CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO
HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC
ENGINEERING

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Topic Outlines

1.1 Highway & Traffic Engineering And Its Scope

1.2 Characteristics Of Drivers/Pedestrian/Vehicles,
Road Interrelationship And Ergonomics In Highway
Design.
1.3 Development Of Highways And Street System In
Malaysia.
1.4 Emerging Issues And Trends In Highway & Traffic
Engineering
1.5 Feasibility Studies And Route Location

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 Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, students should be able to:

1. Define the transportation system and explain on each of the components.

2. Describe the characteristics of driver, pedestrian, vehicle and roadway.
3. Describe the general aspects of highway classification and administration.
4. Explain the importance of feasibility studies and identify the route location
consideration factors.
5. Discuss on ways to improve road safety and current issues (transportation
challenges).

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 TOPIC 1.1
Highway and Traffic
Engineering and Its
Scope

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Highway Engineering
Definition: Highway engineering is the process of
design and construction of efficient and safe highways
and roads. This requires detailed drawings with complete
designs for drainage systems, pavement foundations,
Scope:
- Pavement structural design, construction & maintenance.
- Materials
- Rehabilitation
- Geometric design

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Traffic Engineering
Definition: Traffic Engineering is that phase of
engineering which deals with the planning, and traffic
operations of roads, streets and highways, their networks,
terminals, abutting lands and relationships with other modes
of transportation for the achievement of safe, efficient, and
convenient movement of persons and goods.

Objective to study traffic engineering:

- To provide a high level of service (minimize travel times and delays).
- To provide a high level of safety

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Traffic Engineering (cont….)
Scope:
 Traffic characteristic
 Traffic studies and analysis (i.e: flow, speed, density)
 Traffic operations (i.e: controls and regulations)
 Planning and analysis (i.e: queuing, traffic signal, intersection)
 Transportation system
 Administration and management (i.e: parking, tolling)
 Research

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 Transportation Engineering
Transportation :
1. The movement of people and goods to meet
the basic needs of society that require
mobility and access Mobility
2. Everything involved in moving either the Movements – different
person or goods from the origin to the modes e.g walking,
destination. driving etc
Example:

a) A truckload of fresh bread is delivered to a

supermarket. Transportation
b) Workers commute from their homes to places
of employment.

Why do we provide and develop road

infrastructure?
Accessibility
1. To expedite economy recovery development Entry and exit
2. May benefit the surrounding areas -upgraded
to reduce accidents, congestions
3. Investment in mode and road infrastructure –
to meet the demands and private Definition of Transportation 8
transportation
 Transportation Engineering (cont..)
Importance
 Social – Connection between people, provide work opportunity.

 Economics - Bridges consumer-producer gaps, multiplier effects.

 Administrative – Good & high quality of system

 Safety – Proper service with less risk related to accidents,

fatalities.
Goals
 Access to locations,

 Reasonable travel time,

 Low cost (cost-effective)

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 Transportation System
May be defined as consisting of the fixed facilities, the flow entities, and the control
system that move people and goods.

a) fixed facilities
- physical components of the system that are fixed in space and constitute the network
of links (e.g., roadway segment, railway track, pipes) and nodes (e.g., intersections,
interchanges, transit terminals, harbors and airports) of the transportation system.

b) Flow entities
- the units that traverse the fixed facilities: vehicles, container units, railroad cars.

c) Control system
- vehicular control: individual vehicles guided on the fixed facilities (manual or
automated)

- Flow control: signing, marking and signal system and rules of operation that permit the
efficient and smooth operation of streams of vehicles and reduction of conflicts
between vehicles.

d) User/operators
- Human resources, essential to the operation of transportation systems, include vehicle
operators such as automobile truck and bus driver, railroads engineers, airline pilots,
maintenance and construction workers, transportation managers, and professionals
who use knowledge and information to advance the transportation enterprise.
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Transportation System (cont..)
Categorized into four (4) major subsystems according to the medium
on which the flow elements are supported. These subsystems are
commonly referred to as modes.

a) Land Transportation – highway and rail

b) Air Transportation – Domestic and international

c) Water Transportation – Inland, Coastal and ocean

d) Pipelines – oil and gas

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 Transportation System (cont..)
Transportation Modes:

A ‘kind’ of transportation, distinguished in terms of their physical characteristics:

highway, rail, air and water transportation.

