TRANSPORTATION

ENGINEERING
Presented by : Dr. Ramela B. Ramirez
Professor I
DEFINITION OF TERMS 2

• Transportation Engineering
• 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 for the safe, rapid,
comfortable, convenient, economical and environmentally compatible
movement of people and goods
• Traffic Engineering
• A phase of transportation engineering which deals with planning,
geometric design and traffic operations of roads, streets and highways,
their networks, terminals, abutting lands and relationships with other
modes of transportation.
• Comprehensive planning process
• The traditional transportation planning process
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 3

• Transportation planning process

• It is an ongoing process which seek to assess the short and long range
transportation problems of a region and to develop, evaluate, select
and implement plans and strategies for solving these problems.
• This is based on the interaction of 2 basic systems, the transportation
system ( origins, destinations, volume of people and goods ) and the
activity system ( land uses, population, social and economic activities)
within which transportation system operates
• Travel demand modeling
• It describes the relationships between trip making and the regions
pattern of population, land use and economic activities.
• It attempts to quantify the amount of travel on the transportation
system in terms of the activities which create that demand
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 4

• Drivers, vehicles ad roadway itself

• Characteristics of traffic flows on the highway
system are the results of complex interactions
between these basic elements
• Perception, identification, emotion and reaction
or volition
• The perception of and reaction to, cues and stimuli
encountered by the driver of a vehicle involves in
the following distinct actions
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 5

• 4 basic phases of traditional

approach to travel demand modeling
• Trip generation
• Trip distribution
• Mode choice
• Traffic assignment
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 6

• Perception and reaction time

• The period of time when the driver recognizes
an object or a hazard on the roadway to the
time the driver actually applies the brakes
• Braking distance
• The distance needed to bring the vehicle to a
complete stop after the brakes have been
applied
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 7

• Passing sight distance

• The shortest distance sufficient for a vehicle to turn out
of a traffic lane, pass another vehicle, and then turn
back to the same lane safely and comfortably without
interfering with the overtaken vehicle or an incoming
vehicle traveling at the design speed should it come
into view after the passing maneuver is started.
• Stopping sight distance
• The sum of the braking distance and the perception and
reaction distance
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 8

• Detection and recognition time

• The amount of time required for a driver to detect and
recognize that an object or hazard is being approached
• Decision and response initiation time
• The amount of time for the driver to decide on the proper
maneuver to be taken and to initiate the required action
• Maneuver time
• The time required to accomplish a vehicle maneuver

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 9

• Decision sight distance

• The distance required for a driver to detect an unexpected object, in
formation source ( traffic signal ) or hazard in the roadway and to recognize
the hazard, select an appropriate speed and path, and initiate and
complete the required safety maneuver
• Sight distance
• The distance at which a driver can see an object lying in the roadway
ahead.
• It should equal or exceed the stopping sight distance
• Non-passing sight distance
• The length between a vehicle as it enters a crest curve ( vertical parabolic )
and the farthest distance visible to a driver to the top of the object.
• It is typically assumed that the height of eye is 3.75 ft above the roadway
surface and the farthest distance visible is at an elevation of 6 inches
above the roadway 11/28/2024
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ
DEFINITION OF TERMS 10

• Side friction factor

• a.k.a.
• lateral ratio
• cornering ratio
• unbalanced centrifugal ratio
• When a vehicle moves in a circular path it is pulled radially
outward by a centrifugal force.
• This force outward is balanced by a force due to the side
friction factor “f” and the gravity force produced by the
rate of super elevation “e” of the curve
11/28/2024
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 11

• Travel Demand Modelling

• Most important aspect
• Modeling
• Transport demand and supply
• Equilibrium
• Traditional 4 step demand modeling
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 12

• Transport Modeling
• Simplified, complex enough to reproduce
key relationships of the reality
• Physical
• Symbolic
• Mathematical
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 13

• Transport Modeling
• Physical
• Make physical representation of the reality
• E.g. model aircrafts used in wind tunnel
• Symbolic
• Complex relations could be represented with the help of symbols
• E.g. drawing time-space diagram of vehicle movement
• Mathematical
• Most common type when with the help of variables, parameters, and
equations one could represent highly complex relations
• E.g. Newton’s equations of motion or Einstein’s Equations
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 14

