Showing posts with label highway development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label highway development. Show all posts
PRESENT AND PROPOSED USES OF AND FACILITIES FOR URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - PART 2
Commonly
heard arguments favoring minibuses over standard ones, particularly for
demand-responsive uses, are maneuverability and low cost. Where street space is
limited, maneuverability may be a problem with bigger units. However, the
overriding concern may be the image of wastefulness with a large-capacity vehicle
carrying only a few passengers. Actually, with drivers' wages at two-thirds or
more of operating costs and other operating costs rising at a slower rate than
capacity, cost savings with minibuses are not as substantial as they might
appear.
Factors
far too numerous to discuss here enter decisions on bus selection. One is the
time required for passengers to load and unload. This is extremely important in
downtown short-ride operations. Often doors at the rear or at midlength are
added to speed the process.55 Arrangements for tare collection and
controls over locations for entry and exit also can markedly affect operating
efficiency.
Attention
to the needs of the elderly and handicapped has led to the transportation development of a
low-floor design "Transbus", which can be entered and left more
easily. Early estimates were that it would cost possibly 50% more than conventional transportation vehicles. In 1979 UMTA stipulated that buses purchased with federal funds be of
this type. However, none of the manufacturers submitted bids for supplying
them. One of the issues in the years ahead, then, will be
the extent and kind of arrangements made to provide services for such people.
Some have suggested that it can be done better and more cheaply through special
arrangements such as demand-responsive vans or taxis.
The cheapest arrangements for loading and unloading bus
passengers are at roadside or curbside locations. These may be midblock or at
the near or far side of intersections, as determined by operational plans or
street capacity considerations. Off-street loading or transfer lots or
buildings are often provided. Favorable locations are in or adjacent to the
downtown or shopping centers, or other "park and ride" or "kiss
and ride" sites . In some cities, malls exclusively or
almost exclusively for buses are being constructed. Shelters or other waiting
areas at these off-street or mall locations provide a convenient place to give
information on routes and schedules. Similar arrangements often are provided at
transfer points from car or bus to rail transit.
Operating Urban Transportation Engineering - Part 8
Any
such transportation engineering planning for new cities will have little impact on overall urban problems.
Only a few new cities will spring full-blown in the near future. Rather, much
of the activity in planning urban areas in the years ahead will be directed
toward redeveloping and reconstructing deteriorated sections of our cities and
carefully planning and possibly controlling urban expansion where this is desirable.
This planning will be difficult because of the many and often conflicting goals
of a variety of interests. First of all, although there are exceptions, most
Americans seem to prefer owning a single-family home on its own plot of land in
the suburbs as compared with occupying high-rise dwellings downtown. Next,
those in the private sector feel free to profit from land development. This
often involves expansion of housing, industry, shopping, and accompanying activities
into areas on the urban borders.
Again, it may be more profitable
to owners to let close-in property lie vacant or in a run-down condition than
to develop it for business, industrial, or residential use. On the other hand,
goals of the federal, certain state, and some local governments and numerous
conservation and environmental interests have attempted to make near-in urban
areas more compact and to limit expansion. Arguments for this approach include
economic efficiency, cheaper public services, energy and land conservation,
and reduced air pollution. Governmental strategies include inputs, of highway transportation and other money to abate air and noise pollution, rehabilitate run-down areas,
and for joint development. Even so, projections
are for a continued decrease in urban population density in the years ahead.44
It seems clear that no unanimity on policy for urban land development has emerged
to date, and that, as discussed earlier under the heading of Institutional
Constraints, any change of direction will be difficult and slow.
The Past and Present Situation in Urban Transportation Engineering
The Past and Present Situation in Urban Transportation Engineering Congestion has been cited as evidence that all is not well with our urban areas. But congestion is not a new phenomenon. For example, some historians have attributed the decline of Rome to it. In 1635 the high cost of living in London was attributed to extreme congestion and the costly delays in bringing in hay and provender; and even the London fire of 1666 did not improve the situation since reconstruction kept the old antiquated street layouts. Successive improvements in transportation engineering means, such as the electric street car followed by the automobile and motor bus, and now freeways and sophisticated traffic control schemes, have done little to alleviate the problem. Today, all large cities in both the developed and developing nations still have congestion problems, at least at morning and evening peak hours. But there may be at least one important difference from the past in the developed nations. In earlier years there was "poverty and congestion"; today there is, to a degree, "affluence and congestion," complicated by energy considerations. It follows that resources probably can be made available to apply corrective measures, but effective stratagems are yet to be proved and the political means to carry them out are only now evolving. And it may be that eliminating all congestion is impossible, since it seems to accompany healthy economic activity.
