LECTURE NO: 16, 17, 18, and 19

TOPIC: COMMUNICATION (ROADS, RAILWAYS, AIRPORTS AND HARBORS)

INTRODUCTIOn

Cities are the engines of our civilization, where specialized services are available for
our living, working and recreation. It is a grave reality that no city can be termed as
a good city which does not possess efficient communication system. Without good
communication system even the concept of city cannot be comprehended.
It is such integral part of city which shapes the city dynamics & makes its
morphology. Communication is the basis of the existence of city. It is the means of
communication which defines the significance of any city.

According to John Rat Cliffe, The greater the degree of specialization,

development & growth in society, the greater the degree of dependence
among urban activities, the greater the extent of movement between
them; this movement and communication in city thus determines the
location of activities and the use of land.

Keeping this statement in mind it is quite significant for a physical land use planner
to understand the means of communication within a city and location of activities
accordingly or more appropriately it can be said that efficient communication is
the key to direct land use patterns in the city. Therefore the understanding of
communication systems is a prerequisite for a good planner.

Communication increased the centralization in business and government; they have

stretched the vision of the communities and amalgamated culture, arts and
techniques and regional communications facilities with all other national endeavors.
The national, regional and local authorities always stress upon city planners to
provide the components of communication in urban plans because by its very
nature the means of communication makes the nervous system of the city.

Thus the aforementioned perspectives on communication lead us to variety of

issues and the depth that possessed within the term communication itself.

The term communication, may refer to transportation, whether, road network,

railways, airways or water ways. Communication may also refer to telephone, radio,
telegraph, television, internet, mobiles & fax. The term communication can also be
defined with respect to newspapers, magazines, Journals, reports, books,
professional papers and bulletin. However, the focus in current discussion is to
evaluate communication as a whole in the urban planning context and a special
stress is given to communication with respect to transportation.

COMMUNICATION WITH REFERENCE TO TRANSPORTATION:

For an appropriate and rapid growth and development of a city a good network of
roads, railways, airways & waterways quite essential. As the parks, gardens & open
spaces are the lungs of the city. Similarly roads & railways are the arteries
of the city & Airways & waterways bring the blood circulation or the trade
& commerce to the city. The layout of roads & railway within a city is determined
by zones within a city, where as types of roads determines the shape & size of
housing plots. Thus the roads & streets plan can be considered as the foundation of
a town plan.

RETROSPECT OF COMMUNICATION & TRANSPORT:

Similarly Airways, Waterways & Railways provides the reason for existence to the
city. In early times, the transport was on head-loaded and animal loaded such as
horses, bullocks, camels, mules & elephants etc. Then emerged the animal
driven vehicles like bullock carts & Tongas in which the speed & carrying capacity
was limited. Then with the invention of steam engine local trains came into
being & there occurs mass transportation of goods & passengers. Then with
electricity trains started running on roads & then emerged automobile
industry & become the popular means of transportation due to high speed
& flexibility. Then cities become crowded with these automobiles & all the open
lands in cities are utilized for Railways, Tube Railways & Rapid Transit system.
In all these development road system was always been the major aspect of
transport system and in developed countries auto mobile population now
reached up to half of the human population. Whereas the space requirements
of these automobiles become more than human beings themselves, & roads have
failed to fit in with the requirements of vehicles. Thus the transportation problems
are quite evident in each growing city.

ROADS & ROAD NETWORK:

The principle element of communication & transportation is Road.

Figure 1: signal free road

FUNCTION & NECESSITY:

Roads has four basic functions i.e. Movement of People & Goods, Access to
Residential Places, Provision of Air & Light to Building & Provision of Services &
Utilities both over head & underground.

CLASSIFICATION IN GENERAL:

The classification of roads occurs on four variables i.e. type of construction gives
us names like, Earth, Mettle Roads, Asphalt Roads and Concrete Roads.
The jurisdictions give us names like Local Road, District Roads, State Highways, &
National High Ways. Shape geometry defines roads like, rectangular road, ring road,
diagonal road, radial road & circular road. The function of road gives us names like,
residential road, commercial road or avenue, promenade (along sea side or natural
feature) boulevard and park ways.

