Highway and Railroad Engineering

Outline of Topics
1. Importance of Transportation
2. Different Modes of Transportation
3. Characteristics of Road Transport
4. Scope of Highway and Traffic Engineering

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this rating period, the students should be able to:
● Illustrate the importance of transportation; and
● Categorize the different modes of transportation.
=================================================================================
Topic 1: Importance of Transportation

Transportation

The movement of people and/or goods from one place to another to satisfy several competing
constraints and objectives.

The Highway and Its Development: A Brief History of Roads

The Romans, who discovered cement, expanded their vast empire through extensive road networks
radiating in many directions from the capital city of Rome.

Two primary reasons why highways are being constructed before:

I. For the movement of armies in their conquest and for defense against
invasion.
II. For transport of food and trade of goods between neighboring towns and cities.

Evolution of Transportation in the Philippines

● Pre-Colonial Era
○ Banwa
○ Paraw
○ Karit
○ Sakayan
○ Taklong
○ Kalanduyanaw
● Colonial Era
○ Galleon Ship
○ Train
○ Automobile
● World War II
○ Bicycle
○ Bus
○ Jeepney
● Post-war Transportation
○ Tricycle
 ○ LRT & MRT
○ Airplane
○ Motorcycle

Importance of Transportation (Max Fajardo Jr.)

a) They provide conveyance to the people, goods, raw materials, etc., to reach different parts of the
country.
b) Helps in agricultural, dairy, tourism, fisheries, and forestry development.
c) They are the only source of communication in hilly regions.
d) They improve the medical facilities.
e) Helps in maintaining law and order in a country.
f) They improve the land value.
g) They generate more employment opportunities.
h) They play an important role in defense activities.
i) They become the symbol of the country's progress and development.

Basic Road Markings

● Solid White Shoulder Line - This denotes the edge of the roadway. Any asphalt or concrete surface
beyond this line should not be used during the normal operation of your vehicle.
● Diagonal White Lines - an area filled with diagonal white lines and and bordered by solid white lines
is not considered part of the roadway, and vehicles are expected to stay off unless there is an
emergency. These areas are often used to ease the flow of traffic where roads diverge or intersect.
● Broken White Center Line or Lane Divider - This denotes the center of a two-lane road, or marks
the division between lanes on multi-lane roads. It is a reminder to stay in your lane. Straddling the
line is illegal and punishable under the law. As the line is “broken,” however, this means it is legal to
cross it when overtaking or changing lanes. Bear in mind that vehicles continuing in a straight line
within their lane automatically have right of way, so wait your turn.
● Solid White Center Line - This is often used to divide traffic on a two-way multi-lane road. As this is a
solid line, you are discouraged from overtaking over it unless the way is absolutely clear.
● Solid White Double Center Line - You are forbidden from overtaking over this line, but you may
make left turns over it, provided the way is clear. Remember, however, that oncoming traffic still
automatically has the right of way.
● Solid Yellow Double Center Line - As we noted a while back, this line indicates that it is unsafe to
overtake at any time. It is often found around blind curves or in areas where fast-moving two-way
traffic meets on an undivided road.
● Mixed Center Line / Solid Yellow with Broken Yellow or White Line - This indicates that only one side
can overtake--the side with the broken line. This is often found entering curves where the view is
obstructed coming from one direction, but is clear from the opposite side.
● Solid white lane divider - These are often found near intersections, and are reminders to stay in
lane. As a practice, if you’re turning at an intersection, it’s best to get into the turning lane 50m
before the intersection, while the lane divider is still broken.
● Directional Arrows - When combined with solid white lane dividers, they indicate which directions
you are allowed to go within a lane. If the arrow points forward only, you cannot make a turn from
that lane. If it points forward and to the side, you can either go straight or turn. If it points only to the
side, you must turn within that lane. Ignoring these arrows might just get you a ticket, or worse, get
you into an accident.
● Broken blue line Divider - This indicates the motorbike lane along major thoroughfares. The broken
 line indicates that you can move into and out of it, but the lane is preferentially for motorbikes.
● Solid yellow lane Divider - This indicates the bus lane on EDSA, but can also be used to indicate
bicycle lanes in some areas. Bicycle lanes may also be indicated by solid white lines on the side of
the road.
● Broken yellow lane Divider- This indicates areas where you can merge into the bus lane in
preparation for turning off EDSA.
● Mixed double lane divider/solid yellow with broken yellow or white line- This indicates that traffic on
the solid yellow side cannot cross lanes, while traffic on the other side may do so if the way is clear.
This is often used where smaller arteries merge into main roads or where feeder roads merge onto
the highway.
● Rumble strips - These tightly spaced horizontal white lines not only give your car’s suspension a bit
of a workout, they also indicate hazards ahead, such as dangerous curves or merging traffic.
● Solid white Horizontal line - This indicates where you must stop at a stoplight or stop sign.
● Zebra crossing - This indicates a pedestrian crossing zone. Stopping over this at a red light is a
traffic violation, so make sure to pay attention to those light timers!
● Yellow box - This box indicates the part of the intersection that must--by law--be kept open at all
times. Even if you have a green light, if the traffic is stopped on the other side ahead, it’s best to wait
until there’s enough space for you to clear the yellow box. Even in the absence of a light, the yellow
box must be kept clear.

