CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Lecture 1

Overview of Transportation
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Objectives

1. Describe transportation engineering and the transportation system.

2. Identify various modes and elements of transportation.
3. Identify and describe the role of a transportation engineer.
4. Discuss some of the issues in transportation engineering.
5. Identify various transportation organizations.
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Overview of Transportation
• Read Chapter 1 & 2 of your textbook
• Career Opportunities
• Transportation/traffic engineering
• Transportation planning
• Transportation construction
• Operations and management
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Service
:

• History
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transportation Engineering
ITE Definition

Transportation engineering is the application

of technology and scientific principles to the
planning, functional design, operation, and
management of facilities for any mode of
transportation for the safe, rapid, comfortable,
convenient, economical, and environmentally
compatible movement of people and goods.
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Progress in Transportation
Walking (10-25 miles/day)
Horseback (4 mph in the 1800’s)
Pipelines (first introduced in 1825)
Roads (earliest road is Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania)
Electrically propelled vehicles (>10 mph in the 1880’s)
Canals (waterways)
Railroads
Cars (first auto in 1886 by Daimler and Benz)
Aviation (mail carriers)
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Modes of Transportation

• Highways (truck, bus, automobiles, bicycle)

• Railway (railroads, rail transit)
• Air (air carriers, general aviation)
• Maritime (ships, barges, ferries)
• Continuous flow systems (belts, cables, pipelines)
• Telecommunications
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Purpose of Transportation
• Transportation aims to move people and goods and provides
• Accessibility
• Mobility
• Safety
• Efficient use of resources
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Purpose of Transportation
• Example showing the relationship of functionally classified systems in traffic mobility and land access.

Increasing Mobility Freeway

Major Arterial
Minor Arterial
Major Collector
Minor Collector

Local Street

Increasing Access
(Accessibility)
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Passenger Rail Service

• Intercity
• High Speed Rail
• Commuter Rail
• Heavy Rail Rapid Transit
• Light Rail Transit
• Others – Cable Systems,
Monorails, Automated
Guideway (Guided) Transit,
others
CE 426 | Transportation Engineering
CE 426 | Transportation Engineering
CE 426 | Transportation Engineering
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Railway Operations
• Intercity, High Speed Rail, and Commuter Rail
• Basically operated over portions of the North American freight rail network or on
dedicated passenger lines that are contiguous to this network
• Use AREMA technical standards for trackwork and AAR technical standards for
vehicles
• Tend to operate at higher speeds and on longer routes but with lower frequencies
• Use equipment that is either completely or largely compatible with freight equipment
• Subject to regulations of the FRA

American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA)

Association of American Railroads (AAR)
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transit Operations
• Heavy Rail Rapid Transit and Light Rail Transit
• Operate on tracks that are dedicated to passenger service (no freight operations)
• Trackwork and vehicle standards may be AREMA and AAR based, but more typically
reflect transit practice with use of sharper track curvature and lighter vehicles
• Tend to operate at lower speeds and shorter routes but with higher frequencies
• Typically managed and operated by a local or regional transit agency or department
• The transit agency will also manage and operate an extensive network of buses as part
of the local transit system
• Federal and State governments will provide funding and technical assistance
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

“Travel by Train”
• The Golden Age of Intercity Passenger Rail
• Late 19th and early 20th century rail was the primary passenger
transportation mode for medium and long distances
• Famous passenger trains, stations, hotels, and resorts
• 1916 – over 250,000 rail track miles in the U.S.
• 1920 – passenger rail travel in U.S. reached an all-time high with 1.2
million passengers per day
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Light Rail
• Electric powered railway
• Runs at street level, on
elevated structures, or
through tunnels, in
exclusive right-of-way
• Can have varied train
lengths
• Can expand with
increasing demand
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Bus Rapid Transit

• Longer than regular bus
• Runs on dedicated
busways
• A transit mall or bus street
can be created in city
centers by dedicating all
lanes of a city street to
the exclusive use of buses.
• Low-cost infrastructure
elements
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Components of a Transportation System

• Physical elements • Operating rules

• Infrastructure • Schedules
• Vehicles • Crew assignment
• Equipment • Connection patterns
• Control systems • Cost/level of service tradeoffs
• Contingency plans
• Human resources
• Operators
• Maintenance
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transportation Organizations
Federal agencies Regulatory agencies

• U.S. Department of Transportation - principal assistant to the • regulates the transportation activities
president in all matters relevant to federal transportation
program. • Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) – airline industry

• The current USDOT secretary is Anthony Foxx. • Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) – U.S. and foreign vessels

• U.S. Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) has • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) – oil and natural gas pipelines
jurisdiction over transportation activities through legislation and
budget. • Surface Transportation Board