Classified according to whether they primarily carry freight or passengers, and

whether they serve urban, intercity or special-purpose markets.

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Transportation System (cont..)
Transportation Modes:

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Transportation System (cont..)

Highway

dominant transportation mode

private vehicles, truck lines, bus lines
Major markets: urban passenger transportation, urban goods distribution,
intercity passenger transportation and intercity freight.
Major service characteristics: very high accessibility to almost all potential
destinations, direct service with very low door-to-door travel times, moderate
speeds and capacities.
Capital cost: moderate
Vehicles: cheaper and available
Total investment: quite high
Operating cost: high but lower for private passenger vehicles.
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Environmental impacts: high (air pollution)

Transportation System (cont..)
Urban Transit

highly specialized mode

Includes traditional mass transit modes such as buses, streetcars, and light rail
and rail rapid transit, as well as paratransit modes such as jitneys and dial-a-
ride services.
Transit passengers – choice riders (person making work trips into dense CBD)
and captive riders (person without access to automobiles)
Speeds vary, door-to-door travel times greater than automobiles except in
congested CBD, accessibility less than private autos, capacities are high.
Capital costs: high for rail system (both for fixed facilities and vehicles) while
operating costs: moderate for both bus and rail systems
Environmental impacts: less than private automobiles.
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Transportation System (cont..)

Air

Includes commercial airlines, airfreight carriers and general aviation (private

aircraft).
Major market: intercity passenger travel (long-distance travel) and intercity
freight (product with high values).
Primary service characteristic: High speeds, limited accessibility, capacities of
individual aircraft are moderate, but productivity is high due to the very high
speed.
Capital and operating costs are both quite high for the commercial air system,
moderate for general aviation airports and aircraft.
Environmental impacts: significant especially the noise impacts of commercial
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aviation.
Transportation System (cont..)

Rail

Consists of the private railroads and Amtrak (US) which operates most intercity
passenger rail service.
Primary market: intercity freight
Provides moderate speeds and level of accessibility.
Capital costs of locomotives and railcars are also relatively high, and
productivity is often low, maintenance costs for track are relatively high while
operating costs per ton-mile are low.
Environmental impacts are comparatively low, and the energy efficiency of rail
per ton-mile is comparatively high. 17
Transportation System (cont..)

Water

domestic water transportation system consists of coastwise and barge lines

operating on inland waterways
major types of oceangoing freighters include container ships, bulk cargo
carriers and oil tankers.
Market: intercity freight
Low speed, low accessibility, but extremely high capacities.
Capital cost is high, but operating costs per ton-mile are extremely low
Environmental impacts: relatively low, but water pollution from routine
discharges of oil and other pollutants, as well as from major oil spills.

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Transportation System (cont..)

Pipelines

Highly specialized freight transportation system.

Market: crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas.
Provide very low-speed, high capacity continuous flow transportation, and
involve a large amount of working storage.
Costs are low. Capital cost: pipeline, pumping stations account for 70-80% of
total costs, operating costs: very low and depend mostly on pumping costs.
Environmental impact: quite low once they are built, but construction impacts
have sometimes been of major concern.
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Transportation System (cont..)
Choice of modes

Each mode has inherent advantages of cost, travel time, convenience and flexibility that
make it the right choice under a certain set of circumstances.

Choice of mode for long-distance travel is heavily dependent on the sensitivity of the traveler
with the respect to time and cost
business travel – time sensitive
vacation travel – price sensitive
personal travel – either time or price sensitive or both.

