ETHIOPIA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

COURSE
NAME
Transportation Planning and
Economics

TITLE Chapter One

Introduction to Transportation Planning

NATNAEL MELSEW (MSc.)

Road and Transport Engineer
[email protected]
 Outlines 2

• Introduction to Transportation
• What is Transportation Planning Process
• Transport Planning Data Collection
• Transport Modeling

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 3

• What is Transportation?
 The movement of people and goods over time and
space

Time, t t1 t2 t3

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 4

Transportation on Planet Earth

• Land/Surface
 Highway
 Railway
 Cable
 Pipeline
• Air
• Sea

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 5

Surface Modes of Transport

• Motorized
 Vehicles
 Transit (Bus and Light Rail)
 Rapid Transit (Subway)
• Non-Motorized
 Walking (Pedestrians)
 Biking (Bicycles)

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 6

• Which Mode has Serious Problems?

 Cars
 Why People Like Cars?
 Class Discussion
 Ethiopian Context

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 7

Why People Like Cars?

• Believed that Car is the Fastest Mode Depending on:
 Levels of Congestion
 Time of Day
 Available Alternatives
• Privacy
• Car Ownership Higher Level of Society
• Enjoy the Sensation of Driving

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 Introduction to Transportation 8

• Transportation Involves
 Safety
 Performance
 Economic
 Environment

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 Introduction to Transportation 9

Safety

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Introduction to Transportation 10

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 Introduction to Transportation 11

Environment
 Emissions

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Introduction to Transportation 12

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 Introduction to Transportation 13

Components of Transportation
• Supply (Infrastructure)
 Physical Facilities
 Highways, Railroads, and Ports
 Transfer Points
 Parking Areas and Driveways
 Supporting Elements
 Signals and Signs

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 14

• Demand
 Auto, Bus and Truck
 Planes
 Trains
 Ships
• Users/Operators
 Drivers, Pilots and Passengers
 Freight

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 Introduction to Transportation 15

What is Transportation Engineering?

• Involves Integration of Diverse Professionals:
 Aeronautics (Aircraft)
 Mechanical (Vehicles)
 Chemical (Fuel)
 Electrical (Communications and Control Systems)
 Civil (Infrastructure Dev’t and Manage Demand)
 Material Science (Select Smart Technologies)

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Melsew
 Introduction to Transportation 16

Transportation Engineering (as a Civil Engineer)

• Development of Infrastructure and Manage Demand
• Involves
 Planning
 Design
 Operation
 Maintenance and Rehabilitation
• People-Driven

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 Introduction to Transportation 17

• Key Multi-Disciplinary Areas

 Economics
 Finance
 Statistics
 Urban Planning
 Environment
 Psychology and Human Factors
 Public Administration

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 Introduction to Transportation 18

• Study Area Covers

 Transportation Planning
 Traffic Engineering
 Roadway Geometric Design
 Pavement Engineering
 Railway Engineering
 Design and Planning of Airports

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 19

• Planning: is an organized, rationally conducted process of

Collection,
Analysis
Presentation
of facts about all facets of the system.
• Transportation planning: is a process that develops
information to help make decisions on the future
development and management of transportation systems,
especially in urban areas.

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 20

• The transportation planning elements basically comprises two

basic things:
 Planning of Transport Systems/physical planning
 Financing
Planning Transport System
• During this stage some basic questions need to be answered
 What to include in the transport planning
 Which approach is the most problem solving approach
for the existing problem
Financing
• Financing includes getting and allocating the necessary budget
for the execution of the planning process

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Melsew
 What is Transportation Planning Process? 21

• The transportation planning process includes SEVEN basic

elements
 Situation Definition
 Problem Definition
 Search for Solutions
 Analysis of Performance
 Evaluation of Alternatives
 Choice of Project
 Specification and Construction

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 22

1. Situation Definition
• In this phase we first define the situation needed to be planned
• lets assume that there is a traffic congestion/jam is observed
at some road section.
 The basic factors that created the present situation are
described
 The present system is analyzed and its characteristics are
described.
 Information about the surrounding area, its people, and
their travel habits may be obtained.
 Previous reports and studies that may be relevant to the
present situation are reviewed and summarized.

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 23

2. Problem Definition
• Its purpose is to describe the problem in terms of the
objective
• Objectives are statements of purpose, such as:
 To reduce traffic congestion
 To improve safety
 To maximize net highway-user benefits
 To reduce noise.

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 24

3. Search for Solutions

• This stage is
 Idea-generating phase, for later testing and
evaluation
 Preliminary feasibility studies, which might narrow
the range of choices
 Some data gathering, field testing, and cost
estimating

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 25

4. Analysis of Performance
• Basically in this stage, we evaluate the proposed alternative
solutions in terms of effectiveness, efficiency.
• The following tasks will be executed on this stage
 Estimate how each of the proposed alternatives
would perform under present and future conditions
 The criteria identified in the previous steps are
calculated for each transportation option
 Investment cost of the transportation project, annual
costs for maintenance and operation are included in
this step

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5. Evaluation of Alternatives
• After we analyze the performance of each options then the
feasible and the most desirable alternative will be evaluated.
• This tasks will be done
 Determine how well each alternative will achieve
the objectives.
 The benefits and costs are computed from
performance data.
 A positive benefit-cost ratio are needed for further
step

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What is Transportation Planning Process? 27

6. Choice of Project
 It is made after considering all the factors involved
 The chosen project would be the one with the lowest
cost
 If the project involves the community, it may be
necessary to hold additional public hearings

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 What is Transportation Planning Process? 28

7. Specification and Construction

• Once the transportation project has been selected, the project
moves into a detailed design phase in which each of the
components of the facility is specified
• For a transportation facility, this involves its
 Physical location,
 Geometric dimensions
 Structural configuration
• The cost of building the project are estimated based on the
design
• Construction firm is selected and constructed under the
supervision of the Engineer as per the contract delivery
system used
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 Transport Planning Data Collection 29

Sources of Planning Data

• Two sources of data for transport planning;
Primary sources (direct surveying data) and
Secondary sources (existing data)
• The choice of data collection method depends on purpose of
data & budget allocated.

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Primary Source Data

• Methods of data collection
 Observational surveys
 Household self-completion surveys
 Telephone interview surveys
 Road side interviews/Surveys
 Household personal interview surveys
 Group discussion surveys (focus group)
 In-depth interviews

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Secondary Data (Existing data)

• It is the first step in data collection.
• The three main sources of data are:
 Publication database
 Previous local area surveys
 Data produced as a by-product of control or
management system, e.g. vehicle flow past at toll
point

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Melsew
 Transport Planning Data Collection 32

Type of Transport Planning Data

• Data used for the study of transport planning are
 Vehicular traffic flow data
 Public transport user data
 Pedestrian volume data
 Cyclists and cycle facilities data
 Spot speed data
 Origin-Destination (O-D) cordon data
 Journey speed, travel time and delay data
 Parking use data
 Environmental impact data

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Melsew
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THANK YOU

Natnael
Melsew