TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING -1

INTRODUCTION

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IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPORTATION
ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION
• Throughout the history of the world, the evolution and advancements in
transportation facilities have been closely linked with the development of
human beings.

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• Transportation is the key infrastructure of a country.
• Transportation contributes to the economic, social and cultural
development of any country.
• A country's economic status depends up on the condition and service
rendered by its roads, railways, air ports, ports, pipelines and shipping.
• Transportation is important for the economic development of any country.
The rate at which country’s economy grows is very closely linked to the
rate at which the transport sector grows.
• Every commodity produced, whether it is agricultural or industrial product
needs to be transported from production to distribution.
• At production stage:
• Carrying raw materials like seeds, manure, coal, steel, machines etc.
• At distribution stage:
• Transport the products from production centres (farms and factories) to the
marketing centres and later to the retailers and then to the consumers.
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• Inadequate transportation facilities retard the growth of socio-
economic and cultural development of the country.

• Role of transportation is to develop the economic, social and cultural

growth of a country. Main objective of a good transportation system is
to provide safe, economic, efficient transportation facility for the
transport of passengers and goods.

• Economic activities are the processes in which the products are utilized
to satisfy human needs.
• Two important factors well known in economic activity are:
1. Production or supply
2. Consumption for human wants or distribution
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• The role of transportation in economic activity is to meet the demand
for goods and also to enhance the efficiency of production and
distribution through efficient transport system thus lowering the cost of
the products. The cost of the transport substantially influences the
consumer price of the commodities.

2 = Elasticity of transport demand with

• Rate of economic growth = r% respect to GNP
• Rate of road transport growth = 2r% Gross National Product

Year Rate of economic growth Rate of growth in road transport

1951-1980 3.5% 7.5%
1980 5% 10%

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Role of transportation in social activities are:
• Reduction in sectionalism within the country and also with other
countries.
• Improvement in living condition of under-developed colonies and tribes
since the distances are apparently reduced with reduction in travel
time.
• Increase in knowledge of people by frequent travel to within and
outside the country which also improves trade and cultural exchangeby
learning from other parts of the society.
• Improved transportation facilities in urban areas attract population
from other areas by providing employment opportunities, superior
facilities for education, medical care etc. thus resulting in economic
activity.
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• Adequate mass transport facilities required for day to day activities in
urban area.
• Efficient rapid transit facilities are necessary for sub-urban and inter-city
long distance travel for business, social needs and tourist activities.
• Efficient transport system in essential to provide aid to areas affected by
an emergency, for the defence and strategic needs of the country.
• Transportation gives place and time utility for economic activities. Helps
in preservation of quality of goods. It is required for exploitation of
natural resources.
• Transportation helps in the progress and advancement of the country and
it is essential for the well being of the community.

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Role of transportation in rural areas:
➢70% population are living in rural areas in India.
➢Improvement in transportation facility in rural areas help in overall
development of the country.
• The fertilizers and other inputs for agriculture and cottage industries
could reach the rural population easily and the products of villages can
be sold at the nearest market centres for more remunerable prices,
resulting in faster economic growth and decreased wastage.
• Migration of population from villages (rural area) to urban area can be
reduced by providing better facilities for education, health care and
other social needs, thus helping in balanced development of the
country as a whole.

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The impact of rural road connectivity from the recent rural roads
development programmes in the country are as follows:
❖Improvement in transportation services leads to improved access to market
centres for the rural producers, better availability of farm inputs ay reduced
prices.
❖Diversification of agricultural produce with improved market access promotes
shift in favour of cash crops and commercialization of agricultural activities.
❖Diversification of livelihood opportunities with better connectivity enhances
employment opportunities in the non-agricultural sectors.
❖Improved services with improved road connectivity, enhances access to
education, health and financial services.
❖Increase in the outreach due to improved rural roads facilitates better
availability of public services and functionaries in rural areas.

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DIFFERENT MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
Three basic media of transportation:
• Land
• Water and
• Air

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Four major modes of transportation:
1. Road ways/highways for road transport.
• Surface
• Elevated
2. Railways for rail transport
• Surface
• Underground
• Elevated
• Light Rail Transit (Tram)
3. Air ways for air transport
4. Waterways for water transport
• Coastal shipping
• International shipping
• Inland water transport

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Other modes of transportation
• Pipe lines • Pipe lines are used for the transport of water, other fluids,
other materials and solid particles.
• Elevators • Mine elevators for transporting men and material.
• Belt conveyors • Belt conveyors in transportation of cement, sand etc.
• Cable cars for transportation of men and material
• Cable cars and • Aerial rope ways for transportation of goods
• Aerial rope ways

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Road Transportation
Advantages:
✓It gives maximum flexibility of service from origin to destination.
✓ Apart from the road vehicles, pedestrians also make use of the facilities of the road
system.

✓ Road transport is the only mode which caters for the movement of passengers and
goods independently right from the place of origin up to the destination of any trip
along the land.

✓ Possibility of door to door service is only by road transport.