Basic attributes of each mode are schedule, speed, cost, service offered and perceptions
regarding the service offered.
a)Schedule and speed
– ability of the mode to serve passengers at the times they want and at the speed (or travel
time) they require.
b) Cost
– for a given distance: rail and bus are the least expensive, follows by private or rented car
and air travel the last as the most expensive means of travel.
c) Services
– travel by private or rented car offers the convenience of having a car available at all times.
– bus or rail offer few amenities on board
– airlines offer a wide variety of services on board 20
 TOPIC 1.2
Characteristics Of
Drivers/Pedestrian/
Vehicles/Road and Their
Interrelationship

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Characteristics
1) Human (Drivers/Pedestrian)
- Physical, mental, psychological, comfort,
convenience, enjoyment, stress, perception,
sensation, visual.

2) Vehicle
- Static and dynamic, dimension, speed, power, weight

3) Road
- Geometric design, lane capacity, alignment, control
measures at lane, gradient, traffic control system

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Characteristics and Behaviour of Driver

Characteristics and behaviour of a driver are

influenced by three factors:
i. Physical
ii. Environment
iii. Psychology

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Characteristic and Behaviour of Driver
i. Physical Factor
Two main factors considered are:
a) Perception–Reaction Time
It is a combination of four consecutive tasks:
- Perception
- Identification
- Emotion
- Volition
Perception-Reaction time of a driver varies and is
influenced by factors such as:
Age, fatigue, complexity of a situation, drivers physical
characteristics, alcohol or drugs, etc.

Average time: 0.5 – 3.0 seconds

b) Cone of vision 24
Characteristic and Behaviour of Driver (cont..)
ii. Environmental Factor
These include:

• Weather & lighting

- Rainy days will affect drivers capability of driving.
- Slippery road due to raining.
- Improper road lighting during night

• Traffic volumes
- High number of cars resulting to traffic congestion

• Road geometry
- Curvy road

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Characteristic and Behaviour of Driver (cont..)

ii. Psychological Factor

• Motive of the journey

- Destination, travel time, distance.

• Emotion
- Happy, stressful, relax.

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Inter-relationship

ROAD HUMAN

VEHICLE
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a) Driver characteristics

The
Human Response
Process

Visual Reception Hearing Perception

Visual, peripheral, colour, glare Ear receives sound stimuli
& recovery and depth – warning sounds

Visual Acuity – static & dynamic

Peripheral Vision – see object beyond the cone of clearest vision
Colour Vision – differentiate colour
Glare Vision & Recovery – direct & specular
Depth Perception – estimate speed & distance
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Perception – reaction process:

– Driver, cyclist or pedestrian evaluates & reacts to a stimulus.

– Can be divided into four sub processes;
1. Perception  driver sees a control device or object on road
2. Identification  driver identifies the object/ctrl device and understand the
stimulus
3. Emotion  the driver decides what action to takes in response to the
stimulus. Ex: to step in the brake pedal, to pass, to change lane
4. Volition  the driver actually executes the action decided on the emotion
process.

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b) Pedestrian characteristics

• Influence the design & location of pedestrian control devices.

• Ex: special pedestrian signals, safety zones & islands at intersections, pedestrian
underpasses, elevated walkways & crosswalks.
• Design of an all-red phase – permit pedestrians to cross an intersection of heavy
traffic.

c) Vehicle characteristics

• Based on:
a) Static – weight & size of the vehicle
b) Kinematic – motion of vehicle w/out considering the forces
c) Dynamic – involve the forces that cause the motion of the vehicle.
• Aid the highway/traffic engineer in designing highways & traffic control system
• Allow the safe & smooth operation of a moving vehicle while passing, stopping &
turning. 30
 TOPIC 1.3
Development of Highways
and Street System In
Malaysia

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Development of highway transportation

History of road construction:

Roman Roads

Metcalf’s Road (1717)

Telford’s Road (1757)

Mac Adam’s Road (1756)

John Metcalf
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Development of highway transportation
Roman Roads