• Transport Modeling
• No model is a perfect representation of the reality

• Important objective is that models seek to isolate key

relationships, and not to replicate the entire structure

• It is the study of the behavior of individuals in making decisions

regarding the provision and use of transport

• Evolved from many disciplines like economics, psychology,

geography, sociology, and statistics.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 15

• Transport demand and supply

• Associated supply of transport infrastructure
• Transport demand is derived demand and
not a need in itself
• People travel not for the sake of travel, but
to practice in activities in different locations

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 16

•Transport demand and supply

• Transport demand is a DERIVED
demand, and not a need in itself
• People travel not for the sake of
travel, but to practice in
activities in different locations
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 17

• The concept of
equilibrium is central
to the supply-demand
analysis
• It is a normal practice
to plot the supply and
demand as a function
of cost and the
intersection is then
plotted in the
equilibrium
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 18

• The demand for travel

T is a function of cost
C

• The classical approach

defines the supply
function as giving the
quantity T which would
be produced, given a
market price C.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 19

• Since transport demand

is a DERIVED demand,
and the benefit of
transportation after on
the non-monetary
terms ( time in
particular), the supply
function takes the form
in which C is the unit
cost associated with
meeting a demand T.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
 TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 20

• Thus, the supply function

encapsulates response of the
transport system to a given
level of demand.
• In other words, supply function
will answer the question what
will be the level of service of
the system, if the estimated
demand is loaded to the
system.
• The most common supply
function is the link travel time
function which relates the link
volume and travel time.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 21

• aims to establish the spatial distribution of travel

explicitly by means of an appropriate system of
zones
• Implies procedure for predicting what travel
decisions people would like to make given the
generalized travel cost of each alternatives
• The base decisions include the choice of
destination, the choice of the mode, and the choice
of the route
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 22

• Classical transport model a.k.a. FOUR-

STAGE model ( FSM ) : Sequence of four
sub models
• Trip generation
• Trip distribution
• Modal split
• Figepstrip assignment
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 23

• TRIP GENERATION
• Define study area
• Divide study area into number of zones
• Considering all the transport network in the
system
• Database also include the current ( base year )
levels of population , economic activity like
employment, shopping space, educational, and
leisure facilities of each zone
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 24

• TRIP DISTRIBUTION
• Evolve the trip assignment
• Use the data to estimate the total number of trips
generated and attracted by each zone
• Allocate these trips from each zone to various other
destination zones in the study area using trip
distribution models
• The output of the model is a trip matrix which denote
the trips from each zones to every other zones
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 25

• MODAL SPLIT
• Trips are allocated to different modes
based on the modal attributes using
modal split models
• Essentially slicing the trip matrix for
various modes to generate a mode
specific trip matrix
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
 TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING 26

• TRIP ASSIGNMENT
MODELS Database
• Each trip matrix is
assigned to the network base year
route network of data , zones data
that particular mode
future
• the step will give the planning
loading on each link data
of the network output link
trip trip trip
modal split flows, trip
generation distribution assignment
matrix
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
 CLASSICAL MODEL : 4 Stage Model ( FSM
) 27

• Series of questions • Summary : Travel demand modeling

• Aims at explaining where the trips come from
(decisions ) and where they go, and what modes and
• How many trips are generated which routes are used.
• Where they are going • Provides a zonewise analysis of the trips
followed by distribution of the trips, split the
• On what mode they are going trips modewise based on the choice of the
travellers and finally assigns the trips to the
• Which route they are adopting network.
Decisions using discrete choice • This process help to understand the effects of
theory , which allows the lower future developments in the transport
networks on the trips as well as the influence
level choices to be made of the choices of the public on the flows in
conditional on higher choices
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ
the network. 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 28

• The 4 stage modeling

• An important tool for forecasting future demand and performance of a
transportation system, was developed for evaluating large-scale
infrastructure projects.
• It is less suitable for the management and control of existing software.
• These models are applied to large systems, they require information
about travelers of the area influenced by the system.
• Data requirement is very high, and may take years for the data
collection, data analysis, and model development.
• Meticulous planning and systematic approach are needed for accurate
data collection and processing.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 29

• Survey design
• Not easy
• Requires considerable experience, skill, and
sound understanding of the study area
• Purpose of the study and details of the modeling
approaches
• Practical considerations like availability of time
and money
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 30