Topic 2: Different Modes of Transportation

The earliest form of transportation is by foot. In today’s time, transportation may vary from land
travel to space travel.

Road and railway transport are developed on the land. Similarly, waterways and airways are
developed on water and air, respectively. Other means of transportation exist as well, such as the usage of
cables, pipes, and space.

Road Transportation

The first and most popular means of transportation is the road. From walking to horses to wagons to
bikes to cars to trucks, road transportation has existed longer than any other method and is the most often
used mode. Road transportation can be classified as transporting goods or materials, or people from one
place to another.

Roadways are the means of transportation on land. It consists of the modern highway as well as city
streets, feeder roads, and village roads, which can accommodate a wide variety of vehicles and
pedestrians.

This is the only mode that is providing a maximum service to one and all, making it possible to
provide door-to-door service only by road transport. This characteristic of road transport makes it the ideal
means for smaller loads over shorter distances, and as a result, road transportation is the sole mode that
does door-to-door deliveries. Additionally, it is the most flexible and adaptable to reach even the most
isolated regions that cannot be reached by rail, air, or water. Along with that, it is more accessible than other
modes and more convenient compared to train transit.

The primary drawback of road transportation is the external factors that affect its efficiency,
particularly the weather, traffic, and road rules—three factors that, for the most part, have little impact on
other modes.

Three Types:
1. Animal Driven
2. Man Driven
3. Motor Driven

Rail Transportation

Railways are the steel tracks that have been installed on the ground and over which trains travel.
Long and short distances, as well as city travel, have all been covered by railways.

Railway transportation is more efficient and advantageous than vehicle transportation for greater
distances since it can carry large quantities over long distances. Rail transport is available throughout the
country except in some hilly or mountainous regions. Additionally, they aren't hampered by traffic or bad
weather because they operate on fixed transit schedules and do not share their tracks with the public.

The downside involves the lack of tracks in rural areas and is slower than road transportation. The
main difference between Road and Rail Transportation is the unrestrained movement of road vehicles,
while rail vehicles are constrained to the path of the tracks.

Two Types of Trains:

1. Freight Trains that are used to transport goods
and materials between locations
2. Passenger Trains that are used to transport
people.

Maritime Transportation

Maritime or Water is the slowest among the modes of transportation. This kind of transportation
moves through lakes, rivers, canals, and oceans. Transport of people and goods across waterways is
accomplished with the use of ships, boats, steamers, sailboats, etc. Maritime transportation is also the most
effective mode to move large quantities of cargo over long distances. On the downside, as stated before, it
is slow moving and requires large investment on ships. It is also adversely affected by weather conditions.

Two Types:
1. Inland Water Transport - uses boats, launches, barges, streamers, etc., to carry goods and
passengers on river and canal routes. These routes are called inland waterways and are used in
domestic or home trade to carry bulky goods. Inland waterway transport by rivers and canals is not
suitable for small traders, as transporting goods from one place to another by this mode of transport
will usually take longer.
2. Ocean Transportation - refers to movement of goods and passengers with the help of ships
through sea or ocean waterways. It plays an important role in the development of international trade,
since it started what we called globalization.
Air Transportation

Air Transportation is one of the fastest modes of transportation. Air transportation provides comfort
and also saves time to the passengers. It carries goods and passengers through airways by using different
aircrafts like passenger aircraft, cargo aircraft, helicopters, light aircraft etc.

However, this system is more costly compared to all other modes of transportation. The use of air
transportation is not without its flaws. Currently, air transportation is still by far the most costly method of
transportation. Additionally, the weight and volume of goods must be kept to a minimum, due to the nature
of air travel, in order to maintain the safety of the journey. Air transport also produces the biggest amount of
emissions of any mode. It is also affected by adverse weather conditions.