Paving Stones

Fine Concrete

Broken Stones

Rubble Stones

• Used by horses, chariot, wagon – pulled by animals

• Made-up from the stone blocks placed closed together

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Development of highway transportation
Metcalf’s Road

Gravel

Excavated Road
Material

Large Stone
Foundation

• Insisted on good drainage and foundation or subbase

• carriageway was arched – assist surface water drainage
• Crossing soft ground, he introduced a subbase raft of bundled heather

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Development of highway transportation
Telford’s Road
Gravel

Broken Stone

Hand Pitched
Stone

• Improved ride ability - ‘sandwich’ smaller stones between the boulders

• smaller stones filled voids between the stone blocks – compacted until smooth
surface obtained

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Development of highway transportation
Mac Adam’s Road

Camber

Gravel

• Several layers of compacted stones

• Foundation improvement – removing the topsoil 36

Development of highway transportation
Historical Development (U.S overview)

Travel by foot, horseback or in animal drawn vehicles on dirt roads

Automobile and truck travel – development of roads and highways

1st toll road: Lancaster Turnpike (1974) connect Lancaster and Philadelphia

The building of canals and inland waterways (1820s)

Construction of railroads (1830s)

Public transportation – bus and metro systems in cities

Development of air transportation – aircrafts, airports (1900s)

New technology
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 Highway transportation trend in Malaysia

Highway transportation trend in Malaysia:

Pre-Independent Era

● Before independent – walking or animal’s cart and few motorized car - by means
of footpath and bullock cart tracks
● Rubber plantation and tin mining increase demand for a better serviceability of
road network – weak laterite
● Planning of road in Malaya – British Administration
● Last decade before independent – tar road constructed in cities and town
(business and admin activities) – Mac Adam road
● Mechanical and motorized vehicles replaced animal drawn carts.

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Highway transportation trend in Malaysia

Post-Independent Era
● Now, Malaysia has one of the finest
systems of road network system in
the world
● Bituminous or concrete road –
provide accessibility to residents
(urban or rural)
● Expressway stretching from the
north to the south of peninsular
Malaysia (PLUS)
● Federal highway – links between
states

Expressway in urban or rural area 39

Road Classification

Based on location & function

 Location
- Urban
- Rural
 Function
- National
- Regional
- State
- City Network

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Road Classification (cont….)
Highway/Road Classification

Roads are divided into two groups by area: -

Rural Urban

• Located outside of cities ● Used for commuting &

• Serve as links between population shopping trips
● Serve areas of high density
centers
land

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Road Hierarchy
Hierarchy classification by mix access and mobility function:
 Highway
- link up directly/indirectly federal capitals, state capitals.
- serve long to intermediate trip lengths
- speed : high to medium (not important as expressway)
- smooth traffic with partial access control
 Expressway
- divided highway for through traffic
- full access control and grade separation at all intersection.
- speed limit is 110 km/h
 Primary road
- major roads within a state
- serve intermediate trip lengths & medium travelling speed
- smooth traffic with partial access control
- link up state capitals, district capitals and major towns
 Secondary road
- major road within district
- serve intermediate trip lengths with partial access control
 Minor road
- apply to all road other than mentioned earlier
- serve mainly local traffic, short trip lengths, no access control 42
Road Hierarchy (cont….)
• Arterial

- continuous road with partial access for through traffic

within urban area
- Convey traffic from residential area to Central Business
District (CBD)
- smooth traffic flows and carry large traffic volume

• Collector
- Serve as collector or distributor between the arterial
and local road system
- partial access control
- penetrate and serve identifiable neighborhoods,
commercial areas and industrial areas

• Local street
- basic road networks within a neighborhoods
- serve direct access to abutting land
- links to the collector road & short trip lengths
- through traffic should be discouraged 43
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Road Administration

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 Road Category General Description Responsible Agency
Federal Roads • Inter-urban expressways and • MHA
• Toll Expressways & Toll highways where tolls are collected. • Federal PWD (usually
Highways • Inter-urban highways linking through State PWDs)
• National Highways Federal Capital, State Capitals and • Federal PWD (through
• Roads within Federal point of entry / exit to the country. DBKL, Municipal
Territories • Designated roads within Federal Council)
• Regional Development Territories; i.e. within Kuala • Federal PWD Regional
Scheme Roads Lumpur, Labuan. Development Units
• Minor Roads (access to • Roads forming the network within a • Federal PWD and
Federal Government Regional Development Area. State PWDs
Institutions) • Roads leading to and within
Federal Government Institutions.