CLASSIFICATION IN URBAN CONTEXT:

Apart from these classifications the urban roads are classified specifically in four
categories as per their significance. These include, arterial roads, secondary or
sub-arterial roads, local roads & other roads. Arterial roads are those which
connect the town with state highway or national highway. They pass through the
city and made for fast moving traffic with heavy load of passengers & goods. They
are especially planned straight by avoiding sharp curves with not less than 25-30
meters width. Secondary or sub arterial roads are known as major roads of city
connecting major parts of the city. They are especially designed for comparatively
slow moving traffic and act as link between arterial roads & local roads. The local
roads are known as minor roads to provide access to buildings. They are not
linked. They are not lined with arterial roads & processes no through traffic. They
are especially designed as per contours of land with minimum 7-10 meters width.
The other urban roads are bypass roads, outer & inner ring roads, express ways &
free ways. The bypass roads are those which are made to avoid congested city
areas, to increase the speed of vehicles with smooth flow & to save time & fuel.
They are also known as loop-roads. The outer & inner ring roads are in the form
of ring within & surrounding town to divert through traffic from city & act as bypass
& reduce the traffic congestion from town. The express ways mainly function as
arterial roads within mega cities to accommodate growth of traffic. They are
especially designed with easy gradients & smooth curves to carry speedy & safe
traffic & do not form a part of regular street system. They are comparable next to
railway in cost and capacity of traffic. Free ways are special routes to carry fast
moving traffic. They are specifically designed with high standard of alignment, clear
visibility, wide carriage way, easy gradient & smooth curves; the free ways function
as arterial roads passing around city with controlled access.

METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS:
Another major element of communication and transport is Railways & Rail Network.
It is an evident fact that, railways gave impetus to industrial revolution, where as
metropolitan railway was been a significant element of city today. It is a grave
reality that, urban rail transport has played an important role and will continue to
play a vital part in creating & sustaining the cities of today & tomorrow

DEFINITION & MEANING:

The term Metropolitan Railways covers a great variety of facilities; Primarily it

includes rapid transit facilities of railway which includes self-contained right of way
and stations located below & above ground level. The metropolitan railways are
primarily designed to handle relatively heavy volumes of inner urban and suburban
traffic over medium distance. Its major advantage is of higher speed (Commercial
Speed) if compared with other public transport on congested roads of city. Its only
disadvantage is the longer walks to and form stations.

TYPES & CLASSIFICATION:

The metropolitan railways can be divided in various types, system & classifications.
i.e. subways, underground, Metro, Metropolitano, U. Bahn, Tunnel Bahn & S. B.
Hahn Systems. These types & classification of metropolitan railways are based
on speed facilities & mode of transport in each context.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS:

After this brief background of metropolitan railways it is necessary to understand

the modern development in the metropolitan railways. Basically there are four types
of development occurred in metropolitan railways i.e. S. Bahn System, underground
street cars, Non-typical modes & subways.

S. BAHN SYSTEMS:

S. Bahn is a German term which is originally derived from the from the
metropolitan railways system in Berlin. The original terminology of S. Bahn,
emerged from StadtRingundVorvobahnen which means, city, circle and
suburban railways. However, it would be inconvenient to pronounce the term in
totality therefore S. Bahn emerged as a generic term. It denotes those railways
that are associated with the suburban sections of the main lines. The S. Bahn
systems mainly developed to promote the growth of suburban growth. Secondly
these are developed to segregate the suburban and long distance railway services.
With this system the commuters become able to reach their in town destination
without any change. The S. Bahn systems developed in various mega cities of the
world such as there are two links in Berlin and Hamburg, the junction lines in
Brussels, S Bane in Copenhagen, Schnell bahn in Vienna, Blue trains in Glasgow,
new S. Bahn in Munich & Frankfurt. Similarly there are advanced S. Bahn System are
built Ruhr region of Germany i.e. in Stuttgart, Manchester, Liver Pool & Melbourne.