Today many planners, politicians, and others attribute urban congestion and other ills of our cities to the private automobile and the construction of highways to serve them. Underlying this has been prosperity. After World War II, greater affluence made automobile and home ownership feasible for most of the population and brought the flight away from deteriorating close-in areas to the suburbs with their dispersed living and low-density land use. Then, to serve these suburbs, private investors brought shopping and other services and public agencies provided highways transportation which made motor vehicle travel easy both downtown and around the circumference. In addition, newly developing light industry located in the suburbs, and many existing firms found it advantageous to leave the downtown areas.10 The incentives in each case were cheaper land with easy, quick access and space for parking, a favorable tax situation, and attractive suburban driving which made a supply of skilled labor available. For such reasons as these, many urban areas are almost completely oriented to the automobile. This is dramatically demonstrated by the statistic that, nationwide in 1976, private expenditures for transportation engineering went 97% to the private auto, 2% to transit (not including its roughly equal public subsidy), and 1% to taxicabs.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION part 2
As indicated above, the decades from 1920 to the late 1970s have been called the "automobile age"; and the transition to primary dependence on other currently known systems of transportation or to new vehicles or means of propulsion will be evolutionary. But will motor vehicle use, as well as other demands for transportation in present or modified form, continue to increase as in the past? One viewpoint, that of the prestigious National Transportation Policy Commission, is that it will. A few of its projections for low-, medium-, and high- growth scenarios to the year 2000 . But these do not fully recognize the possible scarcity and already soaring costs of motor fuel. Furthermore, others claim that housing, health care, amenities, and control of the environment will consume a greater share of our resources, including energy, forcing a curtailment in nonessential travel. And it may be that some "essential" trips will become unnecessary as improved means of communication decrease
the need to travel to the work place. Only one things seems clear; it is that the need for transportation and the highways and other facilities to serve them will be with us in the near future, but less certain as time passes.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION part 1
Technological advance has been great during the age of modern highways and continues today. Knowledge has been extended in the fields of soils and other highway materials and the designs using them so that they are now more economical and reliable. Developments in machinery and management techniques have revolutionized construction and maintenance methods. The highway engineer has become increasingly conscious that a highway can be attractive and safe as well as useful and has learned much about roadside improvement, erosion control, and noise abatement. Entirely new approaches have been developed in the fields of highway and urban transportation planning, geometric and structural design, and traffic control. In all of these areas the computer has be¬come an essential tool. Many challenges lie ahead for those interested in re¬search, design, and administration as present practices are refined and new approaches are developed.
Possibly the most difficult problem now facing highway and transportation planners, engineers, and administrators is to define the role of the automobile, highway-based public transit, and other ways of moving people and goods in urban areas. Currently, critics are blaming the automobile for such problems as urban area expansion and wasteful land use, congestion and slum conditions in the central areas, and air and noise pollution. These problems are aggravated by a crisis in petroleum-based energy supply. It follows that those who will plan, construct, maintain, and manage our transportation facilities face a changed world; the problems in the 1980s are not those of the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s where the target was to build a system of freeways and other major arteries to accommodate expanding demands for better mobility by automobile. Rather, efforts will be directed toward making minor additions and adjustments to that system, rehabilitating it so that it does not completely fall apart under the ravages of time and heavy traffic, and operating it for maximum efficiency and safety. To search out, demonstrate, and implement viable approaches that will help solve these problems will challenge the ingenuity, abilities to deal with people, and staying power of all in the years ahead.
Modern Highway Development
The period from 1920 at least into the late 1970s might well be called the "automobile age/' for during this period highway transportation assumed a dominant role in America and the rest of the developed world. These countries can well be described as "nations on wheels. A 15-fold increase in several measures of highway activity from 1920 to 1979 and a tripling between 1950 and 1979. .