Two Types:
1. Domestic Air Transportation
2. International Air Transportation

Others

1. Pipeline Transportation is a method of transportation which involves movement of solid, liquid or

gaseous products over long distances through pipelines.

Pipelines play a very critical role in the transportation process because most of the oil moves
through pipelines for at least part of the route. After the crude oil is separated from natural gas,
pipelines transport the oil to another carrier or directly to a refinery. It operates nonstop and has the
highest fixed cost and lower variable cost.

However, difficult terrain affects the construction of pipelines such as mountainous terrain
and those that change in elevation. Weather conditions also affect pipeline transportation which can
later cause serious problems for the project.
 Example: Batangas to Manila Natural Gas Pipeline (Left) and Subic Pipeline (Right)

2. Cable Transportation is a broad class of transport modes that have cables, and transport
passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars.

The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or
by drives within the object being moved on cableways. On the downside it is weather-sensitive

Example: Ski Lifts (Left) and Picnic Grove Tagaytay Zipline and Cable Car (Right)

3. Space Transportation is a type of transportation by means of vehicles designed to operate in free

space outside the earth's atmosphere. \

The Space Transportation System (STS), which began in 1981, consists of a fleet of
reusable shuttles which can be used to deploy manned spacelab modules. Despite its advantages
that brought us, its cost and exposure to natural dangers makes it impossible for public use.

Example: Space Shuttle

Topic 3: Characteristics of Road Transport

Road transport - transportation of goods and personnel from one place to the other on roads.

Road - a route between two destinations, which has been either paved or worked on to enable
transportation by way of motorized and non-motorised carriages.
Characteristics of road transport includes:

1. Roads are used by various types of road vehicles.

Road vehicles like cars, buses, trucks, two and three wheeled automobiles, pedal cycles and animal
drawn vehicles.

2. Road transport requires a relatively small investment for the government.

Motor vehicles are much cheaper than other carriers like rail locomotives and wagons, water and air
carriers. Construction and maintenance of roads is also cheaper than that of railway tracks, docks,
harbors and airports.

3. Road transport offers complete freedom to road users.

This flexibility of changes in location, direction, speed, and timing of travel is not available in other
modes of transport. It offers flexibility of changes in direction of travel as per need, comfort and
convenience.

4. Road transport saves time.

It saves time of travel especially for short distances and light traffic because the road vehicles can
be taken up to or very near to the point of destination.

5. Road transport is subjected to a high degree of accidents.

Speed of movement is directly related to the severity of an accident. The road safety decreases with
increasing dispersion in speed.

6. Road transport is the only means of transport that offers itself to the whole community alike.
It is the nearest mode of transport for people or the public.

Advantages of Transportation

Here's a summary of the benefits of roadway travel:

1. It is the most popular and convenient form of transportation. It is often the most economical
way to move goods over short and medium distances.
2. Roads are usually the most direct and fastest way to get from one place to another, making
them ideal for the transport of people, animals, and goods.
3. It is also very flexible and can be adapted to almost any journey. It is also able to provide a
door-to-door service, making it a very attractive option for many different types of
businesses.
4. It is a very safe form of transportation, with extensive safety measures in place to protect
both the driver and cargo.
5. The fuel efficiency of cars is much higher than that of trains or ships.
6. Cars can easily go through small streets and alleys, which are difficult to access by other
vehicles.
7. Cars can also be used to carry heavy loads, and they are capable of carrying goods over
long distances.
Disadvantages of Transportation

Here's a summary of some of the disadvantages of road travel:

1. It is subject to traffic conditions, which can often cause delays.

2. It is also subject to weather conditions, which can also cause delays and disruptions.
3. Roads are subject to wear and tear over time, and require periodic maintenance to keep
them in good condition.
4. Pollution emitted by cars contributes to air pollution, which has a negative impact on public
health.

Topic 4: Scope of Highway and Traffic Engineering

Highway engineering deals with various phases like:

