CIVIL 361 : Transportation Engineering 2

Engineering

2023 Semester Two (1235) (10 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Planning for land transport facilities and urban development. Arrangement of street networks and environmental areas. Basic operational analyses at priority and signalised intersections for vehicles and pedestrians. Highway capacity analyses. Parking design. Introduction to transportation planning modelling.

Course Overview

This is an introductory course covering fundamental concepts related to traffic engineering and transportation planning, public transport and active modes. It covers the following topics:

Traffic Measurements and Studies
  • Traffic flow measurements including flow, speed, density, occupancy and headways
  • Traffic studies including volume studies, speed studies, travel time and delay studies

Traffic Flow Theory
  • Vehicle trajectories on time-space diagrams
  • Traffic flow models and their classification
  • Speed-flow-density relationships
  • Capacity of un-signalized intersections

Highway Capacity
  • HCM 2016: historical background, purpose, intended use, organization and applications
  • Road facility types and operating conditions
  • HCM terminologies and parameters
  • Level of service (LOS) concept, performance measures and service measures
  • HCM methodology for multilane highway – base conditions
  • Factors affecting capacity: roadway, traffic and control conditions and technology

Traffic Signals Operations and Design
  • Background: Design standards and guidelines, historical background, importance of intersection capacity, advantages and disadvantages of traffic signals
  • Objectives of traffic signal design
  • Types of crashes at traffic signals
  • Traffic signal operations: Types of signal operations, adaptive traffic control systems, traffic signal design elements, performance measures, delay at intersections
  • Signal timing calculations: critical flow ratio method
  • Amalgamation technique for shared lane

Transportation Planning
  • Origin-Destination surveys
  • Travel demand analysis
  • Modelling road networks and flow
  • Gravity model and trip assignment

Public Transportation and Active Modes
  • Introduction to public transport design
  • Travel behaviour and mode shift

Transport in Auckland
  • Problems and options for transport and land use development in Auckland / new techniques being applied

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 6: Social and Environmental Responsibilities

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of traffic flow variables and how to conduct traffic studies in field (Capability 1.1)
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of transport models and their applications in traffic engineering (Capability 1.1)
  3. Apply fundamental traffic engineering concepts to analyse traffic operations at un-signalized intersections (Capability 1.1)
  4. Describe traffic flow variables, road types, operating conditions, HCM terminologies and parameters, LOS concept, performance measures and service measures (Capability 1.1)
  5. Implement highway capacity methodology to analyse operational performance of multi-lane highways (Capability 1.1)
  6. Describe the following: Importance of intersections; Advantages and disadvantages of traffic signals; Objectives of traffic signal design; Different types of crashes at traffic signals and their contributing factors; Types of signal operations, adaptive traffic control systems, traffic signal design elements, performance measures, delay at intersections (Capability 1.1)
  7. Analyse traffic signal timings based on critical flow ratio method (Capability 1.1)
  8. Demonstrate an understanding of transportation planning process and traditional four-stage demand forecasting model and how to conduct origin-destination survey (Capability 1.1 and 6.1)
  9. Analyse public transport operations based on fundamental concepts (Capability 1.1)
  10. Describe travel behaviour and mode shift (Capability 6.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignment 30% Individual Coursework
Final Exam 70% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Assignment
Final Exam

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 10 point course and students are expected to spend 100 hours in total for each 10 point course that they are enrolled in. 

For this course, you can expect 20 hours of lectures, 8 hours of tutorials, 30 hours of working through practice problems, reading and thinking about the content, and 42 hours of work on test and/or final exam preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is required at scheduled activities including tutorials  to complete components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

A pdf version of the course contents prepared for this course is available for free on Canvas. 

Health & Safety

Students are expected to adhere to the guidelines outlined in the Health and Safety section of the Engineering Undergraduate Handbook. 

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Based on the feedback from previous years of Civil 361, we are making the knowledge more concise for students, with a better focus on their learning outcomes. We also take into account the possibility of online learning and aim to make online learning materials easier to access for students. 

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.