HISTORY OF

TRANSPORTATION
LAND
EARLY ROADS:
NEOLITHIC AGE
- The first earth tracks were created by humans carrying goods and often followed trails.
- Animals such as horses, oxen, donkeys became an element in track creation

PALEOLITHIC AGE
- First improved trails would have been mountain passes, and through swamps. The first
improvement would have consisted largely of clearing trees and big stones from the path.

TRAVOIS
- The first vehicle , a frame used to drag loads, which probably developed in Eurasia after the first
use of Bullocks ( Castrated Cattle) for pulling ploughts.
HARRAPAN ROADS
4000 BC – Street Paving has been found from the first human settlements of the Indus Valley
Civilization on the Indian Sub Continent in modern day such as Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

WHEELED TRANSPORT
5000 B.C – Wheels appear to have been developed in ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia. Logs were used
as rollers under sleds.
3000 B.C – Travois would have been used in Mesopotamia and Northern Iraq
2800 B.C – Two – wheeled chariots

4000 B.C – The first paved streets appear in Ur.

3300 B.C - Corduroy Roads were built in Glastonbury, England , and brick –paved roads were built in
the Indus Valley Civilization on the Indian Subcontinent.
2000 B.C – Stone Cutting Tools were generally available in the Middle East and Greece allowing local
streets to be paved. The Minoans built a 50 km paved road from Knossos in north Crete through the
mountains to Gortyn and Lebena. The road could be considered superior to any Roman Roads.
500 B.C – Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia (Iran), Inluding the famous Road
which was one of the finest highways of its time. Because of the road’s superior quality, mail
couriers could travel 2699 km. in seven days

268 B.C to 22B.C – Ashoka built Roads, edicts, water wells, education centers, rest houses and hospitals
for human and animals along highway across Indian Subcontinent and planted trees for the benefit of
travelers.

ROMAN ROADS
-Roman roads used deep roadbeds of Crushed Stones as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry,
as the water would flow out from the crushed stone, instead of becoming mud in clay soils.
- There were additional six layers that included six sided capstones, or pavers, that reduced the dust and
reduced drag from the wheels. The pavers allowed the Roman Chariots to travel very quickly, ensuring
good communication with the Roman Provinces.
EARLY TAR-PAVED ROADS
- Tar was derived from petroleum, accessed oil fields in the region, through the chemical process of
destructive distillation. These roads were built during Arab Empire.

NEW ROAD NETWORKS

Renaissance – new roads and bridges were built often base on Roman Designs.

INDUSTRIAL CIVIL ENGINEERING

Late 18th and Early 19th centuries – new methods of highway construction has been pioneered by the work
of two British engineers, Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam and by the French engineer Pierre-
Marie-Jerome-Tresaguet

John Metcalf – the first professional road builder to emerge during industrial Revolution., who constructed
about 180 miles (290 km) of turnpike road, mainly in the North England.
Tresaguet
- is widely credited with establishing the first scientific approach to Road Building. It involved a layer
of large rocks, covered by a layer of smaller gravel.

Telford
- The surveyor and Engineer Thomas Telford also made substantial advances in the engineering of
new roads and construction of Bridges. The method involved the digging of a large trench in which a
foundation of heavy rock was set. He also designed his roads so that they sloped downwards from the
center, allowing the drainage to take place, a major improvement on the work of tresaguet.

Macadam Roads
- a Scottish Engineer, who designed the first modern road. He developed an inexpensive paving
material of soil and stone aggregates known as mcadam. He discovered that that massive foundations of
rock upon rock was unnecessary, and asserted that native soil alone would support the road and traffic
upon it, as long as it was covered by road crust that would protect the soil underneath from water and
wear.
MODERN ROADS
1834 – John Henry Cassell, patented pitch Macadam,. This method involved spreading tar on the
subgrade, placing a typical macadam layer, and final sealing the macadam with a mixture of
sand and tar.

-modern tarmac was patented by British Engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley, which involved
mechanically mixing tar and aggregate prior to lay down, and then compacting with a steam
roller. The tar was modified b adding small amounts of Portland cement.
ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION
- TRANSPORT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
- PLACE UTILITY OF GOODS
- TIME UTILITY OF GOODS
- PRODUCER AND ONSUMER
- PRESERVATION OF QUALITY OF GOODS
- MASS PRODUCTION
- EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
- TRANSPORT AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
- TRANSPORT AND URBANIZATION
- TRANSPORT AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
- COSTS OF GOODS
- ADMINISTRATION
- DEFENSE AND STRATEGIC NEEDS
- TOURISM
- TRANSPORT FACILITIES AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES.
MODES OF TRANSPORT
- RAILWAYS
-SURFACE
- UNDERGROUND
- ELEVATED
- LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT (LRT)

- ROAD TRANSPORT
- AIR TRANSPORT
- WATER TRANSPORT
- PIPELINES
TRANSPORT MODES CHARACTERISTICS
- SPEED
- SAFETY
- ADEQUACY
- FREQUENCY
- REGULARITY
- INTEGRATION
- RESPONSIBILITIES
- COST
- CHEAPNESS
- FUEL EFFICIENCY
ADVANTAGES OF ROAD TRANSPORT
- WIDEGEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE PROVIDED BY ROADS
- LOW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS
- QUICK AND ASSURED DELIVERIES
- FLEXIBILITY
- DOOR-TO-DOOR SERVICE
- SIMPLER PACKAGING
- PERSONALIZED SERVICE
- PERSONALIZED TRAVEL
DISADVANTAGES OF ROAD TRANSPORT
-SAFETY
- PARKING PROBLEM
- ENERGY