UNDERGROUND STREET CARS:

The concept of underground street can mainly developed in Boston, Philadelphia,

Pittsburgh, Oslo and Vienna. Basically underground street cars are developed to
distinguish between subways and conventional street cars along the surface roads
on the basis of speed & capacity scales. The underground street cars are promoted
for in-town tunnel sections operations with or without signaling systems. These
are also termed as short capacity. Though there is a great decline in underground
street cars all over the world, however in Germany & Belgium these are mainly
developed with an intension to serve as an intermediate stage to a full-fledged
subway. Furthermore the concept of underground street cars can be understood
with the notion that these are the low capacity underground railways which are
intended to achieve speed and to save energy & resources.

NON TYPICAL MODES OF METROPOLITAN RAILWAY:

In few cases urban transport demands for non-typical modes of Metropolitan

Railway due to some geographical or topographical reasons; from these non-typical
modes of metropolitan railway the prominent examples are of Schwebebahn above
the river of Wuppertal, the funicular railways in Haifa & Istanbul and the rack
railways LausanneQuehy etc. Mainly the list of non-typical modes of Railways shall
continue in the future due to revived modes of rail transport, however at present
the mono-rails of various types & hover trains are few more examples of non-typical
modes of metropolitan railway.

METROPOLITAN SUBWAYS:

The metropolitan railways have always been termed as fringe mode of

transport. From these fringe modes there is a great majority of subways or rapid
transit railways. As the cities began to spread & the streets & road became
increasingly congested the need arose for faster & unencumbered in town railways
which were primarily designed to cope with heavy volumes of inner-urban traffic to
heavily build up areas of city center. These rapid transit railways or sub ways were
built both above & below the ground. In many cases these in town subways or
elevated railway lines were later extended to suburban areas. Initially these rapid-
transit facilities were confined to only metropolitan cities, however later on it was
also developed in smaller size cities due to three basic reasons. i.e.
growth of traffic congestion in streets & roads, due to geographical and
topographical reasons. The cities of Stockholm & Helsinki are the
examples of such smaller cities where threes subways developed. Currently
it is world-wide recognized that, rapid transit facilities are most efficient means of
moving great number of people safely & quickly through congested urban areas.
Secondly the rapid transit facilities are not only of direct benefit to the passengers
using them but it is also significant for community at large. Because it helps to
alleviate street congestion, promote mobility of labor and revitalize the central
business districts which are endangered with congestion & pollution. As the
construction and operation of rapidtransit facilities is a mega project of mega
activity; therefore increasingly it is regarded as the task of public authorities.
Because the capital cost of such projects is quite huge & one cannot insist on its
commercial viability. However in recent years large corporate institutions &
international funding agencies like World Bank are also interested in such project.
Therefore there established such concepts like BOOT (Built, Own, Operate &
Transfer) or BOT (Built, Operate & Transfer) through which such projects are made in
even developing countries.

AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:

Since 1952 world air passenger traffic has been increasing at the rate of 14.5
percent annually. It is a grave reality that growth of air transport effects the
development of regional & national economics and promotes International trade.
The travel & tourism industries are also a major influence on national economics
and constitute the most valuable parameter of international trade.

TYPES OF AIR TRAFFIC:

Basically there are two major types of air traffic. i.e. air carrier traffic and general
aviation. The details of which is as follows:

AIR CARRIER TRAFFIC:

These types of air traffic usually related to public sector of air transport industry
which offer air services as regular scheduled services or as non-scheduled or on
charter basis services for the carriage of both international & domestic passengers
& freight traffic.

GENERAL AVIATION:

This type of air traffic covers all the other civil aviation which serves the specific
private users, such as Business & Personal travel, agricultural spraying, aerial
survey or self-piloted recreational flying.

