Course Information

Meeting Times and Location

10:30 am - 11:20 am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in MOR 220.

Course Personnel and Office Hours

Instructor: Yegor Malinovskiy

Office: 261, Wilcox Hall
Tel: (206) 734-1352
Email: yegorm@u.washington.edu

Office Hours: 11:30am - 1:00pm every Monday
                    or by appointment (you're also welcome to just stop by).

Teaching Assistant: Tom Le

Office: 121, More Hall

Email: L3tom@u.washington.edu

Office Hours: 11:30am - 1:00pm every W/F.
                    or by appointment (you're also welcome to just stop by).

Syllabus

Course Description and Objectives:

Virtually every aspect of modern economies, and the ways of life they support, can be tied directly or indirectly to transportation. Transportation engineering is definitely one of the most important subjects for modern society. This course introduces important concepts and fundamental knowledge in transportation engineering, including geometric design, pavement design, traffic flow concepts, level of service analysis, intelligent transportation systems, travel demand forecast methods, traffic signal control, and management of transportation systems. Recommendations for further study on specific areas are also provided.

The objective of this course is to provide students with a solid introduction to the principles of transportation engineering, with emphasis on roadways and management of transportation systems. With the instructions, assignments, and projects in this course, students are expected to obtain a general understanding of principles and state of art in transportation engineering and to build up a solid foundation for further studies in advanced transportation issues.

Specific learning objectives are available in pdf format. If you do not have Adobe Reader installed in your computer, click here to download it.

Prerequisite:

None.

Required Textbook:

Fred L. Mannering and Scott Washburn Principles of Highway Engineering and Traffic Analysis (fifth edition). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., U.S.A., 2012.

The textbook can be purchased at the UW Bookstore. If you choose to purchase it elsewhere, get the 5th edition.  Earlier editions will not work – problems, equations and tables have been changed to conform to the latest version of the TRB Highway Capacity Manual and the AASHTO Policy on Geometric Design of Highways.

Class Grading Policy

Assignments: 30%
Projects: 15%
Midterm Exam: 25%
Final Exam: 30%

More information about course expectations and policy is available here.

If you want to download the entire course document package handed out in the first lecture, please click here.
 

Schedule

Day-by-day topics and required readings (tentative, subject to change):

Week
 Day Date
Topics
Readings
Note
1
M Mar. 26  Introduction and Course Overview  Chapter 1, RM-1  
W Mar. 28  Vehicle Dynamics: Introduction  Chapter 2.1-2.7   A#1 out 
F Mar. 30  Vehicle Dynamics: Braking Principles  Chapter 2.8-2.9, RM-2  
2
 M Apr. 2  Geometric Design: Vertical Alignment  Chapter 3.1 - 3.3  
W Apr. 4  Geometric Design: Horizontal Alignment  Chapter 3.4  A#1 due; A#2 out
F Apr. 6  Geometric Design: Other Issues  Chapter 3.5  
3
 M Apr. 9  Pavement Design: Concepts  RM-3  
W Apr. 11  Pavement Design: Principles and Procedures  Chapter 4.1 - 4.3  A#2 due;   A#3 out
F Apr. 13  Traffic Flow Theory: Introduction  Chapter 4.4 - 4.6  
4
 M Apr. 16  Traffic Flow Models + Queuing Theory  Chapter 5.1 - 5.4   A#3 due;   P#1 out
W Apr. 18  Midterm Review  Chapter 5.5
F Apr. 20  Engineering Discovery Days (no class)    Midterm Course Evaluation
5
 M Apr. 23  Midterm Exam (through pavement design)    Midterm Exam Solution
W Apr. 25  Queuing Theory  Chapter 5.6  Travel Survey out
F Apr. 27  Traffic Detection Systems  RM-4  
6
 M Apr. 30  Signalized Intersections: Overview  Chapter 7.1 – 7.4  P#1 due; A#4 out
W May 2  Signalized Intersections: Signal Timing  Chapter 7.5  Travel Survey due;
F May 4  Signalized Intersections: LOS Analysis  Chapter 7.6  P#2 out
7
 M May 7  Highway Capacity and LOS: Concepts  Chapter 6.1 – 6.3  A#4 due; A#5 out  
W May 9  Level of Service: Freeways  Chapter 6.4  
F May 11  Level of Service: Highways  Chapter 6.5 – 6.6  
8
 M May 14  Transportation Policy Intro    A#5 due
W May 16  Transportation Planning  RM-5  
F May 18  Trip Generation and Distribution  Chapter 8.1 – 8.5  A#6 out
9
 M May 21  Mode Choice and Trip Assignment     P#2 due
W May 23  Intelligent Transportation Systems  Chapter 8.6 – 8.7  
F May 25  Guest Speakers: Chris Breiland and Jonathan Williams, Fehr & Peers  RM-6  A#6 due; EC due
10
 M May 28  Memorial Day (no class)  
W May 30  Future Transportation Technologies    
F Jun. 1  Final Review and Course Evaluation    
11 M Jun. 4  Final Exam: 8:30 - 10:20am (MOR 220)    

