HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

FITZROY C. GERODIAS
Student

ENGR. LARRY ESPRELA SALARZA

Professor

January 2022
 In the course that we have taken, BS Civil Engineering, the knowledge about
Highway and Railroad Engineering is very crucial and one of the most important subject
in the course. Highway and Railroad Engineering presents the methods and underlying
principles for the design and control of the elements of road and railroad infrastructure.
It will give knowledge about the use of transportation system terminology, flow analysis,
driver, vehicle and road characteristics and aspects of road geometrics, road construction
drainage, pavements and maintenance. Many topics are discussed in this course. As Civil
Engineers in the future, one of our possible projects will be about highways and railroads.
The roads are the main reason why our economy is running. Roads help us transport goods
and materials for exchange. It is also used as for transportation of people. Highways and
Railroads provide benefit to everyone that is why we must study about it on order to build
and maintain our roads for the benefit of the economy and also the community.

It is also given that problems of congestion in built-up urban areas, maximising

the efficiency with which highways are planned, analysed, designed and maintained is of
particular concern to civil engineering practitioners and theoreticians. Highway and
Railroad Engineering is designed to deliver basic information in those core areas of
highway engineering of central importance to practising highway engineers. The process
of transportation planning entails developing a transportation plan for an urban region. It
is an ongoing process that seeks to address the transport needs of the inhabitants of the
area, and with the aid of a process of consultation with all relevant groups, strives to
identify and implement an appropriate plan to meet these needs. The process takes place
at a number of levels. At an administrative/political level, a transportation policy is
formulated and politicians must decide on the general location of the transport
corridors/networks to be prioritised for development, on the level of funding to be
allocated to the different schemes and on the mode or modes of transport to be used within
them. Below this level, professional planners and engineers undertake a process to define
in some detail the corridors/networks that comprise each of the given systems selected
for development at the higher political level. This is the level at which what is commonly
termed a ‘transportation study’ takes place. It defines the links and networks and involves
forecasting future population and economic growth, predicting the level of potential
movement within the area and describing both the physical nature and modal mix of the
system required to cope with the region’s transport needs, be they road, rail, cycling or
pedestrian-based.
 As time goes by, transportation is continuously evolving. Inventions and new
methods are formed in order to lessen the hassle and make our lives easier. Back then, the
roads are just plain flat soil where vehicles can go through. Its disadvantage is that it can
be easily be broken due to a sudden change in weather or storms and rains. Today, roads
are made of pavements where it is durable to storms, rains, and other types of weather.
The materials used in making our highways and railroads are changed for better
infrastructures. Different types of cements are used for different types of road surfaces.
Engineers add new mixtures to provide more durable roads for the community to use.

With growing competition in the transportation sector, companies and engineers

deploy new existing technologies and extensively improve the quality of transportation.
In our situation today, which is called “new normal”, shipping products and goods
increases. It is because people prefer shopping online instead of going to physical stores.
Shipping also provides faster exchange of products in different countries and places.
Shipping goods is a significant part of the economy in each country. The key to the
success in the transportation business is offering the most cost-effective, flexible, and
efficient services. That’s why shipping companies should turn towards the most recent
trends in transportation and follow the strategies that will help to outcompete the other
market players.

One of the updated discoveries or changes in transportation is planning to have

integrated, frictionless travel. This plan will provide smoother, faster and hassle free
transportation. This necessity is mostly manifested through the rise of mobility-as-a-
service (MaaS). Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is an emerging type of service that,
through a joint digital channel enables users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of
mobility services. The concept describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of
transportation and towards mobility provided as a service. This is enabled by combining
transportation services from public and private transportation providers through a unified
gateway that creates and manages the trip, which users can pay for with a single account.
Users can pay per trip or a monthly fee for a limited distance. The key concept behind
MaaS is to offer travelers mobility solutions based on their travel needs. Specialist urban
mobility applications are also expanding their offerings to enable MaaS, such as Transit,
Uber and Lyft. However, the number of new trends in the transportation industry,
combined and aimed at minimal stoppages or checkpoints result in this one key drift to
integrated travel and transportation. The minor tendencies are optimization of the
infrastructure, creation of the mobility hubs for multimodal transportation, building
platforms for ticketless travel, and introduction of the innovations in micromobility and
last-mile connections.