AIR TRAFFIC GROWTH:

One of the significant elements of air ways & air transport is growth of air traffic
which causes both positive and negative impacts. For instance the advantage of air
traffic growth is reduction in cost of air travel; which cause progressive
improvements in aircraft performance in terms of increase in pay load, speed and
range. Whereas the disadvantages of air traffic growth & increasing size and
performance of the aircraft are growing problems of airport congestion, loss of
amenity and congestion of ground transportation between airports in major urban
centers. Furthermore the planning implications of the size and location of major
airports affects the size, location and traffic pattern of urban and regional
transportation facilities. Additionally, a major airport is often a major feature in the
local economy and becomes a strong determinant of local land use pattern &
distribution of population and employment.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:

It is an evident fact that, continued growth in air traffic and airport congestion
creates an interest for the development of Short take off and landing (STOL)
and Vertical take off and landing (VTOL) air craft for wide spread use of air
carriers. The commercial STOL and VTOL aircraft would be smaller than the
conventional short haul aircrafts and would operate on inner city routes or forum
special air ports which are more centrally located within a city. Thus it would reduce
the travel time from city center to a major airport. The adoption of STOL and
VTOL serve better if new short landing strips, air corridors and approach paths are
developed separate from those used by conventional aircraft. Currently the
operating & development cost of STOL and VTOL is high than conventional air
traveling. However in future, the further improvements in technology shall help to
remove this difference and their may be tough competition. It is quite evident that
the size of aircraft shall increase in future for medium and long haul services.

AIRPORTS & ITS DEVELOPMENT:

The basic premise of an efficient air ways transport is airport & its development.
Without understanding the airport & its development the concept of air ways & air
transport cannot be comprehended. Basically these are three major aspects of
regarding airport & its development. i.e. Function, Location and Facilities and
Airport.

FUNCTIONS OF AN AIRPORT:

The primary function of an airport is to provide safe & efficient means of

interchange between air transportation and ground transportation. Secondly the
airport is the center from which control is exercised over air traffic on defined air
routes and on approaches to air ports. The airports differ in terms of size, nature of
traffic handled and the types of air traffic control.

LOCATION OF AN AIRPORT:
The total land area required for an airport is based on three major determinants.

a) Nature and Scale of traffic handled and its rate of growth.

b) Physical and climatic characteristics of site.

c) Performance characteristics of current & future air crafts i.e. number, length and
configuration of run ways required.

Similarly, for the acceptable location of airports there are three significant
operational factors.

a) Air traffic control requirements i.e. minimal interference to and from traffic
control operations of neighboring airports.

b) Height obstructions and other navigational hazards, i.e. tall buildings, smoke and
birds.

c) Prevalent weather conditions including wind distribution and incidence of fog and
snow.

Apart from these operational factors there are also some significant planning &
social factors which affects the location of an airport. For instance:

a) The location of airport requires a balance between danger & noise disturbance.

b) Provision of good accessibility from the center of population it serves.

c) Travel time and costs of surface transport to the airport.

d) Connection to rapid transit system, highways and public private transport etc.

PLANNING & DESIGN OF AIRPORT FACILITIES:

From the view point of planning & designing of an airport facility one of the
important goal is to arrange free flow of passengers and goods. There shall be a
balance of capacity throughout in all facilities in airport; so as the risk of congestion
may be minimized; because the congestion may affect the operating efficiency of
entire airport complex. There are two types of functional areas within an airport i.e.
Operational Areas or Air Side Areas and Terminal Areas or Land Side Areas.

AIR SIDE AREAS:

These include such facilities as runways, taxiways and aircrafts holding areas. In the
design & performance of these facilities special care is given to system of air traffic
control which determines the operational capacity of an airport, and the servicing
and maintenance areas or the operational buildings of the airport.
LAND SIDE AREAS:

Primarily these include such buildings & facilities which provide a means of
interchange for both passengers and goods or between ground transport and air
transport. The design concepts for land side areas evolved from simple low capacity
terminal buildings to high capacity layouts which are popularly termed as Finger
Terminals. The current design concept is to decentralize certain functions
such as, ticketing, baggage handling & passenger waiting & sorting areas into a
separate smaller units or satellites. Secondly it is the main design criteria to
provide the passenger terminals with a convenient and efficient access to
both public & private land transport to adequate parking facilities by
avoiding long walking distances within terminals. Thirdly now it is mandatory
that, there shall be efficient baggage handling & smooth processing of passengers
through governmental controls i.e. Customers, Immigration & Health. Finally a
flexible layout that can accommodate rapid technological change &
expression is a pre-requisite of contemporary airport design.

