1) What is Highway Engineering

Highway engineering is an engineering discipline branching from civil engineering that

involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges,
and tunnels to ensure safe and effective transportation of people and goods. Highway
engineering became prominent towards the latter half of the 20th Century after World
War 2. Standards of highway engineering are continuously being improved. Highway
engineers must take into account future traffic flows, design of highway
intersections/interchanges, geometric alignment and design, highway pavement materials
and design, structural design of pavement thickness, and pavement maintenance.
2) History of Road Construction
The beginning of road construction could be dated to the time of the Romans. With the
advancement of technology from carriages pulled by two horses to vehicles with power
equivalent to 100 horses, road development had to follow suit. The construction of
modern highways did not begin until the late 19th to early 20th century.
The first research dedicated to highway engineering was initiated in the United Kingdom
with the introduction of the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), in 1930. In the USA,
highway engineering became an important discipline with the passing of the Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1944, which aimed to connect 90% of cities with a population of 50,000
or more.With constant stress from vehicles which grew larger as time passed,
improvements to pavement were needed. With technology out of date, in 1958 the
construction of the first motorway in Great Britain (the Preston bypass) played a major
role in the development of new pavement technology.
Design policies standards used in the United States are typically based on publications of
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials as well as
research promulgated by the Transportation Research Board, the Institute of
Transportation Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of
Transportation.

2.1)Early Road Construction

Traces of early roads have been found since the recorded history of the man kind.The
first and oldest mode of travel obviously was foot path. Before invention of wheel, people
used to move on foot, thus creating foot paths.Men and material must have been
transported either on backs of men or animals.The historical road development can be
divided in to the following era :
Early/ Basic roads
Roman roads
Modern roads
The needs of road started from the invention of wheel in Samaria in 3000 BC. Among the
early road inventions in many parts of the world were :
China Dynasty China Silk Route was the first road built around 2600 BC. The road
was used to transport silk and elephant tusks between China and India
Parsian Empire Big trade involving import and export such as silk, porcelain and
wood crafts between China and Europe.
Britain Raft Road believed was built around 2500 BC
India Indus Valley where roads made of bricks with drainage system equipped with
pipe
Mesopotamia and Egypt Brick road and asphalt road was found in Babylon and
mountainous area of Mesopotamia. In Egypt, the road was built to transport block of rock
to construct pyramid
Romans developed very elaborate system of roads mainly for the purpose of military
movement.
They constructed in all about one lakh kilometers of road, extending in whole of their
empire.
An Important road constructed by Romans in 312 B.C called Appian way is still in
existence in Rome.

The main characteristics of Roman roads were as follows:

They weary very thick. Total thickness of the road varied from about 0.7 m to as much
as 1.2 m.
They were straight, without any regard for gradient. Probable reason for straightness
may be their main use

for army.
Roads were not built on soft soil formations but on hard stratum reached after
excavation.

2.2)Modern Road
In eighteenth century, improved construction methods for roads again began to develop.
Mr. Pierre Tresaquet developed an improved method of construction in 1764 in France.
At the time when Mr. Pierre Tresaquet was busy in developing his road construction
method, Mr. John Metcalf was engaged in his development in England.
Metcalf constructed about 290 Km road in northern region of England. Since Metcalf
was blind, his work was not recorded and thus got lost.
Telford and Macadam were the pioneers in road development in England. Telford
believed in using heavy foundation stones over the soil sub-grade, while Macadam
advocated the use of compacted crushed aggregate layer at the bottom.
Macadams method of road construction is still in used and is named after his name.

3) Why Create Highway

a)Social effects
Reducing travel times relative to city or town streets, modern highways with limited
access and grade separation create increased opportunities for people to travel for
business, trade or pleasure and also provide trade routes for goods. Modern highways
reduce commute and other travel time but additional road capacity can also create new
induced traffic demand. If not accurately predicted at the planning stage, this extra traffic
may lead to the new road becoming congested sooner than anticipated. More roads add

