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CE 303 - Transportation Engineering Urban Transportation Planning

Lecture 1 - Introduction

Transportation is the movement of people and goods safely and efficiently in geographical space. A transportation system provides connectivity (interaction between people, spreading of ideas) and evolution of civilization.

Components of Transportation Systems

1. Links Road segments, Railroad, Pipes 2. Nodes Intersections, Interchanges, Transit terminals, Harbours, Airports. 3. Flow Entities Road vehicles, Trains, Aircraft, Ships 4. Control Systems Geometric designs, Flow entity regulations, User regulations.

Classification of transportation systems by routes

1. Land Links-Road, Railway

Nodes- Intersections, Interchanges, Bus Terminals, Freight terminals, Railway stations Flow entities- Road vehicles, Rail cars, Pedestrians.

2. Air Links- Air routes Nodes- Airports

Flow entities- Aircraft 3. Water Links- Sea routes Nodes- Seaports, Quays

Flow entities- Ships 4. Pipe Lines

Links- Pipe Lines Nodes- Pipe terminals

Flow entities- None

Urban Transportation Planning

The four steps of urban transportation planning are the assessment of, 1. Trip-generation which is based on the desire to travel for a given purpose. 2. Trip-distribution which depends on the choice of destination 3. Modal choice which depends on the choice of travel mod 4. Traffic assignment which depends on the choice of travel route or path.

Each assessment of these components requires a model based on regression. The dependent and independent variables of the models have to be identified. The models should be calibrated and verified.

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Fig. 1.1 Sequential Demand Forecasting Process