• Survey Design : Information needed

• Socio-economic data
• Socio economic characteristics of the
study area
• Income ; Vehicle ownership ; Family size
• Building trip generation and modal split
models
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 31

• Survey Design : Information needed

Travel surveys
• Origin-destination travel survey at households
• Traffic data from cordon lines and screen lines
• Former data including number of trips made by each member
of the household, the direction of travel, destination, the cost
of travel etc.
• Cost of travel : traffic flow, speed, and travel time
measurements
• Data for the calibration of the models, especially the trip
distribution models
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 32

• Survey Design : Information needed

• Land-use inventory
• Data on the housing density at residential zones
• Establishments at commercial and industrial zones
• Useful for trip generation models
• Network data
• Data on the transport network and existing inventories
• Includes road network, traffic signals, junctions etc.
• Service inventories include data on public and private transport networks
• Use for model calibration, especially for the assignment models
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 33

• Survey Design : Study area

• Encompass area of expected policy impact
• Need not be confirmed by political boundaries
• But bounded by the area influenced by the transportation systems
• Boundary of the study area – a.k.a. EXTERNAL CORDON / CORDON
LINE
• Interactions with the area outside the cordon are defined via
external stations which effectively serve as doorways to trips, into,
out of, and through the study area
• Study area should be defined such that majority of trips have their
origin and destination in the study area and should be bigger than
the area-of-interest covering the transportation project
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 34

• Survey design : Zoning

• Once study area is defined, it is then divided into a number of small units called
TRAFFIC ANALYSIS ZONES or ZONES
• INTERNAL ZONES – the zone with in the study area
• Zones are in modeling as if all their attributes and properties were concentrated in a
single point called the ZONE CENTROID
• The centroids are connected to the nearest road junction or rail station by centroid
connectors
• Both centroid and centroid connectors are notional and it is assumed that all people
have same travel cost from the centroid to the nearest transport facility which is the
average for a zone
• The intersection from outside world is normally represented through EXTERNAL ZONES
• The external zones are defined by the catchment area of the major transport links
feeding to the study area
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 35

• Survey Design : Zoning

• How to select zones
• Zones should match other administrative divisions, particularly
census zones
• Zones should have homogenous characteristic, especially in
land use, population etc.
• Zone boundaries should match cordon and screen lines, but
should not match major roads
• Zones should be as smaller in size as possible so that the error
in aggregation caused by the assumption that all activities are
concentrated at the zone centroids is minimum
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 36

• Survey design : Network

• Transport network consists of roads, junctions, bus stops, rails, railway station etc.
• Normally road network and rail network are represented separately
• Road network is considered as directed graph of nodes and links
• Each node and links have their own properties
• Road link is normally represented with attributes like starting node, ending node, road
length, free flow speed, capacity, number of lanes or road width, type of road like divided or
undivided etc.
• Road junction or nodes are represented with attributes like node number, starting nodes of
all links joining the current node, type of intersection ( uncontrolled, round about, signalized,
etc. )
• Public transport network like bust transit network and rail network are represented, but with
attributes relevant to them. N
• These may include frequency of service, fare of travel, line capacity, station capacity etc.
• This
Prepared by : [Link] the inventory of base-year transportation facility
RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 37

• Household data
• To understand the behavior and factors affecting the travel, one has got the origin
of travel when the decision for travel is made
• It is where people live as family which is the household
• Considered as the most basic and authentic information about the travel pattern of
a city
• One should take the details of all the people in the study to get complete travel
details
• However, this is not feasible due to large requirement of time and resources needed
• This will cause difficulties in handling these large data in modeling stage
• Same sample households are randomly selected and survey is conducted to get the
household data
• Higher sample size is required for population less than 50,000 but for a population
more
Prepared by thanB. one
: DR. RAMELA million require only one percent for the same accuracy
RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 38

• Household data : Questionnaire design

• Good design will ensure better response from the
respondent and will significantly improve the
quality of data
• Design of questionnaire is more of an art than a
science
• Questionnaire should be simple, direct, should
take minimum time, and should cause minimum
burden to the respondent
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 39

• Household data : Questionnaire design

• Household characteristics
• Set of questions designed to obtain socioeconomic information about
the household
• Number of members in the house
• Number of employed people
• Number of unemployed people
• Age and sex of the members in the house
• Number of two-wheelers in the house
• Number of cycles
• Number of cars in the house
• House ownership
• Family income
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 40