onto car-dependence, which can mean that a new road brings only short-term mitigation
of traffic congestion.
Where highways are created through existing communities, there can be reduced
community cohesion and more difficult local access. Consequently, property values have
decreased in many cutoff neighborhoods, leading to decreased housing quality over time.
b)Economic effects
In transport, demand can be measured in numbers of journeys made or in total distance
travelled across all journeys (e.g. passenger-kilometres for public transport or vehiclekilometres of travel (VKT) for private transport). Supply is considered to be a measure of
capacity. The price of the good (travel) is measured using the generalised cost of travel,
which includes both money and time expenditure.
The effect of increases in supply (capacity) are of particular interest in transport
economics (see induced demand), as the potential environmental consequences are
significant (see externalities below).
In addition to providing benefits to their users, transport networks impose both positive
and negative externalities on non-users. The consideration of these externalities
particularly the negative onesis a part of transport economics. Positive externalities of
transport networks may include the ability to provide emergency services, increases in
land value and agglomeration benefits. Negative externalities are wide-ranging and may
include local air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, safety hazards, community
severance and congestion. The contribution of transport systems to potentially hazardous
climate change is a significant negative externality which is difficult to evaluate
quantitatively, making it difficult (but not impossible) to include in transport economicsbased research and analysis. Congestion is considered a negative externality by
economists.
c)Environmental Effect
Roadway noise increases with operating speed so major highways generate more noise
than arterial streets. Therefore, considerable noise health effects are expected from
highway systems. Noise mitigation strategies exist to reduce sound levels at nearby
sensitive receptors. The idea that highway design could be influenced by acoustical
engineering considerations first arose about 1973.
Air quality issues: Highways may contribute fewer emissions than arterials carrying the
same vehicle volumes. This is because high, constant-speed operation creates an
emissions reduction compared to vehicular flows with stops and starts. However,
concentrations of air pollutants near highways may be higher due to increased traffic

volumes. Therefore, the risk of exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants from a
highway may be considerable, and further magnified when highways have traffic
congestion.New highways can also cause habitat fragmentation, encourage urban sprawl
and allow human intrusion into previously untouched areas, as well as
(counterintuitively) increasing congestion, by increasing the number of
intersections.They can also reduce the use of public transport, indirectly leading to
greater pollution.
High-occupancy vehicle lanes are being added to some newer/reconstructed highways in
North America and other countries around the world to encourage carpooling and masstransit. These lanes help reduce the number of cars on the highway and thus reduces
pollution and traffic congestion by promoting the use of carpooling in order to be able to
use these lanes. However, they tend to require dedicated lanes on a highway, which
makes them difficult to construct in dense urban areas where they are the most effective.
To address habitat fragmentation, wildlife crossings have become increasingly popular in
countries including the United States. Wildlife crossings allow animals to safely cross
human-made barriers like highways.

4) Highway Engineering in Malaysia

4.1) Road System
Road Mileage
Federal Roads : 18,157 km
State Roads : 73,855 km
Surfacing Types
Concrete Road : 343 km
Asphalt Roads : 87,626 km
Earth/Gravel Roads : 3,651 km
In 2008, there are approximately 90,000 km of roads in Malaysia where 96 % are
paved. Roads can be categorized to FIVE types based on the source of funding for
construction and maintenance :

 Toll Highway
Federal Road
State Road
Council / City Council /District and Municipality Road
Rural / Small Road
Toll Highway
Built and maintained by concession company under the Malaysian Highway Authority
monitoring
Alternative to federal road and maintained by Malaysian Highway Authority
Typical concession period is 30 years under design, built and operate
The facilities such as rest and relax areas, shelters for motorcyclists and emergency
phones are also
provided
PLUS, NKVE, ELITE, SPRINT and KESAS are some examples of Toll Highway in
Malaysia

Name

Length (km)

Connects

Highway Concessionaries

Status

North-South

North-South

Expressway

Expressway

North-South

Northern

Northern Route

PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

Expressway (NSE

Route

Bukit Kayu Hitam -

its subsidiaryProjek

Northern Route)

460 km

Bukit Lanjan

Lebuhraya Usahasama

In

Berhad

operation

New Klang Valley

New Klang

New Klang Valley

(Former concessionaries known as Projek

Expressway (NKVE)

Valley

Expressway

Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad

Expressway

Bukit Raja - Jalan

(PLUS))

35 km

Duta

312

Sungai Besi -

North-South

In

Expressway (NSE

Pandan (Johor

PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

Southern Route)

Bahru)

its subsidiaryProjek

operation

Lebuhraya Usahasama
Berhad
(Former concessionaries known
as Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan
Berhad (PLUS))

Senai Link
Senai International
Airport - Senai
Selatan
Main Link
Senai Selatan Sultan Abu Bakar

Second Link
Expressway(LINKED
UA)
(including

44

theMalaysiaSingapore Second

Custom Immigration

PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

and Quarantine

its subsidiaryProjek

Complex (CIQ),

Lebuhraya Usahasama

In

Tanjung Kupang -

Berhad

operation

Singapore

(Former concessionaries known

as LINKEDUA Malaysia Berhad

Link (MSSC))

Pontian Link

(LINKEDUA))

JB Parkway
Interchange - Jalan
Pontian
Johor Bahru
Parkway
Pulai - Taman Perling

Shah Alam
Expressway(SAE/KE

34.5

SAS)

North-South
Expressway Central

60

Pandamaran (Klang)