ROLE OF A CIVIL ENGINEER IN AIRPORT DESIGN:

According to Professor A. K. Bhatti who describes in his book, Town Planning for
the Third World, that, A Civil Engineer has nothing to do anything about the design
& manufacture of an aircraft nor about its navigation as such; However, he is
expected to do all about its landing and the accommodation of all the activities
which are to be carried out with respect to the passenger and the cargo service. He
has to design structurally very strong & durable pavement for very heavy wheel-
loads of the aircraft. The present day airport design therefore involves various
aspects of civil engineering. i.e. pavements, roads leading to airport, storm water
drainage, water supply, building, hangers and a number of installations. Thus a
civil engineer is responsible for basic infrastructure for an airport and his
responsibility is quite high with respect to security of passengers.

WATER WAYS, SEA PORTS, HARBORS & DOCKS:

It is a grave reality that, the economic planning of any region is profoundly based on
the availability of commercial docks and harbors in the area because at micro scale
it affects the Land use of an urban area & at macro scale location of major urban
centers depends upon it.

NEED OF PORTS & HARBOR:

The Sea Ports are mainly required to boost any economy essentially for import &
export of goods and due to increase in trade & commerce. Especially there is an
abject need of deep water berths & dry are steadily increasing in size and dead
weight of minimum 45000 tons. Apart from that there is a greater demand of docks
& seaports due to oil cargo which cause phenomenal expansion of ports all over the
western world.
IMPACTS OF PORT & HARBOR:

The major impact of large seaports emerges at the dockyard area in the city;
because it creates congestion & change in land use to evident need for large
storage space and in land or up country transport facilities.

EFFICIENCY OF PORT & HARBOR:

The in land transport system contributes greatly to port efficiency because it is

necessary to make earlier arrangements for delivery of exports & collection of
impact from the docks as efficient as possible. Another major issue regarding sea
ports and docks is the shift of goods transport from railways to roadways. It requires
quite profound adjustments. A planner must make constant surveillance of the
reversal of these trends and the landuse potentials around the port so as the
surrounding sites can be utilized for taking best economic advantage.

PORT & HARBOR CLASSIFICATION:

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a harbor is a partly enclosed protected water

area to provide safe and suitable accommodation for vessels seeking refuge,
supplies, refueling, repairs or the transfer of cargo. Whereas; port is a terminus or
an intermediate station in the sea-route port more appropriately it can be said that,
when terminal facilities are added to a harbor it can be termed as port. The
classification of harbors & ports can be made on three basic determinants, i.e.
Nature, Function & Location.

NATURAL CLASSIFICATION:

The natural classification of harbor is of three types. i.e. Natural Harbor, Semi-
natural Harbor & Artificial Harbor.

NATURAL HARBOR:

It is the harbor which is protecting from storms and waves through natural land
contours & rocky out crops or Islands. The basic issue in natural harbor design is the
formation of its entrance in such a manner to ensure calm in the harbor. The
harbors of New York, London, Sydney & Bombay can be cited as natural harbors.

SEMI-NATURAL HARBOR:

It is the harbor which is protected on sides by head land i.e. Cape, Peninsula, Cliff,
Bluff etc. The Semi-Natural Harbor may be in the form of Ply month or pocket in
which the design issue is to protect only the entrance of harbor for navigation.

ARTIFICIAL HARBOR:
It is the man made harbor, which is protected from storms and waves through break
water (i.e. which breaks the speed limit of waves). The artificial harbor can be
created or design and used for protection.

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION:

The functional classification of harbor is again of three types, i.e. Commercial

Harbor, Military Harbor and Harbor of Refuge.

COMMERCIAL HARBOR:

From economic point of view the commercial harbor is most significant of all harbor
types because its main function is to accommodate mercantile marine, for loading /
unloading of cargo and for transaction of trade. The commercial harbors have
special requirements of docks, quays, transit sheds, ware housing, overhauling
machinery and means of communication such as roads & railways. The commercial
harbors are mainly developed long sea cots, mouth of rivers, inside estuaries and
inside or along banks of rivers & canals. Most of the time commercial harbors are
either the part of a bigger harbor complex or make independently as units of single
commodity terminals such as oil terminal, coal port, ore port or fishery harbor for
fishing trawlers. Some of the significant examples of these specialized unit purpose
commercial harbors are Karachi Port, Bin Qasim, Gwadar Port, Sydney Port, San
Francisco, London, & New York Harbors.