• Household data : Questionnaire design

• Personal characteristics
• Designed to classify the household members ( other
than 5 ) according to :
• Relation to the head of the household (e.g. wife ,
son )
• Sex and age
possession of a driving license
• Educational level
• Activity
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 41

• Household data : Questionnaire design

• Trip data
• Aims to detect and characterize all trips made by the
household members identified in the first part
• A trip is normally defined as any movement greater than 300
meters from an origin to a destination with a given purpose
• Trips are characterized on the basis of variable such as origin
and destination, trip purpose, trip start and ending times,
mode used, walking distance, public-transport line and
transfer station or bus stop ( if applicable )
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 42

• Household data : Survey administration

• Conduct actual survey with the help of enumerators
• Enumerators has to be trained first by briefing them about the details of
the survey and how to conduct the survey
• Enumerators are given random household addresses and the
questionnaire set
• They have to first get permission to be surveyed from the household
• They may select a typical working day for the survey and ask the
members of the household about the details required in the questionnaire
• They may take care that each member of the household should answer
the question about the travel details of the previous day
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 43

• Household data : Survey administration

• Methods :
• Telephonic
• Enumerator may use telephone to
fix an appointment and then
conduct detailed telephonic
interview
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 44

• Household data : Survey administration

• Methods :
• Mail back
• Enumerator drops the questionnaire to the
respondent and asks them to fill the details
and mail them back with required information
• Care should be taken to design the
questionnaire so that it is self explanatory
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 45

• Household data : Survey administration

• Methods :
• Face-to-face
• Enumerator visits the home of the respondent and asks
them questions and fills up the questionnaire by himself.
• This is not a very socially acceptable method in the
developed countries, and thee are treated as intrusion to
privacy
• However, in many developed countries, especially with
less educated people, this is the most effective method
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 46

• Household data : Data Preparation

• Raw data collected in the survey need to
be processed before direct application in
the model
• This is necessary, because of various
errors, except in the survey both in the
selection of sample houses as well as error
in filling details
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 47

• Household data : Data Preparation

• Data correction : few important errors
• Household size correction : random
samples
• Either larger or smaller than the average
size of population as observed in the
census data
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 48

• Household data : Data Preparation

• Data correction : few important errors
• Socio-demographic corrections
• Differences between he distribution of
the variables sex, age etc. between
the survey, and the population as
observed from the census data
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 49

• Household data : Data Preparation

• Data correction : few important errors
• Non-response correction
• There may not be a response from many
respondents because they are on travel everyday
• Non-reported trip correction
• People underestimate the non-mandatory trips
and the actual trips will be much higher than the
reported ones
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DATA COLLECTION 50

• Household data : Data Preparation

• Sample expansion
• Amplify the survey data in order to represent the total
population of the zone
• Done with the help of expansion factor which is defined as the
ratio of the total number of household addressed in the
population to that of the surveyed
• Simple expansion factor Fi = a / ( b –d ) where Fi – expansion
factor ; a – total number of household in the original population
list, b – total number of addresses selected as the original
sample,
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 51

• Intersection
• The area where two or more roads come together
• Legs of the intersection
• The roads approaching the intersection
• Capacity
• The number of cars that need to be stored during peak hours in the
design of auxiliary lanes
• Flared intersection
• The intersection with auxiliary lanes

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 52

• Functional classification
• The identification of streets and highways in terms of degree to which the competing and conflicting
functions of movement and access are to be served.
• Traffic volume
• The number of vehicles that pass appoint on a highway during a specified time interval
• Average annual daily traffic ( AADT )
• Average 24 hour traffic volume at a specified location over a full year (365days)
• Average annual weekly traffic ( AAWT )
• Average 24 hour traffic volume occurring on weekdays at a specific location over a full year
• Average daily traffic ( ADT )
• Basically an estimate of AADT based on a time period less than a full year
• Average weekly traffic ( AWT )
• An estimate of AAWT based on a period less than a year
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 53

• Equivalent hourly rates of flow

• Traffic volumes for periods of time less than one hour ( typically measured in 15
mins. Increments )
• Peak hour factor
• The relationship between hourly volume and the maximum 15 minute rate of flow
within the hour
• DDHV = AADT x K x D
• In design, peak hourly volumes are sometimes estimated from daily volumes
• Time mean speed
• The average speed of all vehicles passing a point on the highway over a given time
period
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 54