Konsortium Expressway

- Seri Petaling (Kuala

Shah Alam Selangor Sdn

Lumpur)

Bhd (KESAS)

Main Link
Shah Alam - Nilai

In
operation

In
PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

North

Lebuhraya Usahasama

Link (NSECL/ELITE)
(including
thePutrajaya Link)

Cheras - Kajang
Expressway(CKE/Gr
and Saga)(part of
Federal Route

Putrajaya Link

Berhad

Putrajaya

(Former concessionaries known

interchange -

as Expressway Lingkaran Tengah Sdn

Putrajaya

Bhd (ELITE))

Cheras (Kuala
11.7

Lumpur) - Kajang

Grand Saga Sdn Bhd

(Saujana Putra)

Kuala Lumpur-

Kuala

Karak Expressway

Lumpur-

(Karak Expressway)

Karak

(part of Federal

Expressway

Route

60 km

its subsidiaryProjek

East Coast

East Coast

Expressway(ECE/LP

Expressway

T)

358 km

Kuala LumpurKarak Expressway

Gombak - Karak
East Coast
Expressway
Karak - Kuala
Terengganu

ANIH Berhad
(Formerly known as MTD Prime Sdn
Bhd)

PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

its subsidiaryProjek
Lebuhraya Usahasama

operation

In
operation

Kuala
LumpurKarak
Expressw
ay
In
operation

Berhad
(for East Coast Expressway
Phase 2)

Main Link
UPM Interchange MRR2 (North)
Besraya
Expressway

Interchange
28.3
Eastern Extension
Link
Shamelin - Pandan
Indah

In
Besraya Sdn Bhd

operation

New Pantai
Expressway (NPE)
(including NPE

19.6

Extension

Subang Jaya -

New Pantai Expressway

In

Bangsar

Sdn Bhd (NPE)

operation

Expressway)

Main Link
Damansara DamansaraPuchong

Puchong
40

Expressway (LDP)

Lingkaran Trans Kota

Puchong Barat Link

Holdings Berhad (Litrak)

In
operation

Subang Jaya South Puchong Intan

Ampang-Kuala
Lumpur Elevated

7.9

Highway (AKLEH)

Kemuning-Shah
Alam

14.7

Highway(LKSA)

Kuala Lumpur Ampang

Kemuning - Shah
Alam

Prolintas with its subsidiary

Projek Lintasan Kota Sdn
Bhd (AKLEH)

Prolintas with its subsidiary

Projek Lintasan Shah Alam
Sdn Bhd (LKSA)

In
operation

In
operation

Johor Bahru
Eastern Dispersal
Link

8.1

Pandan - CIQ Sultan

MRCB Lingkaran Selatan

In

Iskandar

Sdn Bhd

operation

Expressway (EDL)

Butterworth-Kulim

17

Butterworth - Kulim

In

Expressway (BKE)

PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith

(part of Federal

its subsidiaryProjek

Route

Lebuhraya Usahasama

Berhad
(Former concessionaries known

operation

as Konsortium Lebuhraya
Butterworth-Kulim (KLBK) Sdn Bhd)

Butterworth Outer
Ring Road (BORR)
(part of Federal
Route

14

Around Butterworth Lingkaran Luar Butterworth In

Sungai Dua - Perai

Sdn Bhd (LLB)

operation

Kajang Dispersal
Link

37

Expressway(SILK)

Around Kajang
Mines - UPM

Maju
Expressway(MEX)
(Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya

42

Kuala Lumpur Putrajaya

Sistem LingkaranLebuhraya Kajang Sdn Bhd

(SILK)

Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd

(Formerly known asKonsortium
Lapangan Terjaya Sdn Bhd (KLT))

In
operation

In
operation

Expressway (KLPE))

Lebuhraya KajangKajang-Seremban
Highway(KASEH/LE

Seremban Sdn. Bhd.

44.3

Kajang - Seremban

KAS)

(Lekas)

In
operation

(Former concessionaries known

as Kajang Seremban Highway Sdn
Bhd (KASEH))

Senai-Desaru
Expressway (SDE)

Sprint
Expressway(Kerinchi
Link, Damansara Link

77

Senai - Desaru

Senai-Desaru Expressway
Berhad (SDEB)

26.5

In
operation

Western Dispersial

Sistem Penyuraian Trafik

In

Link

KL Barat Sdn Bhd (Sprint)

operation

Kerinchi Link
Mont Kiara - Seputeh

Damansara Link

and Penchala Link)

