafted by the Roads wing of
Government of India, which is popularly known as the Bombay plan. The highlights of
the plan were:
• It was the second 20 year road plan (1961-1981)
• The total road length targeted to construct was about 10 lakhs km.
• Rural roads were given specific attention. Scientific methods of construction was
proposed for the rural roads. The necessary technical advice to the Panchayaths
should be given by State PWD’s.
• They suggested that the length of the road should be increased so as to give a road
density of 32kms/100 sq.km
• The construction of 1600 km of expressways was also then included in the plan.
 Lucknow road congress 1984
This plan has been prepared keeping in view the growth pattern envisaged in various
fields by the turn of the century. Some of the salient features of this plan are as given
below
• This was the third 20 year road plan (1981-2001). It is also called Lucknow road plan.
• It aimed at constructing a road length of 12 lakh kilometres by the year 1981
resulting in a road density of 82kms/100 sq.km
• The plan has set the target length of NH to be completed by the end of seventh,
eighth and ninth five year plan periods.
• It aims at improving the transportation facilities in villages, towns etc. such that no
part of country is farther than 50 km from NH.
• One of the goals contained in the plan was that expressways should be constructed
on major traffic corridors to provide speedy travel.
• Energy conservation, environmental quality of roads and road safety measures were
also given due importance in this plan.
PMGSY
• Rural Road Connectivity is not only a key component of Rural Development by
promoting access to economic and social services and thereby generating increased
agricultural incomes and productive employment opportunities in India.
• With a view to redressing the situation, Government had launched the Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana on 25th December, 2000.
• The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana 1 (PMGSY) is a 100% Centrally Sponsored
Scheme. Rs 0.75/ litre out of the Cess on High Speed Diesel (HSD) is earmarked for
this Programme.
• The primary objective is to provide all weather roads connecting villages of
population of 500 in plains and 250 in hills.
• Upgradation of the roads is not the major purpose of this scheme.