CE 46300 – Highway Transportation Characteristics

Credits and contact hours:

  • 3 credits
  • Lecture with Laboratory

Specific course information:

  • Catalog description: This course introduces students to the fundamentals of highway traffic engineering. The knowledge gained in this course is helpful in planning and carrying field observations of traffic characteristics, and in evaluating and improving performance of road facilities.
  • Prerequisites: Undergraduate level STAT 51100 Minimum Grade of D- or Undergraduate level STAT 35000 Minimum Grade of D-
  • Course status: Elective, Recommended

Specific Goals for the course:

  • Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
    • Interpret the principal relationships between road traffic characteristics,
    • Identify road traffic and safety problems on existing roads,
    • Design and perform appropriate highway traffic studies,
    • Apply and critically evaluate application procedures,
    • Propose adequate highway improvements to enhance traffic quality and highway safety,
    • Document their work and the results in written reports.
  • Relationship of course to program outcomes
    • ​Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
    • Outcome 3: An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
    • Outcome 5: An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
    • Outcome 6: An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.

Topics:

  • Characteristics of roads, drivers, vehicles, and pedestrians,
  • Concepts and measurements of flow, density, speed, capacity, travel time, and delay,
  • Analysis of traffic flows on highway segments and at intersections,
  • Highway safety,
  • Techniques taught include observations, deterministic and probabilistic queuing theory, probability and statistics, and graphical analysis.