Definition of contact pressure in transportationengineering
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What is transportation engineering? It is a subdiscipline of civil engineering that involves planning, design, and management of transportation systems that provide for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.
Transportation engineers focus on designing new transportation systems and upgrades to highways, urban roads, airports, railroads, and water transport networks. To facilitate their designs, engineers need to collate and analyze data on traffic flows, accident rates, and other statistics. They also have to take future demand for transport into account while considering the results of impact studies and local, state, and federal transportation policies.
What-Is-Transportation-Engineering
The Scope of Transportation Engineering
To understand what transportation engineering is, it’s important to understand the scope of the field. Transportation engineering is vast and can allow for excellent career opportunities. Of the 18 technical divisions within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), six are related to transportation engineering:
Aerospace
Air transportation
Highway
Pipeline
Urban transportation
Waterway, coastal, port, and ocean
Graduates with a master’s degree in transportation engineering can concentrate on one of several specialties. For example, highway engineers develop their expertise in the following areas:
Analysis of traffic patterns, traffic flows, and collision rates during highway and road design
Planning, design, construction, and operation of highways and roads, as well as their associated bicycle and pedestrian facilities
Alignment, design, and construction of pavement and other roadway elements
Estimation of public transportation requirements and the associated costs
Design and construction of bridges, retaining walls, and tunnels
Railroad engineers focus on the design, construction, and operation of railroads and mass transit systems. Their goal is to develop a safe railroad transportation system to meet future demand, working with federal officials to ensure the rail system meets the nation’s transportation requirements.
Airport engineers become experts in the design and construction of new airports and upgrades to existing facilities. This is a special transportation engineering application where engineers must fulfill the following responsibilities:
Take into account the physical impact of aircraft and air traffic volumes to design airport facilities
Analyze wind patterns to determine runway orientation
Design the size of runway borders and safety areas
Determine wingtip clearances for boarding gates
Port and harbor engineers specialize in the design, construction, and operation of ports, harbors, and canals. As with the other branches of transportation engineering, the analysis of traffic volumes and maritime forecasts is essential for the design process.
The Transportation Planning Process
For any transportation project, engineers cannot take a purely clinical look at moving people and goods when planning new developments. Any new facility may have an impact on an area’s growth and economic activity, as well as the quality of life of the surrounding community. This means that transportation engineers must also consider the well-being of society in their plans.
Most local governments have a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), which is a policy-making body consisting of representatives from local government and transportation agencies. An MPO has the following main functions:
Establishing an impartial setting for regional decision-making
Identifying and evaluating alternatives for transportation improvement, using appropriate planning studies
Preparing and maintaining a long-term transportation plan for the metropolitan area
Developing a short-range program for transportation improvement
Involving the public in transportation planning
Career Prospects and Pay
Now that you have an answer for the question “What is transportation engineering?” let’s take a look at career prospects in the field. To be successful in transportation engineering, strong organizational and analytical skills are required. Typically, a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering is a prerequisite for entry to a master’s degree program in transportation engineering, although many schools enable prospective students to complete bridge courses to qualify.
Transportation engineers typically secure employment with private engineering companies or engineering consulting firms. State and federal governments also employ transportation engineers in their relevant departments and agencies.
Transportation engineers earn an average salary of just over $63,000. At entry level, the average pay is $58,000 across the United States. This increases to $74,000 with five to 10 years of experience. Transportation engineers with more than 10 years’ experience can earn $83,000 per year, while at the top scale, the average salary after 20 years’ experience is $86,000.