CIVIL 769 : Highway Geometric Design

Engineering

2024 Semester One (1243) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

An advanced course in highway geometric design techniques. Through the use of an independent applied project, students will apply advanced theory, methods, processes and design tools to the safe design of highway geometric alignments that includes an understanding of human / driver behaviour characteristics.

Course Overview

This 15 credit Masters course is designed as an extension from undergraduate courses in the Transportation Engineering discipline (especially Civil 203 Transport Design and Telematics and Civil 736 Transport Safety and Mobility). The course primarily focuses on the procedures, techniques, analysis methods and safety systems used in the geometric design of rural highways and railways.

It is designed for personnel within industry working in the Geometric Design, Road Safety and transportation engineering area and to those wanting to enter the transportation industry with a much better understanding of the factors involved in good geometric design and their associated effects and impacts. This course is a special course in the Masters programme in Transportation Engineering as a significant part of the course will be lectured by industry guests.

COURSE TOPICS 
1. User, Vehicle & Transport Environment, Transport Futures and ITS 
2. Sight Distance (Stopping/Overtaking) 
3. Speed Environment, Design Speed and Design Consistency (Philosophy) 
4. Horizontal and Vertical Curve Design (incl. setting out) 
5. Cross-Section Design, Roadsides and Clear Zones 
6. Intersection/Interchange Principles & Design 
7. Design Plans and Documentation and Design Checking 
8. Geometric Designers discussion forum 
9. Signs, Marking, Lighting and Delineation 
10. Land Use Access and Controls 

The course will be taught in “block mode” so that practicing engineers and those outside of the Auckland Region are able to attend. The course will consist of two teaching blocks. The block course dates have been set as follows:
Wed 13th, Thurs 14th, and Fri 15th March (3 days)
Wed 24th, Thurs 25th and Fri 26th April (3 days)
• PLUS an OPTIONAL 12D training day on Monday 29th May.
A detailed schedule will be supplied separately at the beginning of the course. This will set out the topics of the lectures and tutorials, dates, venue and details on the assessments.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: CIVIL 360, 361, and 15 points from 661, 759, or equivalent

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: People and Place
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate and apply an understanding of of the effects of various land transport environment features and constraints on driver behaviour and land transport safety and how geometric design is predicted to change with ITS, Connected vehicles (V2V, V2I and V2X) and autonomous driving. (Capability 1.1)
  2. Apply appropriate design standards and performance measures for assessing land transport geometry (road and rail). (Capability 3.2)
  3. Design, implement and optimise road alignments (horizontal, vertical and cross-sectional) design and evaluate appropriateness to suit the surrounding environment. (Capability 3.1)
  4. Critically appraise and evaluate highway and rail track geometry designs for system effectiveness, consistency and appropriate standards. (Capability 4.1)
  5. Develop, design and justify highway designs including the preparation of plans, and prepare and document design assumptions/calculations. (Capability 5.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 10% Individual Coursework
Quizzes 10% Individual Coursework
Project 40% Individual Coursework
Final Exam 40% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5
Assignments
Quizzes
Project
Final Exam
Minimum of 40%  in the final examination is required to pass the course.

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in. 

For this course, you can expect 32 hours of lectures, 12 hours of tutorials, 60 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 46 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

 The course will be taught in “block mode” so that practicing engineers are able to attend. This will consist of two teaching blocks of three days during the first semester of 2024. 

Attendance is expected at scheduled block day activities including labs/tutorials to complete components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other block course learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course will include live online events including tutorials.

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 detailed schedule will be supplied separately at the beginning of the course. This will set out the topics of the lectures and tutorials, dates, venue and details on the assessments.
 Lectures will cover the main information and principles including the issue of notes, however additional reading will be required for this course. Tutorials will be used principally for questions and discussion, the project, presentations, revision, and a summary assessments.
 Reading reference material will be sent out approximately two weeks prior to the beginning of the first block course. This material is background foundational learning material and will be expected to have been read and understood prior to the beginning of the course.

TEXTBOOKS AND REFERENCES: 
Additional Reading will be provided to provide additional reference material. There are many texts on the web or in the library that provide useful additions.  The main texts are as follows – others will be advised.

The main textbook used on this course is the Austroads (includes New Zealand Road Agencies) Guide to Road Design Parts 1 to 7 but primarily AGRD 03/16 Part 3 Ed3.4 (2021): Geometric Design. The Transit New Zealand (now NZ Transport Agency) DRAFT State Highway Geometric Design Manual (SHGDM, 2000) will also be used on this course.  The SHGDM can be downloaded from the NZTA website http://www.transit.govt.nz/technical/

Detailed course handouts and /or text extracts will generally be provided covering the topics discussed. There is no prescribed text, but many useful and relevant textbooks / documents and databases are available in the Library or on-line and will be referenced where appropriate. Similarly, useful websites will also be given in the course material.

Health & Safety

Students must ensure they are familiar with their Health and Safety responsibilities, as described in the university's Health and Safety policy. Specific Health and Safety procedures will be discussed in class for a technical site visit to a transportation infrastructure construction site.  

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.

In previous courses, students have commented that the course covers a lot of course material and that the project is very time consuming.   Whilst content cannot be readily reduced as it is required to undertake the project, in 2024 some topics will be removed from lectures and provided as additional material.  Lectures and tutorials will then focus on core design factors / pricniples.  Day 1 of the block course will also be largely revision of prior expected knowledge to ensure fundamentals are understood before new knowledge is introduced.    

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 for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, 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.

Published on 07/11/2023 06:34 p.m.