State Roads • Roads other than the designated • DBKL, Municipal

• Roads within Federal Federal roads Council
Territories • Major roads forming the basic • State PWDs
• Primary Roads network within a State, linking • State PWDs
• Secondary Roads State Capitals and major towns. • District Offices
• Minor Roads • Roads forming the network within a • Respective Local
• Urban Collector Roads District Authorities (with
• Local Streets • Minor roads within a village or rural assistance from state
inhabited area PWDs in most cases)
• Roads serving as collectors and • Respective Local
distributors of traffic within a Local Authorities
Authority area.
• Basic road network within an urban
neighbourhood, serving primarily
to offer direct access to abutting
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land
State road : Sarawak
47
Kampong road
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Private road : North-South Expressway

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Road Administration

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Authorities & Service Provider
 Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM)
 Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia (JKR)
 Malaysia Institute of Road Safety (MIROS)
 Local Authorities
 PLUS
 LITRAK (LDP & SPRINT)
 PROPEL (maintenance)

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QUIZ 1

Describe the road classification by fill in the blanks with suitable

answer. (CO1-PO3)
(5 marks)

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 TOPIC 1.4
Emerging Issues and
Trends in Highway &
Traffic Engineering

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Transportation System Challenges

• Transportation system exists to meet perceived social and economic

needs.

• As the transportation system itself evolves, situations arise as a problem –

serve as challenges to the transportation engineering profession.
• These challenges are:

1. Managing congestion – by demand or supply measures

2. Improving safety – traffic accidents concern
3. Providing equal access – poor, elderly, and physically handicapped
4. Protecting the environment – EIA
5. Incorporating new technology - ITS
6. Securing financial resources - funding

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General Issue
 Accidents
 Reduction or increment in fatalities
 Traffic congestion
 Budget or cost
 Rules and regulations
 New technologies
 Carpool

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Malaysia Scenario
 High statistic of accidents
 High number of fatalities
 Traffic congestion
 Users’ safety; Backseat belt
 Poor construction and maintenance
 Controls, rules and regulations
 Poor service; Public transport system

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 Transportation & Highway Safety

Factors involved in transportation crashes can be classified into 4

categories:
 The Driver – Performance and attitude of driver.

 The Vehicle – Mechanical condition failure, poor service and

maintenance.

 The Roadway – Condition and quality in term of geometric

design, structural design, traffic signal and signboards.

 The Environment – Physical and climatic environment, the

weather.

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Highway Safety Improvement Program
 Collecting and Maintaining Data
- Crash data, fatalities, injuries.
 Identifying Hazardous Location and Element
- Based on the crash frequencies calculated and evaluated
by comparing with other similar location or conditions.
 Conducting Engineering Studies
- Perform detailed engineering study to identify safety
problem. Countermeasures are determined.
 Establishing Project Priorities
- Evaluate the economic feasibility of each countermeasures
and determine the best alternative among countermeasure.
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Traffic congestion Crashes

Parking difficulties Air pollution

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 TOPIC 1.5
Feasibility Studies &
Route Location

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Highway Planning & Design
Involves:
 Project Identification
 Approval and Budget
 Feasibility Study
 Category of Road Design Std, Level of Service
 Route Location (maps)
 Primary Ground Survey
 Detailed Engineering Design Report & Costing
 Tendering
 Construction

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63
Feasibility Studies
 Traffic Census
- Obtain data on traffic census and growth rate and
a study on accident prone area from HPU.