MILITARY HARBOR:

The military harbor is also known as naval Bas. The main purpose of military harbor
is obviously to accommodate, Naval Crafts & to serve as a supply depot. The
significant examples of Military Harbor are Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. In case of
Karachi & Bombay the harbors are essentially a commercial complex with oil
terminals, general cargo births and a naval base which is the unique examples.

HARBOR OF REFUGE:

Such harbors which provide shelter & security to vessels in case of sudden storms
are known as harbors of Refuge. These harbors are developed & located along
dangerous coast with easily accessible stations. There are three basic requirements
of harbors of refuge i.e. ready accessibility, sea & commodious anchorage and
facilities for obtaining supplies & to execute minor repairs. The size of refuge harbor
is based on maximum number of ships to be accommodated and the size of largest
vessels likely to visit the harbor. The harbor of refuge also used as naval bases
during war times & equipped with adequate means of defense. The popular
examples of Refuge harbors are, Sand Bay Harbor, on eastern coast of USA and
outer harbor of Madras and Vishakhapatnam which are both refuge & commercial
harbors.

LOCATION CLASSIFICATION:

From location view point harbors can be classified in four basic types. It includes sea
or ocean harbor, river & estuary harbor, canal harbor and Lake Harbor.

HARBOR REQUIREMENTS & MAIN FEATURES:

There are six basic requirements of harbors and ten basic features. The harbor
requirements includes, easy access, adequate accommodation, safe anchorage,
repair facilities, supplies facilities and other requirements as Jetties, Breaths, Transit
Sheds, Ware Housing, Cranes, Hotels, Banks, Post Office, Roads & Railways. The
main feature of harbor are, appropriate entrance, approach channels both inner &
outer, turning basin, Shelter Basin, Break waters, , Lock & Located Basin, Dry Docks
and Slipway and Ancillaries, including locating moorings, anchor, lights, transit shed
ware housing, fire protection towers etc.

PLANNING & DESIGN OF HARBORS:

There are four major factors or determinants of harbor provision in a city. These
include need, economic justification, expected volume of commerce and inland
communication availability. The need of harbor primarily emerges due to military
reasons. i.e. Naval Base or Air Base. Secondly the growth of town may reach to such
extent when foreign trade & commerce become an abject need of city. Thirdly if the
city, start producing certain products or commodity which requires to be exported
then port develops. For instance port Bin Qasim in Karachi developed due to steel
mill in the city. The economic justification is evaluated on the basis of income and
social benefits above the capital cost & operating cost of harbor. The expected
volume of commerce required extensive studies & surveys of city & its hinter lands
produce. The inland communication availability is judged by existing roads, rail, air
and inland waterway transportation system. For the decision regarding location of
harbor various types of data is collected. It includes, site investigation, hydrographic
charts, which consists information about depth of water, character of bottom and
range of tides. The other data includes winds movement, temperature and rainfall,
aerial contour mapping, etc. The final site selection is based on maximum natural
protection from wind & waves, water depth to accommodate large ships,
appropriate sea bed which could ship anchors with less capital, maintenance and
dredging cost. After selection of site next step is to develop port layout & cost
estimates. Though there is no specific rule to make the layout of the harbor;
however the planner must consider the littoral drift, protection from storm water,
wharves & jetties, and erosion and siltation process.

CONCLUSION:
On the basis of aforementioned discussions following conclusions are drawn. The
term communication addresses a wide range of phenomenon; however for a Civil
Engineer it is necessary to understand it from the view point of transportation &
especially in an urban context. With respect to transportation in urban context
communication deals with, road ways & road network, metropolitan rail ways, air
ways & air transport, and finally water ways, sea ports, harbors, and docks. All
communication modes in an urban context have its own dynamics and details. For
instance the primary element in urban context is the roads and their classification.
Secondly the metropolitan rail ways has become an especially domain of
communication in urban context. It includes, S. Bahn Systems, Underground Street
Cars, Non Typical Modes of Metropolitan Railway and Subways. Thirdly it is quite
necessary that in urban context how the system of airways, air transport and air
ports works. In these respect types of air traffic its growth and future development
of air ways & air transport is very significant. Especially the airport & its
development in an urban context is quite vital issue to be understood. It includes,
function, location planning & design of airport facilities and role of a civil engineer in
it. Finally with respect to cities of large size which are located along sea or ocean,
rivers & estuaries, canals & lakes the major element of communication is Harbor,
Sea port and Waterways. In this regard a civil engineer must understand the
dynamics of harbors which includes its need, impact, types, classification, planning,
design & construction of harbors.

