CE 353

PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

2018-2019 FALL SEMESTER

Instructors:
Prof. Dr. Murat Güler Section 1 and 6 (Office: K1-401) gmurat@metu.edu.tr
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hediye T. Yaman Section 2 (Office: K1-249) htuydes@metu.edu.tr
Inst. Dr. Osman Acar Section 3 and 5 (Office: K1-406) acaro@metu.edu.tr
Asst. Prof. Dr. Hande Işık Öztürk Section 4 (Office: K1-403) ozturkha@metu.edu.tr

Assistants:
Asst. Yalçın Karakaya (Office: K1-114A) kayalcin@metu.edu.tr
Asst. Ayhan Öner Yücel (Office: K1-114A) ayucel@metu.edu.tr
Asst. Gülçin Dalkıç (Office: K1-113D) dalkic@metu.edu.tr
Asst. Başak Varlı (Office K1-114B) bvarli@metu.edu.tr
Asst. Reza Shabani (Office: K1-114C) reza.shabani@metu.edu.tr

Course Schedule:
Section 1: Monday 8:40-10:30 Room: DR2; Tuesday 13:40-14:30 Room: TH4, 14:40-16:30 Room: DR1
Section 2: Monday 8:40-10:30 Room: TL; Tuesday 13:40-14:30 Room: TH3, 14:40-16:30 Room: DR1
Section 3: Monday 8:40-10:30 Room: CS3; Tuesday 13:40-16:30 Room: DR1
Section 4: Tuesday 10:40-12:30 Room: TH5; Thursday 10:40-13:30 Room: DR1
Section 5: Tuesday 10:40-12:30 Room: TH4; Thursday 10:40-11:30 Room: TH1, 11:40-13:30 Room: DR1
Section 6: Tuesday 10:40-12:30 Room: DR1; Thursday 10:40-11:30 Room: TH2, 11:40-13:30 Room: DR1
Online Resources: https://metuclass.metu.edu.tr/

Course Objectives:
 To introduce the basic definitions of transportation and traffic engineering, classify transportation systems and
their functions and characteristics.
 To emphasize the effects of vehicular characteristics on highway design from theoretical and practical
perspective, study stopping sight distance and passing sight distance in relation to traffic safety.
 To outline the basic steps for the design of transportation facilities, and provide guidelines for highway design
process in logical sequence covering location assessment, alignment design, earthwork computation and
pavement type selection.
 To discuss the fundamentals of traffic flow, and explore interrelations between various traffic stream
parameters describing the operational performance of traffic flow.
 To address the importance of highway capacity assessment in terms of operational performance of highways,
and introduce the concept of level of service for freeways and multilane highways.
 To discuss various types of intersections, and present key concepts and definitions used in the analysis of
traffic at signalized intersections.
Course Assessment:
First Midterm Examination ................. 20 %
Second Midterm Examination ............ 20 %
Final Examination ............................... 35 %
Term Project ....................................... 20 %
Attendance* ........................................ 5 %
*Attendance for the recitation hours will not be considered for this point.

Text book: There is no specific textbook for this course; however, a number of useful references can be suggested on
transportation and traffic engineering:
1. Principles of Highway Engineering and Traffic Analysis, Fred L. Mannering, and Walter P. Kilareski, 4th
Edition, Wiley, 2009
2. Introduction to Transportation Engineering, James H. Banks, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2002
3. Traffic Engineering, Roger P. Roess, William P. McShane, and Elena S. Prassas, 4th Edition, Upper Saddle
River: Pearson, 2011.
4. Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, AASHTO, 2004
Course Policy:

 Class attendance is expected; therefore, a sign sheet will be given during each lecture hour to keep track of
students’ attendance. Those who arrived late and missed signing the sheet will not be permitted to sign for
that hour.
 It is expected that students participate the in-class activities and avoid using cellular phones, tablet, labtop,
working on an exam of other courses, etc. during the lecture hours. These behaviors disrupt both the
instructor’s and other students’ attention. In such cases, it is the instructor’s discretion to count these
students absent for that lecture hour without any warning.
 Students not appeared in the exam(s) because of their health problems need to present their official report
including the doctor’s contact info and work address.
 Make-up exams can only be given to those students who have official health reports and did not appear in the
exam(s). If you take an examination during a time covered by your health report, you can no longer claim to
take make-up for that examination.
 Only one make-up examination will be given after the final weeks for all the missed examinations covered
with your health report(s).
 Make-Up Examination date: 21 January 2019 at 13:30 pm, the location will be announced on the last day
of classes. The make-up exam’s date and time will not be changed later. Therefore, it is the student’s
responsibility to make arrangements for any potential conflicts, if exists, between his/her make-up exams.

NA grade policy: Students are strongly encouraged to attend classes, in-class exams, and show a reasonable level of
performance, if not best, at the end of semester. Those who cannot show such performance will be given “NA” grade
and not be allowed to take the Final examination. A student will get “NA” grade in the following cases:
1. Not taking an exam without a valid health status report covering the day of the exam.
2. Not submitting the term project.

Course Outline:

Part 1: INTRODUCTION OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

 Definitions
 History of transportation systems and modes
 The basic structure of Turkish transportation system
Part 2: ROAD-VEHICILE PERFORMANCE
 Vehicular Characteristics
 Braking systems
 Stopping and passing sight distances
Part 3: DESIGN OF HIGHWAY FACILITIES
 Design process
 Major Aspects of Highway Design
 Zero Line
 Horizontal Curves
 Vertical Curves
 Coordination of Horizontal and Vertical Curves
 Earthwork
 Pavement Design
Part 4: FUNDAMENTALS OF TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
 Basic definitions
 Traffic flow modeling and parameters
 Level of Service (LOS)
 Signalized Intersections and LOS