 Capacity
- A relationship between road capacity and the number of
lanes, lane width characteristics and LOS.

 Class of Road
- Can be determined from JKR Manual on Geometric
Design

 Route location
- Propose route location

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Feasibility Studies (cont…)

 EIA
- Evaluation on the effect of the project implementation towards the
environment.
 Soil investigation
 Structures (bridge,tunnel,etc.)
 Cost estimation
 Economic evaluation
 Finalizing the route

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68
Route Location
Is determined through:
 Topography sheet
 Aerial photographs
 Existing and future development plans from town planning
department
 Revenue sheet
 Design or as-built plan in the case of road improvement

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Route Location (cont…)
Factors considered in route location:
 Ground terrain; preferably on flat area
 Waterways; avoid crossing waterways, required other structure, i.e
bridge
 Mountainous area; avoid deep cutting and tunnelling
 Existing properties; avoid relocation of properties and social impact.
 Subsoil conditions; soft-soil condition to be avoided
 Estimated length of road (km); longer, higher cost
 Keep grades and curvature to minimum.

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Highway Survey

• Involve measuring and computing horizontal and vertical angles,

vertical heights (elevation), and horizontal distances.

• Used to prepare base maps with contour lines and longitudinal cross
sections.

• Surveying technique can be grouped into three (3) general categories:

1. Ground surveys
2. Remote sensing
3. Computer graphics

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Principles of Highway Location
• Roadway elements such as curvature and grade must blend with each
other to produce a system that provides for the easy flow of traffic at the
design capacity, while meeting design criteria and safety standards.

• The Highway Location Process Involves four (4) phases:

a) Office study of existing information

- Examination of all available data of the area in which the road to be constructed.
- Carried out in the office prior to any field or photogrammetric investigation.
- Data can be obtained from existing engineering reports, maps, aerial photographs
collected and examined.
- Data - engineering (topography, geology, climate, traffic volumes), social,
environmental and economic.

b) Reconnaissance survey
- Identify several feasible routes by a stereoscopic examination of the aerial
photographs.

- Factors into consideration

* terrain & utility of route to industrial & population areas
* cross soil conditions
* service of other transportation facilities (rivers, railroads, other highways)
* directness of route 72
c) Preliminary location survey
- The positions of the feasible routes are set as closely as
possible by establishing all the control points.
- Determine preliminary vertical and horizontal alignments – evaluate the
economic & environmental feasibility of the alternative routes.
- Economic evaluation – to determine the future effect of investing the
resources necessary to construct the highway: road user costs,
construction costs, maintenance costs, road user benefits, and also
disbenefits.
- Environmental evaluation – impact of highway construction on it surroundings:
plant, animals, human communities, social, man made variables.

d) Final location survey

- A detailed layout of the selected route.
- Final horizontal and vertical alignments are determined
- Final positions of structures and drainage channels are located.

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Example: Alternative alignments for a new road linking A to D
Roadway Ideal Conditions

1. Lane width 3.6 m

2. Clearance 1.8 m
3. Free-flow speed of 100 km/h
4. No No Passing Zone on two-lane highway
5. No parking near the curb
6. Level terrain
7. No pedestrians
8. Only passenger cars in the traffic stream (no heavy vehicles)

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Agencies Involved In Highway & Traffic in Malaysia

1. JKR (The Public Works Department)

- Implementation of development projects (federal road, state road,
bridge & airport)
- make sure all roads are in a good condition & safety

2. JPJ (The Road Transport Department)

- increase road safety through observation of motorized vehicles & drivers
- implement the Road Transport Act 1987
- Update the road tax system

3. LLM (Malaysia Highway Authority)

- plan, design, construct & maintain highway links & facilities.
- collect the toll & other payment which are related.

Benefits of Highway Privatization

• Reduce government financial burden
• Cost saving due innovation in construction techniques
• Users enjoy – improved standard of service & greater accessibility
• Earlier implementation and completion of highway project
• Create more job opportunity 76
END OF CHAPTER 1 77