LECTURE NO: 20

TOPIC: STREET TRAFFIC AND DESIGN

INTRODUCTION:

If one read the topic Street Traffic and Design at a glance the initial thought that
comes to mind and would be interpreted as it is the theme that spells out about
the design of traffic in a street. Whereas; if the topic is carefully read again it can
be further interpreted as to understand about the definition, types, purpose,
functions and activities of a street within a built environment, and design of
pedestrian and vehicular traffic in it. In the following this second thought and
interpretation is further explained in detail. It include; definitions of street, role
of street in built environment, circulation within streets, vehicular traffic
in streets, parking for vehicles in streets, pedestrian traffic and vehicular
amenities in streets, interaction in streets, identity of streets, streets as
distinct from other spaces, and finally the nomenclature of streets. In this
way it is believed that the students would have a clear perspective about street
traffic and design in Town Planning.
DEFINITIONS OF STREET:

A Street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. It is a public parcel of land

adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble,
interact, and move about. A Street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is
more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or
brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or
otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic. Examples of streets
include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road
vehicles to pass.

ROLE OF STREET IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT:

Streets can be loosely categorized as main streets and side streets. Main streets
are usually broad with a relatively high level of activity. Commerce and public
interaction are more visible on main streets, and vehicles may use them for longer-
distance travel. Side streets are quieter, often residential in use and character, and
may be used for vehicular parking.

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC IN STREETS:

Despite this, the operator of a motor vehicle may (incompletely) regard a street as
merely a thoroughfare for vehicular travel or parking. As far as concerns the driver,
a street can be one-way or two-way: vehicles on one-way streets may travel in
only one direction, while those on two-way streets may travel both ways. One way
streets typically have signs reading "ONE WAY" and an arrow showing the direction
of allowed travel. Most two-way streets are wide enough for at least two lanes of
traffic. Which lane is for which direction of traffic depends on what country the
street is located in. On broader two-way streets, there is often a center line marked
down the middle of the street separating those lanes on which vehicular traffic goes
in one direction from other lanes in which traffic goes in the opposite direction. If
there is more than one lane going in one direction on a main street, these lanes
may be separated by intermittent lane lines marked on the street pavement. Side
streets often do not have center lines or lane lines.

PARKING FOR VEHICLES IN STREETS:

Many streets, especially side streets in residential areas, have an extra lane's width
on either or both sides for parallel parking. Most minor side streets allowing free
parallel parking do not have pavement markings designating the parking lane. Main
streets more often have parking lanes marked. Some streets are too busy or narrow
for parking on the side. Sometimes parking on the sides of streets is allowed only at
certain times.
IDENTITY OF STREETS:

A Street can often serve as the catalyst for the neighborhood's prosperity, culture
and solidarity. New Orleans Bourbon Street is famous not only for its active nightlife
but also for its role as the center of the citys French Quarter. Madison Avenue and
Fleet Street are so strongly identified with their respective most famous types of
commerce, that their names are sometimes applied to firms located elsewhere.
Other streets mark divisions between neighborhoods of a city. For example, Yonge
Street divides Toronto into east and west sides, and East Capitol Street divides
Washington, D.C. into north and south.

