CE4371 Highway Geometric Design

Fall 2007

Instructor: Dr. Hongchao Liu

Rm. 163, Civil Engineering Building
Phone: 742-2801, ext. 229
E-mail: hongchao.liu@ttu.edu
Office Hours: 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM, T & THU or by appointment
You are also welcome to drop by!
 Introduction & Course Overview

• Introduction

- About the instructor

2000 Ph.D. Transportation Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan

2001-2004 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley

2004 – Present Assistant Professor, Texas Tech University

Lecture 1
 Introduction & Course Overview

• Introduction

- Tell us something about yourself?!

 Introduction & Course Overview

• Course Overview – Q&A’s:

- why is this course offered?

- how many universities offer this course? which are they?

- what pre-knowledge are needed?

- About the textbook, are there any alternatives?

- what will we learn from this course?

- how is this course organized?

- what you should be able to do after the course?

- how can this course assist in my professional career?

- how can this course assist in my academic career?
 Introduction & Course Overview

- why is this course offered?

Transportation engineering – An important component of Civil Engineering

Highway Transportation, Waterway transportation, Air transportation, Railway Transportation

And Pipe transportation

Legislature-SAFETEA-LU (05-09)
Highway Transportation $244.1 billion
For: highways, highway safety,
Airway Transportation
and public transit
Transportation Railway Transportation

Waterway Transportation

Pipeline Transportation
- How many universities offer the similar course? Which are they?
Most research universities with agood civil engineering program
Our neighbors: A&M, UT Austin

- What pre-knowledge are needed?

Pretty independent - General senior level civil engineering background

- Why the text book is so expensive? Are there any alternatives?

The “Green book” is regarded as the “bible” of Highway Design

Most state DOTs (Department of Transportation) adopt the principles of Green book in the
“state highway design manual”, some states use Green Book directly

Almost all text books available are developed based on the Green book

It is good to let your future employer know your knowledge is from the “bible”

However, the Green Book tells you about the “PRINCIPLES”, you need also learn
the “hands-on” things – the purpose of the lab class and projects
- What will we learn from the course
• Principles of highway and street design

Highway classification
Design speed
Design vehicles
Route survey
Earth work
Highway Alignment (Horizontal, Vertical curves)
Cross-section
Drainage

• Design of different types of highway facilities

Rural highway
Urban highway
Connector
Intersection
Interchange
Pedestrian and bicycle
How is this course organized?

• Introduction & Classification of highways (1 lecture)

• Traffic and Driver Characteristics, Design Speed, Design vehicles (3 lectures)

• Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (12 Lectures + 10 lab classes)

Principle: survey, earthwork, route screening, economic analysis, horizontal alignment, vertical
alignment, cross section, superelevation, drainage.

Facility design: at-grade intersection, interchange.

• Parking Lot Design (1 lecture)

• Pedestrian and Bicycle Facility (1 lecture)

• Roadway Lighting, Marking and Sign (2 lectures)

• Geometric Design and Traffic Safety: State-of-the-art topics (1 lecture)

• What should I be able to after the course?

Conduct preliminary design of rural, urban highway & streets including

route selection, alignment design, and drainage design

Certain proficiency of Microstation and Geopak

Basic knowledge of parking lot design, highway lightening and marking

• How will my performance be evaluated?

Attendance, class assignments, lab assignments, final project.

- how can this course assist in my professional career?

Consulting firms – traffic engineering division

Federal and State Department of transportation – highway design division
County/city traffic engineering office

- how can this course assist in my academic career?

Highway geometric design and safety
Traffic engineering
Driver characteristic study (Civil Engineering program and/or Psycology program )
Some Pictures – Enjoy!