Because of inflation, the plot of highway expenditures on is not re¬alistic. In the years from 1950 to 1979, the dollar cost of appropriate units of highway construction and maintenance quadrupled. This is a geometric in¬crease of about 5% per year. Unfortunately, inflation continues and at a consid¬erably higher, rate.
To give added perspective on the effects of inflation, expenditures converted to 1977 dollars.This illustrates among other things that real expenditures for highways were substantially lower in the late 1970s than in the 1960s, in spite of substantial" increases in highway use. Values taken from this cost curve and that for motor vehicle registration show that the real annual expenditure for highways per motor vehicle, stated in 1977 dollars, had fallen from about $270 to $160 between 1950 and 1979.
It also shows that during the 1920 to 1979 period, road and street mileage increased relatively little, possibly 20%. This growth resulted mainly because'new roads and streets were built to serve areas where land use became more intensive, plus the addition of a relatively small mileage of major arteries, including freeways, on new alignments.
From 1920 to 1935; highway development was focused primarily on the completion of a network of all-weather rural roads comparable to the street sys¬tems undertaken by local governments. By 1935 cross-country travel by auto¬mobile in almost any direction was possible. Since 1935 highway activities in rural areas have been devoted mainly to an attempt to provide facilities of higher standards and with greater capacity and load-carrying ability. During the same period, increasing attention has been focused on urban areas, which have been struck simultaneously by rapidly increasing population, lower population densities resulting from a "flight to the suburbs/' and a shift from mass transportation to the private automobile. Indications are that only minor additions to road mileage will be made in the future.
History Highway At The Railroad Era
The extension of turnpikes in the United States was abruptly halted by the development of the railroads. In 1830 Peter Cooper constructed America's first steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb, which at once demonstrated its superiority over horse-drawn vehicles. Rapid growth of the railroad for transportation over long distance followed. Cross-country turnpike construction practically ceased, and many already completed fell into disuse. Rural roads served mainly as feeders for the railroads; improvements primarily led to the nearest railroad station and were made largely by local authorities and were to low standards. However, the improvement of city streets progressed at a somewhat faster pace. Also, the development of the electric trolley in 1885 launched the trend toward public transportation.
Regarding highway development before 1900, federal road officials stated that6
At the end of the century, approximately 300 years after first settlement, the United States could claim little distinction because of the character of its roads.
The first two decades of the twentieth century saw the improvement of the motor vehicle from a "rich man's toy" to a fairly dependable method for transporting persons and goods. There were strong demands not only from farmers but from bicyclists through the League of American Wheelmen for rural road improvement, largely for roads a few miles in length connecting outlying farms with towns and railroad stations. This development has been aptly described as "getting the farmer out of the mud." Great improvements also were made on city streets.
In this period it was recognized that road improvement was a matter of fed¬eral and state concern rather than of purely local interest to be dealt with by county and city governing bodies. Federal and state highway organizations were established and small amounts of money appropriated by Congress and the state governments to deal with road problems.
History Of Highways
The Romans bound their empire together with an extensive system of roads radiating in many directions from Rome. Some of these early roads were .of elaborate construction. For example, the Appian Way, built southward about 312 B.C., illustrates one of the procedures used by the Romans. First.a trench was excavated to such a depth that the finished surface would be, at ground level. The pavement was placed in three courses: a layer of -small broken stones, a layer of small stones mixed with mortar and firmly tamped into place, and a wearing course of massive stone blocks, set and bedded in mortar. Many of these roads are still in existence after 2000 years.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, road building became a lost art. It was not until the eighteenth century that Tresaguet (1716—1796) in France developed improved construction methods that at a later time, .under Napoleon, made possible a great system of French roads. Highway development in England followed soon after. MacAdam (1756-1836) in particular was outstanding. A road surface that bears his name is still used.