● Development
- This talks about the developments needed after finishing highway and road projects to ensure
safety and serviceability.
● Planning
- Constructing highways and roads requires adequate plans and research.
● Alignment
- This is about vertical and horizontal alignments which will be tackled furthermore in the report.
● Highway material
- Highway engineering also talks about the most efficient and safest materials to be used in
building roads.
● Traffic control
- It is about the supervision of the movement of people, goods, or vehicles to ensure efficiency
and safety.
● Highway geometric design and location
- The geometric design of the highway includes the principal elements of highway alignment,
x-sections and adjacent roadside environment.
● Pavement design
- A highway pavement is a structure consisting of superimposed layers of processed materials
above the natural soil sub-grade, whose primary function is to distribute the applied vehicle
loads to the sub-grade. The pavement structure should be able to provide a surface of
acceptable riding quality, adequate skid resistance, favorable light reflecting characteristics,
and low noise pollution. The ultimate aim is to ensure that the transmitted stresses due to
wheel load are sufficiently reduced, so that they will not exceed bearing capacity of the
sub-grade. Two types of pavements are generally recognized as serving this purpose,
namely flexible pavements and rigid pavements.
● Construction and maintenance
- It is preserving and keeping each type of roadway, roadside, structures as nearly as possible in
its original condition as constructed or as subsequently improved and the operation of
highway facilities and services to provide satisfactory and safe transportation.
● Economic distraction
- Highway economic analysis, also known as highway project appraisal, involves quantification
of the costs of and benefits from a scheme over a selected time horizon and evaluation by a
common yardstick. The technique is also known as benefit-cost analysis.
● Financial and administration
- For the economic analysis of a highway project, a comparative economic study of different
alternatives of either a new project or an improvement to an existing road is needed. For this,
it is necessary to assess the benefits to the road-user on completion of the improvements or
the new roadway, and the cost of the highway transport in all its aspects. A highway affords
several benefits to the general public or the road-users. Some may be direct or primary
benefits and some others indirect or secondary benefits. Primary benefits can be quantified
in terms of their monetary value, but secondary benefits cannot be treated thus.
● Quality control practices
- Quality assurance and quality control are vital parts of highway runoff water-quality monitoring
projects. To be effective, project quality assurance must address all aspects of the project,
including project management responsibilities and resources, data quality objectives,
sampling and analysis plans, data-collection protocols, data quality-control plans,
data-assessment procedures and requirements, and project outputs. Quality control ensures
that the data quality objectives are achieved as planned. The historical development and
current state of the art of quality assurance and quality control concepts described in this
report can be applied to evaluation of data from prior projects.

On the other hand, traffic engineering will talk about:

● Project planning
- From a small road to big structure and highways planning is the first and foremost thing that
needs to be done. Planning becomes more important when sources of funds and materials
are limited in quantity.
● Roadway and intersection design
- This explores intersection which are a critical aspect of street design as the point where
motorist, bicycle, and pedestrian movements converge. Successful intersection design
addresses all mobility and safety goals as well as opportunities to enhance the public realm.
● Construction, operations, and research
- This is important in order to monitor construction of the project, operations of the highway after
construction, and to have continuous research before, on, and after a project.
● Highway safety and accident analysis
- It is the effort made to determine why the accident occurred from the data available and the
analysis of accident reconstruction studies.. The purpose is to find the possible causes of
accidents related to driver, vehicle, and roadway.
● Traffic index
- It is defined as the "composite index of time consumed in traffic due to job commute, estimation
of time consumption dissatisfaction, CO2 consumption estimation in traffic and overall
inefficiencies in the traffic system”.
● Peak hour factor
- PHF illustrates what the traffic flow looks like in an area. Traffic engineers use PHF as an input
in a slew of traffic-related calculations such as Level of Service (LOS), determining the
number of lanes needed for a highway or road based on traffic flow, or signal timing, just to
name a few. To program traffic lights and signals effectively, you need to know which
direction has the most amount of cars at what time of the day.
● Spacing of vehicles
- Spacing is the physical distance, usually reported in feet or meters, between the front bumper
of the leading vehicle and the front bumper of the following vehicle. Spacing complements
headway, as it describes the same space in another way. Spacing is the product of speed
and headway.
● Rate of flow
- Traffic flow is the study of the movement of individual drivers and vehicles between two points
and the interactions they make with one another.
● Radius of curvature
- Computing the accurate radius of curvature in highways is important. This situation occurs
where the alignment of a roadway or railway changes its direction because of unavoidable
objects or conditions. There are two types of curves in highway construction which range
from horizontal curve and vertical curve.
● Design speed
- The design speed of a road is the maximum speed that a vehicle can safely travel on that road
under perfect conditions. It is created based on what class the road falls under, the
conditions of the road itself, and the conditions of the surrounding land. Other factors are
also taken into consideration, such as the maximum speed allowed by law.
● Severity ratio
- Severity rate is a safety metric which companies and projects use to measure how critical or
serious the injuries and illnesses sustained in a period of time were by using the number of
lost days (on average) per accident as a proxy for severity.

Group Members:
Bandong, Marianne
Emata, Jennie Mae
Naing, James Philip
Pasacay, Marisse
Quilas, Daphne

BSCE 3C