Kayu Ara - Jalan DutaSemantan

Penchala Link
Penchala - Mont Kiara

Tun Salahuddin
Bridge

Petra Jaya - Tanah

Puteh

Zecon Berhad

In
operation

Kuala Lumpur-Kuala
Selangor
Expressway(KLS/LA
TAR)
(LATAR

32

Ijok - Templer's Park

51.7

Uniten - Pulau Indah

LATAR, KL-Kuala Selangor

In

Expressway Berhad (KLS)

operation

Expressway)
(Assam Jawa-Templer Park
Highway (LATAR))

South Klang Valley

Expressway (SKVE)

Sultan Abdul Halim

Muadzam Shah
Bridge

South Channel
24

Batu Maung - Bandar

Cassia

SKVE Holdings Sdn Bhd

In
operation

Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd

In

(JKSB)

operation

(Penang Second Bridge)

Seremban-Port
Dickson
Highway(SPDH)

23

Seremban - Port
Dickson

In
PLUS Malaysia Berhadwith
its subsidiaryProjek

operation

Lebuhraya Usahasama
Berhad
(Former concessionaries known
as SerembanPort Dickson Highway
(SPDH) Sdn Bhd)

New North Klang

Grand Sepadu Sdn Bhd

Straits
Bypass(NNKSB) (par
t of Federal
Route

17.5

Sungai Rasau - Port

(Former concessionaries known

In

Klang

as Lebuhraya Shapadu Sdn Bhd

operation

(LSSB))

Brief Description
The project brief is the final stage in the process of defining the client's requirements for the
development of a built asset:
The statement of need is the first attempt to describe the possible requirements of the project.
The strategic brief develops from the statement of need and describes the client'srequirements
in sufficient detail to allow the appointment of consultants. It is then developed further with
the benefit of comments made by the consultants.
The project brief is the key document upon which the design will be based.
The project brief will evolve through the project brief stage and the concept design stage with the
benefit of information gained from consultations with the client and other stakeholders and
ongoing design development.
Preparation of the project brief is likely to co-ordinated by the lead consultant. It may be
developed based upon:
Existing information such as the business case, the statement of need and the strategic brief.
Site surveys, site information and site appraisals.
Analysis of existing accommodation.

Workshops with champions and user panels to establish needs, expectations and priorities.
Input from other stakeholders.
A wider consultation process.
Interviews.
User surveys.
Input from statutory authorities such as the fire brigade, statutory utilities, local authority,
heritage organisations and so on.

The project brief may include:

A description of the client's brand, culture and organisation.

A description of the client's vision, mission and objectives.

A description of the client's priorities and the criteria that will be used to measure
success.

Organisational structure and decision making processes.

Changes to the client that the project will bring about.

Interfaces with other projects.

Client policies that may be applicable to the project (for example; transport policy, energy
policy, natural ventilation policy, sustainability policy).

Client preferences for the project (for example; image, use of local materials, use of
landscape etc) and quality expectations (including health and safety, sustainability and design
quality).

A description of the principles that will be adopted in the development of the design.

Site information:
Building surveys.
Site surveys.
Information about ground conditions.
The location and capacity of utilities.
Access and other constraints.
Legislative constraints.
Existing planning consents.
Spatial requirements:
Schedules of accommodation, areas and special requirements.

Schedules of users (including external users), their numbers, departments, functions,

organisational structure and operational characteristics.
Spatial policies (for example open plan or cellular offices, daylighting
requirements,temperature ranges and acoustic standards).
Required adjacencies, groupings and separations.
Zoning.
Circulation guidelines and identification of major circulation flows.
Phasing.
Technical requirements:
Structural strategy (columns and gridlines to be adopted, special loads, floor to ceiling
heights).
Servicing requirements, including specialist requirements.
Comfort conditions and level of user control.
Acoustic requirements.
Equipment requirements.
Specialist requirements for furniture, finishes, fixtures and fittings.
Information and communications technology (ICT) requirements.
Requirements for specialist processes and plant.
Fire compartments.
Maintenance and cleaning requirements.
Likelihood of future change (for example staff numbers) and flexibility required.
Sustainability objectives and energy use targets.
Safety and security requirements.
Resilience to potential hazards or threats.
Waste and water management.
Pollution control.
Flexibility and future uses.
Durability and lifespan.
Other performance requirements.
Benchmarking information.

Component requirements:
Long-lead items.
Potential requirement for specialist design or specialist contractors design.
Cladding strategy and materials selection procedures.

Project requirements and other issues:

Planning requirements.
Outcome of any consultation processes.
Budget.

Project programme and key milestones.

Known risks.
Targets for post occupancy evaluation outcomes and other performance targets.

The project brief will become increasingly detailed throughout the project brief and concept
design stages, and may ultimately include very specific information such a room data
information for each room.
The project brief should be frozen at the end of the concept design stage and change control
procedures introduced to prevent further changes without appropriate justification and
authorisation.