• Space mean speed

• The average speed obtained by measuring the instantaneous speeds of all vehicles
on a section of roadway
• Growth factor method
• A method of trip distribution involving the use of existing volumes of interzonal
traffic to measure friction prior to expanding the volume between two points in
proportion to an inter-actance factor
• Density
• The hourly volume of traffic divided by the average speed
• 85th percentile value
• A guide in determining upper speed limits
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 55

• Basic capacity
• The maximum number of passenger cars that can pass a given point per hour under the
most nearly ideal roadway and traffic conditions
• Delay rate
• Difference between the observed speed and the standard speed for a particular type of
road
• Bridge rotary
• A diamond highway interchange in which the intersecting conflicts are changed to
weaving conflicts
• Collector street
• Street which serves internal traffic movements within an area and connects this area with
major arterials
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 56

• Advance green
• A method of signal timing whose purpose is to first clear the vehicles desiring to turn
left at an intersection
• Simple progression
• A signal system in which the faces which control a given street will be green
according to a time schedule which will permit continuous operation of vehicles as is
possible along the street
• Traffic assignment
• The allocation of traffic flows among routes available
• Spacing or space headway
• The distance between vehicles in a traffic stream
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 57

• Asphalt
• Dark brown to black cementitious materials in which the predominating constituents
are bituments which occur in nature or are obtained in petroleum processing
• Base coat
• A plaster coat or coats applied prior to application of the finish coat
• Brown out
• Complete application of base coat plaster
• Banksman
• A man who is assisting a crane driver by signaling to him when he is to raise, lower of
swing his load

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 58

• Hardness
• The penetration test on asphalt cement is used to determine its ______
• Road net
• The system of roads available within a particular locality or area is known as ______
• Flexible pavement
• A pavement that has a wearing surface of bituminous material such as asphalt and
its strength depends upon the bearing capacity of subgrade
• Centrifugal force
• Curves on highways must be super elevated in order to counteract the effect of ___

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 59

• Seal coat
• A very thin surface treatment of bituminous material which is applied as a final step in the
construction of certain bituminous wearing surfaces of roads
• Prime coat
• The single application of liquid bituminous material to a previously prepared and untreated
road base, such as earth, gravel, stabilized soil, or water bound macadam base courses
• Tack coat
• The single initial application of bituminous material to an existing bituminous , Portland
cement concrete, or block surface
• Road bed
• The graded portion of a highway within top and side slopes, prepared as a foundation for the
pavement structures and shoulders
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 60

• Contact pressure
• The ratio of the load of wheel to the contact area or area of imprint as used in
the design of pavement
• Rigidity factor
• The ratio of contact pressure to tire pressure as used in pavement design
• Plasticity index
• The numerical difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit
• Sub-grade
• The soil base over which the other layers of the pavement is constructed

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 61

• Weaving
• The crossing of two or more traffic streams traveling in the same general direction along a
significant path of highway without the aid of traffic signal
• Plastic limit
• The percentages of water at which the soil changes from plastic to semi-solid state. It is the water
content expressed as a percentage of the weight of oven dry soil at the boundary between plastic
and semi-solid states of consistency.
• Liquid limit
• When a sample of soil-water changes from viscous to plastic stage, the moisture content causing
this change is called ____
• Shrinkage limit
• The moisture content beyond which any reduction in the moisture content will not cause further
decrease in volume
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 62

• Liquidity index
• The ratio expressed as a percentage of the natural water content of a soil minus its plastic limit to
its plasticity index
• Unconfined compression test
• The load per unit at which an unconfined cylindrical specimen of soil will fail in a simple
compression test at a constant rate of strain
• California bearing ratio
• The ratio of the force per unit area required to penetrate a soil mass with a standard circular
piston at the rate of 1.22 mm/minute to that required for corresponding penetration of a standard
material.
• Bitumen
• A complex organic material occurring naturally or can be prepared artificially by fractional
distillation of crude petroleum at successively higher temperatures
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 63

• Penetration value
• Bitumen grade is usually expressed as 80/100 , what is the meaning of number 80
• Tar
• Viscous liquid obtained when natural organic materials such as wood, or coal are
destructively distilled in the absence of air
• Resistance to penetration
• California bearing ratio (CBR) test on soil measures the ____
• Grain size distribution
• Sieve analysis of soil for coarse grained particles and sedimentation analysis for
soil fines
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 64

