INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

Highway Engineering is an engineering discipline branching from civil engineering that involves the
planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe
and effective transportation of people and goods. Highway engineering became prominent towards the
latter half of the 20th Century after World War II. Standards of highway engineering are continuously
being improved. Highway engineers must take into account future traffic flows, design of highway
intersections/interchanges, geometric alignment and design, highway pavement materials and design,
structural design of pavement thickness, and pavement maintenance.

Traffic Engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses engineering techniques to achieve the safe
and efficient movement of people and goods on roadways. It focuses mainly on research for safe and
efficient traffic flow, such as road geometry, sidewalks and crosswalks, cycling infrastructure, traffic
signs, road surface markings and traffic lights. Traffic engineering deals with the functional part of
transportation system, except the infrastructures provided.

Railroad/Roadway Engineering is a specialist field in Transportation and Civil Engineering. Railways are
incredibly complex and expensive systems which are exclusively designed for the efficient passage of
trains to transport people, freight and equipment. The incredibly advanced trains which use these rail
networks are expensive vehicles and so a Railway Engineer is faced with different challenges to a
Highway Engineer. Depending on the role sought within the Railway Engineering discipline, an Engineer
could be expected to be involved in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of trains and
rail systems.

Airport Engineering encompasses the planning, design, and construction of terminals, runways, and
navigation aids to provide for passenger and freight service. Airport engineers design and construct
airports. They must account for the impacts and demands of aircraft in their design of airport facilities.
These engineers must use the analysis of predominant wind direction to determine runway orientation,
determine the size of runway border and safety areas, different wing tip to wing tip clearances for all
gates and must designate the clear zones in the entire port.

Port and Harbor Engineering deals with handling the design, construction, and operation of ports,
harbors, canals, and other maritime facilities.

Pavement Engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses engineering techniques to design and
maintain flexible (asphalt) and rigid (concrete) pavements. This includes streets and highways and
involves knowledge of soils, hydraulics, and material properties. Pavement engineering involves new
construction as well as rehabilitation and maintenance of existing pavements. Maintenance often
involves using engineering judgment to make maintenance repairs with the highest long-term benefit
and lowest cost.
Philippine road network refers to the highway system of the Philippines. It is a network of national
roads owned and maintained by the Department of Public Works and Highways which are organized
into three classifications depending on their function or purpose they serve within the road network:
national primary, national secondary, and national tertiary roads. The national roads connecting major
cities are numbered N1N82. They are mostly single and dual carriageways linking two or more cities. As
of 2015, the Philippine highway network has a total length of 19,162.72 kilometers (11,907.16 mi) of
concrete roads, 9,756.45 kilometers (6,062.38 mi) of asphalt roads, 3,636.96 kilometers (2,259.90 mi) of
gravel roads, and 77.24 kilometers (47.99 mi) of earth roads.