State and Local agencies and Authorities Professional Societies

• State of California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) is • American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials
responsible for planning, building, and maintaining California (AASHTO) produces manuals, specifications standards, and current practices
Highway System and programs in other modes such as rail, in highway design.
transit, etc.
• Transportation Research Board responsible for promoting research in
• local agencies are responsible for carrying out specific transportation and disseminating the results to the professional community
transportation functions within a prescribed geographic area.
• Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) promote research in
transportation
• American Rail way Engineering and Maintenance of Way (AREMA)
• American Association of Railroads (AAR)
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Transportation Legislation
• Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916 • Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, 1970
• authorized funds for intercity highway construction • appropriations for large-scale urban transit projects
• initiated state road-building projects • authorized use of highway funds for bus transit
• prohibited aid to urban areas with population > 2500 projects
• established basis for federal-state cooperation in road • National Environmental Protection Act of 1969
construction
• required draft Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) to
• required approval of state legislature to obtain and use federal all affected state and local agencies, interest groups
highway-aids funds and public citizens
• Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 • Federal-Aid Urban System Act of 1970
• started aid to urban road systems • increase federal share of non-interstate project to 70
• new appropriation category, URBAN System, added to Primary percent
system and Secondary System
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• funding for creation of 40,0000 miles of interstate highway
system • required consideration of special needs of elderly and
handicapped for transit systems
• Federal Highway Act of 1956 • required accessibility for handicapped on all transit
• created Highway Trust Fund for the construction of interstate modes
highways
• Clean Air Act of 1970 (Amended in 1990)
• linked federal tax income (user fee) with highway expenditures
• created Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Highway Act of 1962 • authorized ambient air quality standards
• created the 3-C planning process (Continuing, Comprehensive,
Cooperative)
• construction o 42,500 mile interstate highway begins
• annual certification requirements for 3-C process required
starting 1971
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transportation Legislation
• Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) • Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21)
• gave states and urban areas flexibility with respect to • enacted in 1998 to extend ISTEA
transfer of fund between transit, highways, and other • $218 billion authorization for highways, transit, highway
projects safety, and motor vehicle carriers programs over the 6-year
• provided increased funding for research in new technology period 1998-2003.
(ITS, IVHS, MAGLEV) and alternative fuel
• called for the creation of the national highway system
• introduced intermodal transportation • Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) – October 2005
• Intermodalism refers to the provision of connections among
different modes (such as adequate highways to ports or bus • TEA 21 reauthorization, places great emphasis on safety
feeder services to rail transit) in order to attain a seamless • $247 billion authorization for highways, transit, highway
system. safety, and motor vehicle carriers programs over for six
years.
• Improve Highway Safety
• National Highway Designation Act of 1995 • Expand State and Local Flexibility and Decision-
• formally established the National Highway System. making Authority
• NHS is approximately 157,000 miles (4% of all public roads) • Improve Project Delivery
and is composed of 46,000 miles interstate system, 5,000 • Improve the Movement of Freight
miles (21 congressionally designated) high priority corridors,
89,000 miles key-primary and urban arterials, 15,000 miles • Expand and Encourage Innovative Financing
non-interstate highways, 2,000 miles connectors. • Improve Oversight and Accountability
• Highway Research and Intelligent Transportation
Systems
 P.L. 114-94
Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation (FAST) Act
Key Highway Provisions
 FAST Act
• Signed by President Obama on December 4, 2015
• First long-term authorization act in a decade
• Result of bipartisan cooperation and compromise
• Provides 5 years of funding certainty for infrastructure
planning and investment
• Authorizes $305 B (all modes) over FY 2016-2020
• $70 B in transfers to keep the Highway Trust Fund
solvent; fully “paid for” (offset) by unrelated savings
23
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Highway contract authority grows each year

Highway Authorizations from Trust Fund (billions)

$50 $46.0 $47.1
$44.0 $45.0
$43.1
$41.0
$40

$30

•
$20

$10

$0
FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Tools and Techniques for Analyzing Transportation Systems

• Time- space diagram : Simple but effective traffic tool that tracks the
position of a single vehicle over time along a one-dimensional travelway.
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Tools and Techniques for Analyzing Transportation Systems

 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Tools and Techniques for Analyzing Transportation Systems

• Probability Theory
• Continuous
• Normal distribution
• Discrete
• Poisson distribution
• Queuing
• Accident estimation
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transportation Services Index

TSI measures the movement
of freight and passengers.
The index, which is
seasonally adjusted,
combines available data on
freight traffic, as well as
passenger travel, that have
been weighted to yield a
monthly measure of
transportation services
output.
 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Transportation Employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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U.S. Highway Vehicle Miles Traveled

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Total Energy Consumed by Transportation Sector

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Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) vs. Vehicle Emissions

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Transportation Fatalities

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Average Time Spent in a Vehicle by Age, 2001 and 2009 NHTS

2009 National Household Travel Survey

 CE 426 | Transportation Engineering

Distribution of Trips by Mode