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Transportation planning essentially involves the development of a transport
model which will accurately represent both the current as well as future
transportation system.
Geometric design deals with physical proportioning of other transportation
facilities, in contrast with the structural design of the facilities.
The topics include the cross-sectional features, horizontal alignment, vertical
alignment and intersections.
Although there are several modes of travel like road, rail, air, etc.. the
underlying principles are common to a great extent.
Therefore emphasis will be normally given for the geometric design of roads.
Pavement design deals with the structural design of roads, both (bituminous and
concrete), commonly known as (flexible pavements and rigid pavements)
respectively.
It deals with the design of paving materials, determination of the layer
thickness, and construction and maintenance procedures.
The design mainly covers structural aspects, functional aspects, drainage.
Structural design ensures the pavement has enough strength to withstand the
impact of loads, functional design emphasizes on the riding quality, and the
drainage design protects the pavement from damage due to water infiltration.
Traffic engineering covers a broad range of engineering applications with a
focus on the safety of the public, the efficient use of transportation
resources, and the mobility of people and goods.
Traffic engineering involves a variety of engineering and management skills,
including design, operation, and system optimization.
In order to address the above requirement, the traffic engineer must first
understand the traffic flow behavior and characteristics by extensive
collection of traffic flow data and analysis.
Based on this analysis, traffic flow is controlled so that the transport
infrastructure is used optimally as well as with good service quality.
In short, the role of traffic engineer is to protect the environment while
providing mobility , to preserve scarce resources while assuring economic
activity, and to assure safety and security to people and vehicles, through
both acceptable practices and high-tech communications.
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