STREETS AS DISTINCT FROM OTHER SPACES:

A road, like a street, is often paved and used for travel. However, a street is
characterized by the degree and quality of street life it facilitates, whereas a road
serves primarily as a through passage for road vehicles or (less frequently)
pedestrians. Buskers, beggars, boulevardiers, patrons of sidewalk cafs,
peoplewatchers, streetwalkers, and a diversity of other characters are habitual
users of a street; the same people would not typically be found on a road. In rural
and suburban environments where street life is rare, the terms "street" and "road"
are frequently considered interchangeable. Still, even here, what is called a "street"
is usually a smaller thoroughfare, such as a road within a housing development
feeding directly into individual driveways. In the last half of the 20th century these
streets often abandoned the tradition of a rigid, rectangular grid, and instead were
designed to discourage through traffic. This and other traffic calming methods
provided quiet for families and play space for children. Adolescent suburbanites
find, in attenuated form, the amenities of street life in shopping malls where
vehicles are forbidden. If a road connects places, then a street connects people.
One may "hit the road" to see the wonders of the worldJack Kerouac famously
chronicled one such journeybut the latest bling will "hit the streets" before it ever
appears on a road. It is "on the street" where one hears an interesting rumor, where
one bumps into an old acquaintance, where one acquires smarts. One seldom sees
a "road" vendor except of fresh produce, or a "road" performer. You'll never find
yourself on a long "street" to nowhere or under assault by a violent "road" gang;
hence politicians seldom view with alarm the prevalence of "crime in the roads".
The street, not the road is home to the homeless unless they are hoboes, and even
Kerouac's hero finally returned to find his friends on a New York street. A town
square or plaza is a little more likes a street, but a town square is rarely paved with
asphalt and may not make any concessions for through traffic at all.

NOMENCLATURE OF STREETS:

There is a haphazard relationship, at best, between a thoroughfare's function and its

name. For example, London's Abbey Road serves all the vital functions of a street,
despite its name, and locals are more apt to refer to the "street" outside than the
"road". A desolate road in rural Montana, on the other hand, may bear a sign
proclaiming it "Davidson Street", but this does not make it a "street" except in the
original sense of a paved road. In the United Kingdom many towns will refer to their
main thoroughfare as the High Street (in the United States it would be called the
Main Street however, occasionally "Main Street" in a city or town is a street other
than the de facto main thoroughfare), and many of the ways leading off it will be
named "Road" despite the urban setting. Thus the town's so-called "Roads" will
actually be more street-like than a road. Some streets may even be seen as
highways. Hurontario Street in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is commonly referred
to as "Highway 10" even though such a highway designation no longer officially
exists. This is probably due to the fact that the street is a modern suburban arterial
that was urbanized after decades of having the status and function a true highway,
so people continued to use the number because of force of habit.

In some other English-speaking countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, cities
are often divided by a main "Road," with "Streets" leading from this "Road", or are
divided by thoroughfares known as "Streets" or "Roads" with no apparent
differentiation between the two. In Auckland, for example, the main shopping
precinct is around Queen Street and Karangahape Road. Streets have existed for as
long as humans have lived in permanent settlements. However, modern civilization
in much of the New World developed around transportation provided by motor
vehicles.

In some parts of the English-speaking world, such as North America, many think of
the street as a thoroughfare for vehicular traffic first and foremost. In this view,
pedestrian traffic is incidental to the street's purpose; a street consists of a
thoroughfare running through the middle (in essence, a road), and may or may not
have sidewalks along the sides. In an even narrower sense, some may think of a
street as only the vehicle-driven and parking part of the thoroughfare. Thus,
sidewalks and tree lawns would not be thought of as part of the street. A mother
may tell her toddlers "Don't go out into the street, so you don't get hit by a car."

Among urban residents of the English-speaking world, the word appears to carry its
original connotations (i.e. the facilitation of traffic as a prime purpose, and "street
life" as an incidental benefit). For instance, a New York Times writer lets casually slip
the observation that automobile-laden Houston Street is "a street that can hardly be
called 'street' anymore, transformed years ago into an eight-lane raceway that
alternately resembles a NASCAR event and a parking lot." Published in the paper's
Metro section, the article evidently presumes an audience with an innate grasp of
the modern urban role of the street. To the readers of the Metro section, vehicular
traffic does not reinforce, but rather detracts from, the essential "street-ness" of a
street. At least one map has been made to illustrate the geography of naming
conventions for thoroughfares; street, avenue, boulevard, circle, and other suffixes
are contrasted against one another.