Although little significant road building, as such, was done in England before the eighteenth century, the foundations of English and thus American highway law were being laid. Early Saxon laws imposed an obligation on all lands to perform three necessary duties: repair roads and bridges; maintain castles and garrisons; and aid in repelling invasion. Soon after the Norman conquest it was written that the king's highway was "a sacred thing, and he who has occupied any part thereof by exceeding the boundaries and limits of his land is said to have made encroachment on the King himself/' Very early, applications of this law made clear that ownership of the roads actually was vested in all persons who wished to use them. Other statutes, dating as far back as the thirteenth century, required abutting property owners to drain the road and clip any bordering hedges, and -to refrain from fencing, plowing, or from planting trees,'blishes, or shrubs closer than specified distances from the center of carriageways;’ In these and other early statutes can be seen the rudiments of such presfent-day cbric'epts as the government's responsibility for highways, the rights of the public to use them without interference, and the obligations of and restrictions on the owners of abutting property.
The Development of Highway
This article is about highway and transport engineering, this time we talk about The Development of Highway
The great highway system of our modern civilization have their origin in the period before the dawn of recorded history. Even before the invention of the wheel, which is popularly supposed to have occurred some 10,000 years ago, individual and mass movements of people undoubtedly took place. The earliest travel on foot; later, pack animals were utilized, crude sleds were developed, and simple wheeled vehicles came into being. Many of the migrations of the early historical period involved large numbers of people and covered relatively great distances. More or less regularity traveled routes developed, extending to the limits of the then known world.
As various civilizations reached a higher level, many of the ancient peoples came to a realization of the importance of improved roads. The streets of the city of Babylon were paved as early as 2000 B.C. History also records the construction of a magnificent road to aid in the building of the Great Pyramid in Egypt nearly 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Traces of early roads have been found on the island of Crete, and it is known that the early civilizations of the Chinese, Carthaginians, and Incas also led to extensive road building.
By far the most advanced highway system of the ancient world was that of the Romans. When Roman civilization was at its peak, a great system of military roads reached to the limits of the empire. Many of these roads were built of stone and were 3 ft or more in thickness. Traces of this magnificent system are still in existence on the European continent; in fact, some of these roads still serve as bases for sections of modern highways.
After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, road building, along with virtually all other forms of scientific activity, practically ceased for a period of 1,000 years. Even as late as the early part of the eighteen century, the only convenient means of travel between cities was on foot or on horseback. Stage coaches were introduced in 1659, but travel in them proved exceedingly difficult in most instances because of the extremely poor condition of rural roads.
(source : Wright, P.H, with contributions by James S. Lai, Peter S.Parsonson, Michael Meyer., Highway Engineering, 6th edition ,John Wiley & Sons, Inc.New York, 1996.)
The great highway system of our modern civilization have their origin in the period before the dawn of recorded history. Even before the invention of the wheel, which is popularly supposed to have occurred some 10,000 years ago, individual and mass movements of people undoubtedly took place. The earliest travel on foot; later, pack animals were utilized, crude sleds were developed, and simple wheeled vehicles came into being. Many of the migrations of the early historical period involved large numbers of people and covered relatively great distances. More or less regularity traveled routes developed, extending to the limits of the then known world.
As various civilizations reached a higher level, many of the ancient peoples came to a realization of the importance of improved roads. The streets of the city of Babylon were paved as early as 2000 B.C. History also records the construction of a magnificent road to aid in the building of the Great Pyramid in Egypt nearly 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Traces of early roads have been found on the island of Crete, and it is known that the early civilizations of the Chinese, Carthaginians, and Incas also led to extensive road building.
By far the most advanced highway system of the ancient world was that of the Romans. When Roman civilization was at its peak, a great system of military roads reached to the limits of the empire. Many of these roads were built of stone and were 3 ft or more in thickness. Traces of this magnificent system are still in existence on the European continent; in fact, some of these roads still serve as bases for sections of modern highways.
After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, road building, along with virtually all other forms of scientific activity, practically ceased for a period of 1,000 years. Even as late as the early part of the eighteen century, the only convenient means of travel between cities was on foot or on horseback. Stage coaches were introduced in 1659, but travel in them proved exceedingly difficult in most instances because of the extremely poor condition of rural roads.
(source : Wright, P.H, with contributions by James S. Lai, Peter S.Parsonson, Michael Meyer., Highway Engineering, 6th edition ,John Wiley & Sons, Inc.New York, 1996.)
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