✓ Road network is essential to serve as feeder system for all other modes of
transportation. Apart from the road vehicles, pedestrians also make use of the
facilities of the road system.
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Hence it is necessary to develop well planned road network throughout the country
so as to serve both as an independent transport system and also as feeder transport
for other modes of transport.

Limitations :

 The rate of petroleum energy consumption (for transportation of unit weight by

unit distance) is higher than for transportation by railways and roadways.

 The rate emission of pollutants is also higher than the other modes of transport.

The branch of transportation engineering that deals with the planning, design,
construction and maintenance of roadway facilities is termed as Highway
Engineering.

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Rail Transport
Railways have been developed both for long distance transportation of
goods and passengers and also for urban travel.
• The concept of rail transportation is movement of multiple wagons or
passenger bogies fitted with steel wheels running over two parallel
steel rails of the railway track.

Rails
Sleeper
ballast

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• The resistance to traction along the railway track for the movement of
steel wheels is much lower than that along the more uneven road
surface for the movement of road vehicles with rubber tyres.
• The energy require to travel unit load through unit distance by the
railway is lesser of that required by road.
• Therefore full advantage of rail
transportation should be taken
for the transportation of bulk
goods and passengers, especially
for long distance on land routes
and where the railway tracks are
available.

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Advantages:
✓ The energy require to travel unit load through unit distance by the railway is lesser
of that required by road.
✓ Railways can transport large number of passengers and large quantity goods at a
time.
✓Rail transportation between the railway stations is economical and comfortable
both for passengers and goods on long haul distances.
✓It also serve as mass rapid transport for the commuters to travel from the suburban
areas to the urban centres and for travel within the urban area of large cities.
Limitations:
 Railways should depend on roadways for accessibility or as a feeder network.
The branch of transportation engineering that deals with the planning, design,
construction and maintenance of railway track, rail stations and the yards including
control systems and safety devices is termed as Railway Engineering.
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Water Transport
Waterways include transportation by oceans, rivers, canals and lakes
for the movement of ships and boats.
• Waterway is needed to operate the ships and boats on sea routes
between the harbours and ports.
• Harbours are terminals built with components such as docks, quays,
wharfs etc.
• Harbours provide shelter to the ships and the crews also facilitate for
loading, unloading and storage of cargo and for carrying out routine
and major maintenance of the vessels.
• Inland water transportation is made possible along the rivers, canals
and lakes by boat and ferry service, that operate between small ports

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• Inland waterways being of relatively shallow depth, the freight is mostly
carried on barges and are hauled by towing boats.
• Transportation by water offers minimum resistance to traction and
hence need minimum energy to haul unit load through unit distance.
Advantages:
✓ The amount of energy required to propel a vessel on water is much
lesser than that required on land and is far lesser than required to keep
an aircraft air-borne.
✓Water transportation is more energy efficient.
✓Highly useful to transport bulk cargo of relatively low value, mainly
because of the slow travel speed and low transportation cost for the
bulk cargo.

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Limitations:
Water transportation is very slow.
Depends on road and rail transport as feeder system to transfer goods and
passengers to and from harbours and ports.
The branch of transportation engineering that deals with the planning, design,
construction and maintenance of docks and harbours is termed as Harbour
Engineering.

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Air Transport
Air transportation is through aircrafts and carriers.
• It caters for the movement of passengers and freight between the
airports.
• Airports are developed to provide facilities for the aircraft for take-off,
landing, parking and carrying out maintenance works.
• Runway, taxiway, terminal facilities, visual aid, control and safety system:
Essential components of airport.
• For shortest hauls, helicopters are used heliports are developed for their
landing and take-off.
The branch of transportation engineering that deals with the planning,
design, construction and maintenance of airports to cater for the needs of
aircraft that are expected to make use of these airports is termed as
Airport Engineering.
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Advantages:
✓Air transportation is the fastest among the four modes.
✓Provides more comfortable and fast travel resulting in substantial saving in travel
time for passengers between the airports.
✓Shipment of high value freight on long hauls is possible in the shortest time.
✓Unlike other modes of transport, air transport allows continuous journey over the
land and water, even across inaccessible places in between two airports.
Limitations:
Energy requirement and the overall operating expenses for air transportation are
the highest compared to other modes.
Its operation is very much affected by weather conditions such as severe storms
and thick fog.
Depends on road or railways as feeder systems.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF ROAD TRANSPORT
• Roads are used for various types of road vehicles.
• Road transport infrastructure requires the lowest initial investment,
initial cost of construction and cost of maintenance in comparison to
that for the infrastructure of other transportation modes.
• Roads offer complete freedom to the road users to make use of the
roadway facilities at any time convenient to them or to move vehicles
according to the need and convenient.
• The flexibility of changes in location, direction, speed and timings of
travel is not available to other modes of transport.
• It is possible to travel directly from the respective places of origin to the
destination by road vehicles. For short distances in particular, road
transport saves time and is most convenient.
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• The road safety decreases with increasing running speed. Road transport
is prone to ahigh rate of accidents due to the flexibility of movements
offered to the road users, with a wide range of travel speed along the
same roadway.
• However, in other modes of transport, in spite of various safety measures
and strict controls in the movements, major accidents do occur even in
the form of head-on collisions and the accidents in these modes are more
severe and disastrous.
• Road transport is the only mode that offers facilities to the whole section
of society

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IMPORTANCE OF ROADS IN INDIA
Significance of planned road network
• It is essential to provide well planned road network connecting all the towns
and village for the balanced development of a nation.

