CIVE 319 - Transportation Engineering
Winter 2025
Prerequisites:
Undergraduate level knowledge of mathematics. In addition, critical and innovative thinking about transportation problems is required. The pre-requisites for this course are:
• Civil Engineering Systems Analysis - CIVE 208
• Computers in engineering - COMP 208
• Probabilistic systems - CIVE 302 (Co-requisite)
Textbook (required):
• Principles of Highway and Traffic Engineering, Sixth Edition, by Mannering, Kilareski and Washburn, Wiley, 2013. IMPORTANT: This textbook edition is required for this course. One part of the midterm and final exams are opened book.
• Some additional class handouts and lecture presentations will be available at the course website.
Online Course Material:
The course material will contain course information including the syllabus, lecture slides, homework assignments, homework solutions, etc.
Course Description:
This course is mainly oriented towards Civil engineering students interested in learning the fundamentals of how transportation systems are designed, planned, and operated. This course introduces Civil Engineering students to the basics of transportation engineering and important issues in this field. This is intended for students who may not have a background in transportation engineering but demonstrate some basic computer skills, data analysis and basic undergraduate mathematics. This course is expected to cover the following topics:
Topics covered in this course are:
• Introduction to transportation engineering • Travel demand and traffic forecasting
• Fundamentals of traffic flow and queuing theory • Transportation safety
• Highway capacity and level of services • Geometry design of highways
• Traffic control and analysis at signalized intersections • Sustainable transportation strategies
Assignments and evaluation:
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Component
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Weight
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Assignments (5 assignments, 5% each) *
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25%
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Midterm (1)
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35%
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Final exam
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40%
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*This will be explained the first week of class.
Tentative Lecture and Class Test Schedule:
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Week of
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Topic*
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Readings
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Week 1 - 2 (Jan)
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1. Introduction to transportation engineering
• Some basic definitions
• Transportation externalities
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Ch. 1
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Week 3 - 4 (Jan)
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2. Fundamentals of traffic flow and queuing theory
• Traffic stream parameters
• Traffic stream models
• Models of traffic flow
• Queuing theory and traffic flow analysis
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Ch. 5
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Week 5 - 6 (Feb)
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3. Highway capacity and levels of service analysis
• Freeway segments
• Multilane highways
• Design traffic flows
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Ch. 6
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Week 7 - 8 (Feb)
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4. Traffic control and analysis at signalized intersections
• Analysis of traffic at signalized intersections
• Development of a traffic signal and timing plan
• Level-of-service determination
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Ch. 7
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Week 8 (Midterm)
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Midterm: Midterm - Feb 27th (Thursday)
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Week 9 (March)
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Study break (March 3 - 7)
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Week 10 -11 (March)
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5. Travel Demand and Traffic forecasting
• Trip generation
• Trip distribution
• Modal and route choice
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Ch. 8
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Week 12 -13 (March)
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6. Geometry design of highways
• Vertical alignment
• Horizontal alignment
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Ch. 3
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Week 14 - 15 (April)
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7. Transportation safety
• Improvement programs
• Identification and improvement of hazardous locations
• Evaluation of countermeasures
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Notes**
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Week 15
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Final Exam revision
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*They may be some potential changes.
**Additional notes will be provided by the instructor.
Learning Outcomes, Graduate Attributes, and Evaluation
Understand the basic concepts, fundamentals, methods, and guidelines in various transportation engineering areas such as traffic flow and queuing theory, the procedures, and guidelines for level of service analysis, design and analysis of traffic controls and introduction to macroscopic models for planning and design of transportation systems. Students will also learn about road safety concepts and methods for diagnosis of road facilities and design of highways.
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Learning outcome
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CEAB curriculum
content category: AUs
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Graduate
attribute
indicators
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Evaluations
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Apply basic transportation engineering concepts
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Engineering sciences: 4.0
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PA.3 (A), KB.6
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A1, Mid-term
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Make use of traffic flow and queuing theory
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Engineering sciences: 6.5
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PA.3 (A)
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A1, Mid-term
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Learn to use level of service and highway capacity guidelines
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Engineering sciences: 8.0
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PA.3 (A)
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A2, Mid-term
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Design and analyze traffic controls at intersections
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Engineering sciences: 8.0
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PA.3 (A)
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A3, Mid-term
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Build travel demand models and traffic forecast
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Engineering design: 5.0
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DE.4 (D)
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A4, Final exam
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Design of highways (geometry design)
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Engineering sciences: 9.0
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PA.3 (D)
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A5, Final exam
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Apply appropriate knowledge on road safety and design
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Engineering design: 5.0
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DE.4 (I)
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Final exam
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