• Abrassion
• The grinding action of and impact of tires on road aggregates
• Impact
• The fracture of stone by repeated falling of a hammer on it gives resistance to
• Crushing
• The strength test for aggregates used in a mixture of pavement materials is
measured by its resistance to ____
• Flexible pavements and rigid pavements
• Classification of pavements according to their structural behavior

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 65

• Water bound macadam road

• A road made of coarse aggregate mechanically interlocked by rolling and
bonded together with screening dust
• Tack coat
• An application of hot bitumen material given to the old surface to provide
adhesion to the old and new road surfaces
• Prime coat
• A layer of stone chippings coat laid over a hot to make the surface water-proof
• Seal coat
• A very thin surface applied over a bituminous pavement to make it impervious
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 66

• Surface dressing
• The application of one or two layers of bituminous material over a prepared based each
layer covered with an application of cover material and rolled
• Pavement
• The layered structure placed over a soil sub-grade for forming a road
• Flexible pavement
• A pavement which has negligible flexural strength
• Rigid pavement
• A pavement which depends on its flexural strength
• Sub grade
• The layer of natural soil over which the pavement of a road is laid
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 67

• Wearing course
• The layer in a road pavement which provides resistance to wear and tear due to
traffic
• Sub base
• The part of the road structure which is immediately above the subgrade and
composed of stone boulders or superior soil
• Base
• The top surface of a road structure ; the component of the road structure which
receives the traffic load and transfers it to the subgrade
• Sub-grade
• The layer of the pavement which carries the load from the road
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 68

• Regulatory or mandatory signs

• Traffic signs which are used to inform road users certain rules and regulations
which have to be observed for safe and free flow of traffic
• Warning or cautionary signs
• Traffic signs which are used to caution the drivers about certain hazardous
conditions ahead. These warn the driver so that he can take the desired
precaution.
• Informatory and guiding signs
• Traffic signs which are provided for route identification, direction to travelers
and such other information a traveler requires in order to reach his
destination.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 69

• Primary signal
• Traffic signals which are located on the left hand side of the road as near the
stop line as possible
• Secondary signal
• An additional traffic signal which is placed on the departure side of the
intersection on the right side
• Phase
• Stopping or go signal will be given to a particular stream each time. Thus, in
each cycle, different streams will have different times for being given green /
red, based on the volume. The number of such operations in a cycle containing
red-yellow-green
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 70

• Fixed time signals

• Type of road signals which are set to repeat a cycle of sequence and phase of the
cycle at a regular time intervals. These signals are designed for peak time traffic
requirements. However, they cause delay during off peak hours.
• Traffic actuated signals
• Type of road signals which are designed so that the phase and cycle can be changed
according to traffic demand. A policeman observes the flow of traffic and operates
these signals suitably. These signals can be very expensive.
• Flashing signals
• Type of road signals which are installed on main roads and cross roads. A red signal is
provided on the cross road to warn the driver to stop and proceed. A yellow signal
installed on the main road warns the driver to slow down.
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 71

• Traffic volume study

• The traffic which measures the proportion of different types of traffic and
establish relative importance of roads
• Intersection
• When two roads cross each other
• Traffic volume
• The number of vehicles crossing a given cross-section of road during unit time
• Spot speed
• The instantaneous speed of any vehicle at any specified point

Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024

DEFINITION OF TERMS 72

• Journey speed
• Average speed of the vehicle over a distance when delays are taken into account
• Fixed delays
• The delays due to signals, stop signs and railroad crossing
• Operational delays
• Delays due to congestion of traffic lack of capacity, pedestrians, parking and
unparking vehicles
• Speed and delay study
• The amount, duration, and causes of delay in the traffic stream as well as to find
the time spent to travel along a particular route
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024
DEFINITION OF TERMS 73

• Grade separated intersection

• Major roads cross each other at different elevations
• At grade intersection
• Major roads that cross each other at the same elevations
• Over pass
• When the major highway is taken above by raising its profile above the general
ground level by embankment and an overbridge across another highway
• underpass
• When the major highway is taken by depressing it below the ground level to
cross another road by means of an underbridge
Prepared by : DR. RAMELA B. RAMIREZ 11/28/2024