Another invention that is popular today is the self-driving trucks and vehicles. The
technology under this machine is still perfecting. We can see that a company called Tesla
Incorporated whose CEO is Elon Musk released self-driving vehicles which is also
powered by electricity. This cars don’t use gasoline that is why it is also good for the
environment. Self-driving vehicle technology, which is still in the process of being
completed, needs to overcome some obstacles, such as improved unmanned software, so
that it can operate efficiently on crowded urban roads. But that is one of the future trends
in transportation. In the long run, transportation companies will need to begin equipping
trucks with self-navigating management systems that can be learned from real drivers in
preparation for future technological changes in the industry.

In the transportation industries there are a lot of things to manage and observe.
Our highways and railroads must be used properly, maintained, and fixed that is why
there are different sectors and agencies that will acknowledge the different concerns.
There are different transportation agencies in our country that manage different sectors
and problems occurring when it comes with our transportation, highways, and railroads.
The transportation agencies in the Philippines consist of two sectoral offices which is the
Road Transport and the Maritime Transport.

Under the Road Transport sector we have the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
The LTO promotes the protection and luxury of the visiting public with recognize to
motor vehicles. The LTO is likewise tasked with gathering numerous expenses from the
registration of motor vehicles, the issuance of licenses to certified motor car drivers, the
gathering of fines and consequences for motor car associated infractions, and the issuance
of motor car license plates. The other agency is the Land Transportation Franchising and
Regulatory Board (LTFRB). The LTFRB was established under a Presidential Decree
issued on June 19, 1987, with the aim of simplifying the franchise system of the land
transportation industry. Since the establishment of LTFRB, the granting of concessions
to land transportation companies has become stricter, leading to higher safety standards
for land transportation. Technical evaluation staff will ensure that commercial and private
vehicle driving and safety standards are met before a driver's license is issued. The other
sector is the Maritime Transport. The agency under this sector is the Philippine Coast
Guard (PCG). PCG is an armed and unified service primarily responsible for enforcing
all applicable laws in the Philippine waters, conducting maritime security operations,
protecting life and property at sea, and protecting the marine environment and resources.

There are also attached agencies in the said sectors. These agencies focuses on
each part of the transportation industry. One of these agencies is the Office for
Transportation Security (OTS). The Office of Transport Safety (OTS) is the only agency
responsible for the safety of national transport systems, including but not limited to civil
aviation, shipping and maritime infrastructure, land transportation, rail systems and
infrastructure. Created based on Presidential Decree No. 277. E.O. in response to an
international mission (ie, ICAO and IMO guidelines) seeking a single agency for the
safety of all modes of transport in the Philippines. 311 was published on April 26, 2004.
When in terms of airways and aviation there is the Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines (CAAP). The CAAP is responsible for implementing policies on civil aviation
in order to ensure safe, economical, and efficient air travel. As an independent regulatory
body with quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers, the CAAP is mandated to set
comprehensive, clear and impartial rules and regulations for the Philippine aviation
industry. Under the transportation sector it consist of Toll Regulatory Board (TRB). The
Toll Regulatory Board supervises and regulates the construction, operation, and
maintenance of toll facilities, and is also responsible for the collection of toll fees. It was
created by virtue of Presidential Decree (P.D.) No. 1112 which is also known as the Toll
Operation Decree. Under the maritime transport sector, there is the Maritime Industry
Authority (MARINA). MARINA oversees the promotion and development of the
maritime industry and also guarantees the effective regulation of shipping companies.
Since its inception in June 1994, MARINA has been authorized to issue a Certificate of
Public Convenience (CPC) permitting the operation of domestic and international vessels.
Other responsibilities of the agency include ship registration, license issuance, addressing
safety concerns related to shipbuilding, and enforcement of the law of the sea.