A#n - Assignment Number n;
P#m - Project Number m;
RM - Reading Material.

Lectures (accessible to registered students only):

Lecture 1: Introduction and Course Overview (ppsx file, pdf file), Mar. 26, 2012.
Lecture 2: Vehicle Dynamics: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), Mar. 27, 2012.
Lecture 3: Vehicle Dynamics: Braking Principles (ppsx file, pdf file), Mar. 30, 2012.
Lecture 4: Geometric Design: Introduction and Vertical Alignment (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 2, 2012.
Lecture 5: Geometric Design: Horizontal Alignment (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 4, 2012.
Lecture 6: Geometric Design: Other Issues (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 6, 2012.
Lecture 7: Pavement Design: Concepts (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 9, 2012.
Lecture 8: Pavement Design: Principles and Procedures (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 11, 2012.
Lecture 9: Traffic Flow Theory: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 13, 2012.
Lecture 10: Traffic Flow Recap and Queuing Theory (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 16, 2012.
Lecture 11: Midterm Review (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 18, 2012.
Lecture 12: Midterm Exam, Apr. 23, 2012.
Lecture 13: Queuing Theory Wrap-up and Intro to Data Collection (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 25, 2012.
Lecture 14: Traffic Detection Systems Continued (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 27, 2012.
Lecture 15: Signalized Intersections: Overview (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 29, 2012.
Lecture 16: Signalized Intersections: Signal Timing (ppsx file, pdf file), May 2, 2012.
Lecture 17: Signalized Intersections: LOS Analysis (ppsx file, pdf file), May 4, 2012.
Lecture 18: Highway Capacity and LOS Concepts (ppsx file, pdf file), May 7, 2012.
Lecture 19: Level of Service: Freeways (ppsx file, pdf file), May 9, 2012.
Lecture 20: Level of Service: Highways (ppsx file, pdf file), May 11, 2012.
Lecture 21: Transportation Policy Intro (ppsx file, pdf file), May 14, 2012.
Lecture 22: Transportation Planning: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), May 16, 2012.
Lecture 23: Trip Generation and Distribution (ppsx file, pdf file), May 18, 2012.
Lecture 24: Mode Choice and Trip Assignment (ppsx file, pdf file), May 21, 2012.
Lecture 25: Intelligent Transportation Systems (ppsx file, pdf file), May 23, 2012.
Lecture 26: Guest Speakers: Chris Breiland and Jonathan Williams, Fehr & Peers, May 25, 2012.
Lecture 27: Future Transportation Scenarios (ppsx file, pdf file), May 30, 2012.
Lecture 28: Final Review and Course Evaluation (ppsx file, pdf file), June 1, 2012.
 

Assignments:

Assignment #1, due on Apr. 4, 2012. If you are not familiar with Excel, you may find this tutorial helpful.

Solution to assignment #1 is here

Assignment #2, due on Apr. 11, 2012.

Solution to assignment #2 is here

Assignment #3, due on Apr. 16, 2012.

Solution to assignment #3 is here

Assignment #4, due on May 7, 2012.

Solution to assignment #4 is here

Assignment #5, due on May 14, 2012.

Solution to assignment #5 is here

Extra Credit Assignment, due on May 25, 2012.

Assignment #6, due on May 25, 2012.

Solution to assignment #6 is here


 

Projects:

Project #1 is due on April 30th, 2012. For your convenience, the WSDOT pavement design tables can be downloaded: flexible pavement and rigid pavement. The 1993 AASHTO interactive equations in the Pavement Guide Interactive can be found here .

Project #2 is due on May 21, 2012. The Bluetooth detector data for this project can be downloaded here.

Resources: