Meeting Times and Location
11:30am - 12:20pm every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at MUE 153.
Course Personnel and Office Hours
Instructor: Yinhai Wang
Office: 133B, More Hall
Tel: (206) 616-2696
Fax: (206) 543-5965
Email: yinhai@u.washington.eduOffice Hour: 12:30 - 2:00pm every Friday
or by appointment (stop by is also welcome).Teaching Assistant: Yegor Malinovskiy
Office: 112A, More Hall
Tel: (206) 543-7827
Fax: (206) 543-5965
Email: yegorm@u.washington.edu
Office Hour: 12:30 - 2:00pm every M/W.
or by appointment (stop by is also welcome).
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, Walter P. Kilareski, Scott Washburn. Principles of Highway Engineering and Traffic Analysis (fourth edition). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., U.S.A., 2005.
The textbook can be purchased at the UW Bookstore. If you choose to purchase it elsewhere, make sure you get the 4th edition. Earlier editions may not work – many equations, methods and assumptions have been changed.
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.
Day-by-day topics and required readings (tentative, subject to change):
WeekDay Date Topics Readings Note 1M Mar. 30 Introduction and Course Overview Chapter 1, RM-1 W Apr. 1 Vehicle Dynamics: Introduction Chapter 2.1-2.7 A#1 out F Apr. 3 Vehicle Dynamics: Braking Principles Chapter 2.8-2.9, RM-2 2M Apr. 6 Geometric Design: Introduction and Concepts Chapter 3.1 - 3.2 W Apr. 8 Geometric Design: Vertical Alignment Chapter 3.3 A#1 due; A#2 out F Apr. 10 Geometric Design: Horizontal Alignment Chapter 3.4 3M Apr. 13 Geometric Design: Other Issues RM-3 W Apr. 15 Pavement Design: Concepts Chapter 4.1 - 4.3 A#2 due; A#3 out F Apr. 17 Pavement Design: Principles and Procedures Chapter 4.4 - 4.6 4M Apr. 20 Traffic Flow Theory: Introduction Chapter 5.1 - 5.4 P#1 out; W Apr. 22 Traffic Flow Models Chapter 5.5 A#3 due; F Apr. 24 Midterm Review Midterm Course Evaluation 5M Apr. 27 Midterm Exam (through pavement design) Midterm Exam Solution W Apr. 29 Queuing Theory Chapter 5.6 Travel Survey out F May 1 Traffic Detection Systems: Introduction RM-4 6M May 4 Traffic Detection Systems: Loop and Video P#1 due; A#4 out W May 6 Signalized Intersections: Overview Chapter 7.1 – 7.4 Travel Survey due; F May 8 Signalized Intersections: Signal Timing Chapter 7.5 P#2 out 7M May 11 Signalized Intersections: LOS Analysis Chapter 7.6 A#4 due; A#5 out W May 13 Highway Capacity and LOS: Concepts Chapter 6.1 – 6.3 F May 15 Level of Services: Freeways Chapter 6.4 8M May 18 Level of Services: Highways Chapter 6.5 – 6.6 A#5 due W May 20 Transportation Planning: Introduction RM-5 F May 22 Trip Generation and Distribution Chapter 8.1 – 8.5 P#2 due; A#6 out 9M May 25 Memorial Day (no class) W May 27 Mode Choice and Trip Assignment Chapter 8.6 – 8.7 F May 29 Intelligent Transportation Systems RM-6 A#6 due 10M Jun. 1 Future Transportation Technologies Travel Survey Results (ppsx, pdf) W Jun. 3 Guest Speech: Applications in Transportation Engineering by Dr. Ryan Avery from PB F Jun. 5 Final Review and Course Evaluation 11 W Jun. 10 Final Exam: 2:30 - 4:20pm 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. 30, 2009.
Lecture 2: Vehicle Dynamics: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 1, 2009.
Lecture 3: Vehicle Dynamics: Braking Principles (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 3, 2009.
Lecture 4: Geometric Design: Introduction and Concepts (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 6, 2009.
Lecture 5: Geometric Design: Vertical Alignment (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 8, 2009.
Lecture 6: Geometric Design: Horizontal Alignment (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 10, 2009.
Lecture 7: Geometric Design: Other Issues (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 13, 2009.
Lecture 8: Pavement Design: Concepts (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 15, 2009.
Lecture 9: Pavement Design: Principles and Procedures (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 17, 2009.
Lecture 10: Traffic Flow Theory: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 20, 2009.
Lecture 11: Traffic Flow Models (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 22, 2009.
Lecture 12: Midterm Review (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 24, 2009.
Lecture 13: Midterm Exam, Apr. 27, 2009.
Lecture 14: Queuing Theory (ppsx file, pdf file), Apr. 29, 2009.
Lecture 15: Traffic Detection Systems: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), May 1, 2009.
Lecture 16: Traffic Detection Systems: Loop and Video (ppsx file, pdf file), May 4, 2009.
Lecture 17: Signalized Intersections: Overview (ppsx file, pdf file), May 6, 2009.
Lecture 18: Signalized Intersections: Signal Timing (ppsx file, pdf file), May 8, 2009.
Lecture 19: Signalized Intersections: LOS Analysis (ppsx file, pdf file), May 11, 2009.
Lecture 20: Highway Capacity and LOS: Concepts (ppsx file, pdf file), May 13, 2009.
Lecture 21: Level of Services: Freeways (ppsx file, pdf file), May 15, 2009.
Lecture 22: Level of Services: Highways (ppsx file, pdf file), May 18, 2009.
Lecture 23: Transportation Planning: Introduction (ppsx file, pdf file), May 20, 2009.
Lecture 24: Trip Generation and Distribution (ppsx file, pdf file), May 22, 2009.
Lecture 25: Mode Choice and Trip Assignment (ppsx file, pdf file), May 27, 2009.
Lecture 29: Intelligent Transportation Systems (ppsx file, pdf file), May 29, 2009.
Lecture 30: Future Transportation Technologies (ppsx file, pdf file), June 1, 2009.
Lecture 31: Applications in Transportation Engineering (ppsx file, pdf file), June 3, 2009.
Lecture 32: Final Review and Course Evaluation (ppsx file, pdf file), June 5, 2009.
Assignment #1, due at the class on Apr. 8, 2009. If you are not familiar with Excel, you may find this tutorial helpful. Solution to assignment #1 is here.
Assignment #2, due at the class on Apr. 15, 2009. Solution to assignment #2 is here.
Assignment #3, due at the class on Apr. 22, 2009. Solution to assignment #3 is here.
Assignment #4, due at the class on May 11, 2009. Solution to assignment #4 is here.
Assignment #5, due at the class on May 18, 2009. Solution to assignment #5 is here.
Assignment #6, due at the class on May 29, 2009. Late turn-ins are not acceptable after June 1. Solution to assignment #6 is here.
Project #1 due at the class on May 4, 2009. 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. A sample solution to Project #1 is here.
Project #2 due at the class on May 22, 2009. The loop detector data for this project can be downloaded here. More information about the SR-520 Bridge Replacement can be found at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/SR520Bridge. Please be noticed that for study purposes, the data we use for this project are not necessarily the same data used by the WSDOT. Click here to submit the Excel file that contains calculations and results for Project #2 through E-Submit (CollectIt). A sample solution to Project #2 is here.