DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY – DASMARIÑAS

Dasmariñas City, Cavite

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,
ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Engineering Department
SY 2018-2019

REACTION PAPER IN CEET424

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

ATHENA A. BAYSAN
CEE43
TOPICS IN HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

PRELIM PERIOD
HIGHWAY PLANNING
TRAFFIC OPERATIONS

MIDTERM PERIOD
THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW

FINAL PERIOD
HIGHWAY CURVES
ROAD EARTHWORKS
HIGHWAY PLANNING

Transportation science includes planning, engineering, and reinforcement.

Transportation planning deals with the study of the relationship of land use to
travel patterns and travel demand. It is a collaborative process that
incorporates the input of many stakeholders including various government
agencies, the public and private businesses. It is also involved with the
evaluation, assessment, design, and siting of transport facilities (generally
streets, highways, bike lanes, and public transport lines).

In this topic is where the overall transportation planning process is discussed.

The process comprises: problem definition, definition of goals, objectives and
criteria, data collection, forecasting (modelling), development of alternatives,
evaluation, and implementation plan. This topic also discusses the time
frame: short term (2-3 years) and long term (3-7years) and geographic scale:
national planning, regional planning, and urban level.

Transportation planning hierarchy was also discussed in this topic. Functional

transportation planning which stars from goals and objectives to inventories to
forecasts to network planning to analysis of alternatives to evaluation and
ends in selection or implementation.

Land Use and Transportation Interaction (LUTI) is the legal use to where the
land is located. It measures the intensity of social and economic activities that
take place on the land. Sustainable transport system provides access to
people, places, goods, and services in an environmentally responsible and
economically viable manner. Transport demand models consists of
mathematical equations that are used to represent how choices are made
when people travel.
TRAFFIC OPERATIONS

Traffic stream is an interaction between individual drivers, vehicle and

roadway environment. Traffic is hard to control because drivers do not react
the same way and vehicles have different sizes, weight, and operating
characteristics. Perception reaction time is the process through which a driver
or pedestrian evaluates and reacts to a stimulus. The three levels of driving
tasks are control, guidance, and navigation.

The weight of the vehicle is a major consideration during the design of

pavements. The weight of the vehicle is transferred through axles and so the
parameters are based on the number of axles. The AASHTO recommended
weight for specific trucks is 36,500 kg gross weight with axle loads up to
9,100 kg for single axles and 15,400 kg for tandem axles. Use the formula
W = 230 [ LN/(N – 1) +23N + 36 ] to calculate the overall maximum gross
weight for a group of two or more consecutive axles.

The acceleration capacity of a vehicle is dependent on its mass, the

resistance to motion and available power. Acceleration rates are highest at
low speeds, decreases as speed increases. Heavier vehicles have lower
rates of acceleration than passenger cars. Large trucks decelerate at a lower
rate than passenger cars and will require longer distance to stop than
passenger cars.

Forces that act on a vehicle while it is in motion are: air resistance, grade
resistance, rolling resistance, and curve resistance. Air resistance is the
resistance of air in front of vehicles. Grade resistance is an opposite force
acting on grade to move the vehicles. Rolling resistance is the frictional slip
between pavement surface and tires. Curve resistance is the external force
on the front wheel while driving on curves. The performance capability of a
vehicle is measured in terms of the horsepower the engine can produce to
overcome the forces that act on the vehicle while it is in motion. The
measurement of the horizontal component distance travelled by the vehicle
during breaking is also one of the parameters on dynamic characteristics.

THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW

Traffic surveys and characteristics involve measuring and quantifying various aspect
of highway traffic. Traffic control involves the establishment of traffic regulations and
their communication to the driver through use of traffic control devices. Traffic
operation encompasses measures that influence overall operation of traffic facilities.
Transportation systems management consists of all aspects of traffic engineering
focusing on optimizing system capacity and operations.

Traffic flow is generally constrained along one-dimensional pathway. A time-space

diagram provides a graphical depiction of flow of vehicles over time. The three main
variables on visualizing a traffic stream are: speed (v), density (k), and flow (q). Flow
is the number of vehicles crossing a point per unit of time and speed is divided into
two characteristics, namely, time-mean speed and space-mean speed. Time-mean
speed is the average speed of vehicles crossing a point of the roadway while space-
mean speed is the average speed of vehicles over a roadway segment at any given
time. Density is the number of vehicles per unit length of roadway occupancy.

The flow parameters are macroscopic and microscopic. Macroscopic characterizes

traffic stream as a whole while microscopic characterizes behaviour and individual
vehicles. Macroscopic stream models represent how the behaviour of one parameter
of traffic flow changes with respect to another. Greenshield’s Model is a model of
uninterrupted traffic flow that predicts and explains the trends that are observed in
real traffic flows. Greenshield made the assumption that, under uninterrupted flow
conditions, speed and density are linearly related. According to the model, maximum
flow occurs when traffic is flowing at half of free-flow speed. As density increases,
the flow also increases and when the density reaches a maximum, the flow must be
zero because the vehicles tend to line up end to end.
In addition, Greenberg’s model is expressed graphically as is the free flow speed and
the density corresponding to maximum flow is the optimum density. In this model,
speed becomes zero only when density reaches infinity which is the drawback of the
model. This model cannot be used for predicting speeds at high densities.

HIGHWAY CURVES

Highway alignment is a three-dimensional problem. It is the position or the layout of

the center line of the highway on the ground. Horizontal alignment includes the
straight path, horizontal deviators and curves. An ideal alignment between two
terminal stations should be short, easy, safe, and economical. Types of horizontal
curve are: simple curve, compound curve, reverse curve, and spiral curve.

A transition curve is used to provide a gradual transition between tangent sections

and circular curve sections. Combination of high speed and sharp curvature can
result in lateral shifts in position and encroachment on adjoining lanes. Vertical
curves at a crest or the top of a hill are called summit curves while vertical curves at
the bottom of a hill or dip are called sag curves.

Low point defines location of catch basin for drainage while high point defines limits
of drainage area for roadways and is also used to determine or set elevations based
on minimum clearance requirements. High and low points on vertical curves are
defined as the distance required for a given design speed to safely stop a vehicle to
avoid collision.

ROAD EARTHWORKS

Earthwork is the modifying of earth in order to make it suitable for construction.

Earthwork forms are: stabilizing, loosening, excavating, adding, moving, disposing,
and finishing. Hard earth must be loosened. Removing earth processes are: digging
a foundation, dredging, and boring a tunnel. Adding earth processes are: raising the
grade and bettering the soil. Moving earth process is transferring soil (conveyors,
earthmovers, and trucks). Finishing earthwork processes are: washing-rocks,
trimming-holes, compacting-removing air, and grading-leveling.
Earth’s ingredients are: rock, soil, and mixture. Equipments used in earthwork
operations are: bulldozers, motor grader, crane, trucks and wagons, rollers, loaders,
and scrapers. Clearing and grubbing is the first operation in earthwork prior to
excavation. It is the removal of trees, roots, rubbish, and other objectionable material
from the designated area of proposed excavation and embankment.

Finishing operations are: shoulders trimming, side and ditch slopes, cut sections, and
final grade cross section. Operations are generally carried along and performed as
the job approached completion. Calculating earthwork quantities methods are: end
area method, prismoidal formula, and prismoidal correction. The formula for end area
method is Volume = L/2 (A1 + A2), for prismoidal, V = L/6 (A1 + 4Am + A2), and for
prismoidal correction, V = L/12 (C1 – C2)(D1 – D2).
REACTION

Highway engineering gives the students the idea of planning, designing,

constructing, and operating roads, bridges, and tunnels. It informs the students to
ensure safe and effective transportation when they got the place already. This
course is a big help especially to students who plan to be highway engineers
someday. It gives the students the learning on traffic flows, design of highway
intersections or interchanges, geometric alignment and design, and highway
pavement materials and design which must be improved in the transportation
industry nowadays.

The course taught about the estimation of current and future traffic volumes on a
road network. With this course, students already had learned on predicting and
analysing all possible civil impacts on highway systems. Highway planning is a basic
need for the highway development because highway systems generate the highest
price in human injury and death as million persons are injured in traffic accidents
every year. Road traffic injury is the single leading cause of unintentional death in the
first five decades of human life. By learning this course, it can be ensured that all
situations and opportunities are identified, considered, and implemented as
appropriate.

One important thing in this course is the highway design which involves the
consideration of the major factors (human, vehicular, and roadway) and how these
factors interact to provide a safe highway. The design stage is where the students
absorbed about having the most appropriate location, alignment, and shape of
highway. This course has a major role in academics because it shapes the students
on how they will provide or design a good highway in the near future.