• The prosperity around the urban areas alone does not reflect the economic and
living condition of people of the country as a whole.

• Overall economic progress can be achieved, only if reasonably adequate

transport facilities are made available between the villages and other district
head quarters and commercial centres.

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• This is possible only by providing a well planned network of all-weather roads
in the rural areas with good maintenance.

Hence well planned road network is highly significant in developing countries

and hence it is essential to upgrade the road transportation system to a higher
level.

Also, road development generates considerable employment potential which is

of additional significance to the developing country.

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Progress of road development in India
Following are the reasons for poor road development
1. There was no planned development of roads in the country up to the
initiation of First Twenty-Year Road Development Plan or the Nagpur Road
Plan in the year 1943. only during the five-year plan since 1951, the
development works were speeded up.

2. After Independence, it was not possible for the country to provide

adequate funds for the overall development of roads as it was necessary to
give higher priority for the various other sector.

3. During the past five decades until recently, the investment being made on
the road development programme in the country has been much lower
than even the total revenue from the road transport sector.

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• The total road length in the country has increased, from 4 lakh km in the year
1951 to about 33 lakhs km by the year 2001 and to over 42 lakhs until
recently.

• Though this is a remarkable achievement, the road connectivity to small

villages, particularly in remote rural areas of the country is not adequate.

• Further the riding quality of the carriage way or the road pavement and also
the road geometrics of majority of the existing roads in India are not
satisfactory.

• Paved surface in good condition can contribute to 15 to 40 percent savings in

vehicle operation cost compared to roads with poor surface condition.

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• Majority of road length in India continue to remain in poor condition due to
sub-standard road geometrics and poor riding quality due to the presence of
undulations on the pavement surface.

• The main cause for the poor condition of the roads in India is because of the
insufficient funds available from time to time for updating and proper
maintenance of the existing roads.

• Only 35 to 40 % of the total revenue from the road transport sector in the
country has been invested on the road maintenance works and for the road
development plans.

• There is a great need and considerable scope for higher investments to

upgrade the existing roads and for the planned development of road transport
in India.
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SCOPE OF HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Highway engineering deals with various phases :

• Development, planning and location: Historical background; Basis for planning;

Master plan; Engineering surveys and Highway alignment.

• Highway design, geometrics and structure: Road geometrics and their design;
Rigid and flexible pavements; design factors; overlay design; design of
drainage system.

• Traffic performance and its control: Traffic study analyses; Need for new road
links; Traffic regulation and control; Intersection design and their controls with
signs, signals, islands and markings.
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• Materials, construction and Maintenance: Highway materials and mix design;
Highway construction; earth work, construction of different types of
pavements; Earthen, soil stabilized, water bound macadam, Bituminous
surfaces and cement concrete roads; Pavement failures; Pavement evaluation;
Maintenance of pavement and drainage system.

• Economics, finance and administration: Road user cost and economic analysis
of highway projects; Pavement types and maintenance measures; Highway
finance and phasing of expenditures; Administration.

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION
National highway development programme
• Largest highway project ever undertaken by the country

• Project is implemented by National Highway Authority (NHAI) of India.

• The project proposed seven phases costing more than 2,35,690 crores during
the period 2005-2015.

• The programme proposed four/six lane of National Highways along highly

trafficked corridors and up-gradation of selected high density corridors.

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Expressways
• Is essential to provide connectivity across key states in the country.

• The ministry of road transport and highways proposed construction of 15,600

km of expressway network in three phases by 2022.

• Several new alignments for the expressways each covering lengths of 500 to
700 km are proposed.

• Target of 2000 to 3000 km construction of expressways per year is proposed

and all these projects are to be taken up under Build-Operate and Transfer
(BOT) format.

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Rural roads
• Recognising the importance of rural road network and its development, rural road
development programme “Pradhan Mntri Gram Sadak Yojana” PMGSY started in
India in the year 2001.

• Objective is to provide all-weather road connectivity to all villages hhaving

population over 1000 by the year 2003 and to villages with population 500 and
above by the year 2007.

• This target has been broadly achieved.

• This is one of the largest rural development programmes ever taken up in the
country.

• The PMGSY became a part of the Bharat Nirman Programme.

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• When PMGSY was launched in 2000, it was estimated that about 3,30,000
habitations out of a total of 8,25,000 habitations were without any all-
weather access.

Comparative study of road statistics

• Road statistics give an idea of the stage of road development of a country.
• It is presented on the basis of area of the country (road density expressed as
km per sq. km area) and on the basis of population of the country (km per
lakh population).

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