Transport (British English) or transportation (American English) is the movement of people and goods from one place to another. The term is derived from the Latin words “trans” (across) and “portare” (to carry).
Transportation engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering which deals with the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide the safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods(transport).
As per American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), there are six divisions related to transportation engineering i.e. Highway, Air Transportation, Pipeline, Waterway, Port, Aerospace, Coastal & Ocean and Urban Transportation. Transportation engineering is the planning, construction and operation of systems for moving goods and people by highway, rail, air, water and pipelines as well as urban and intermodal transportation.
From the beginning of history, human sensitivity has revealed an urge for mobility leading to a measure of Society's progress. The history of this mobility or transport is the history of civilization. For any country to develop with right momentum, modern and efficient transportation network has an important role. Mobility is a basic human need. From the times immemorial, everyone travels either for food or leisure. A closely associated need is the transport of raw materials to a manufacturing unit or finished goods for consumption. Transportation fulfills these basic needs of humanity. Transportation plays a major role in the development of the human civilization. For instance, one could easily observe the strong correlation between the evolution of human settlement and the proximity of transport facilities. 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. Transportation has always played an essential role in the development of society, originally with regard to trade routes and harbours, but more recently with regard to land- and air-based systems as well. It is the transportation engineer's responsibility to plan, design, build, operate and maintain these systems of transport, in such a way as to provide for the safe, efficient and convenient movement of people and goods.
The planning aspects of transport engineering relate to urban planning and involve technical forecasting decisions and political factors. Technical forecasting of passenger travel usually involves an urban transportation planning model, requiring the estimation of trip generation (how many trips for what purpose), trip distribution (destination choice, where is the traveler going), mode choice (what mode is being taken) and route assignment (which streets or routes are being used). More sophisticated forecasting can include other aspects of traveler decisions, including auto ownership, trip chaining (the decision to link individual trips together in a tour) and the choice of residential or business location (known as land use forecasting). Passenger trips are the focus of transport engineering because they often represent the peak of demand on any transportation system.
Transportation engineering primarily involves planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of transportation facilities. The facilities support air, highway, railroad, pipeline, water and even space transportation. The design aspects of transport engineering include the sizing of transportation facilities (how many lanes or how much capacity the facility has), determining the materials and thickness used in pavement designing the geometry (vertical and horizontal alignment) of the roadway (or track). Beside these operations planning, logistics, network analysis, financing and policy analysis are also important to transportation engineering.
Before making any sort of planning, the engineer must take an account of the database of the area or if it is appropriate, the previous system in place. This inventory or database must include information on:
- Population
- Land use
- Transportation facilities and services
- Economic activity
- Travel patterns and volumes
- Regional financial resources
- Community values and expectations
- Laws and ordinances
The transportation sector has undergone a sea change over the past few years, as more cities pilot smart city initiatives with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). With ITS technologies, cities can gather and analyze data to design safer roads, cleaner vehicles and more efficient travel. New York City, for example, has installed cameras and sensors at over 10,000 traffic intersections to collect data and enact changes that improve safety and traffic flow. Professionals in transportation engineering careers play a pivotal role in the implementation of transportation advancements by combining technical knowledge and creative thinking skills.
Impact of Transportation
- Economic development
- Social development
- Spatial development
- Cultural development
- Political development
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