INTRODUCTION TO HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
PHILIPPINES:
Highway Engineering is an engineering
discipline branching from civil engineering that
involves the planning, design, construction,
operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges,
and tunnels to ensure safe and
effective transportation of people and goods.
Highway Engineers take into account future
traffic flows, design of highway
intersections/interchanges, geometric alignment
and design, highway pavement materials and
design, structural design of pavement thickness,
and pavement maintenance.
BRIEF HISTORY OF ROADS:
 3,500 BC - Ur and Uruk, Mesopotamia
had stone-paved roads on the streets.
Another example of old roads can be
found in the Island of Crete.
Functions of early road systems:
 For armies in line with their defense
against any form of invasion;
 Transportation of goods among the
neighboring communities
Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet – father of
Modern Road Building
- In 1764, Jerome Tresaguet developed
the first scientific method of road
construction and maintenance. He was
able to improve the drainage, stone
foundation, and grade of road.
Thomas Telford – Godfather of Civil
Engineering
- a Scottish Engineer and president and
founder of Institute of Civil Engineer
improved the construction method
proposed by Tresaguet with stones
having 3in thickness (min), 7in height,
and 5in breadth. He also employed flat
sub-grade allowing variety of stones to
be used in the construction.
John Loudon Mac Adam – Developed
Macadam Road Concept
- Macadam - single-sized crushed stone
layers of small angular stones are
placed in shallow lifts and compacted
thoroughly.  and construction arm. However, the
HISTORY OF NATIONAL ROADS IN THE
 1900 - The popular Macadam Road type
was introduced. It gained wide
acceptance because of the abundant
supply of stones and gravel.
 After Second World War - continued
the rehabilitation and construction of
roads and bridges, through the
reparations and war damages paid by
the Japanese government.
 50 yrs after WWII - major highways and
expressways were constructed through
the financial assistance and loans from
foreign banks
 1960 to 1980 – “Automobile Age” and
during this decade that road
construction becomes a matter of
priority of the government under the
slogan: " This nation is on Wheels”
GOVERNMENT AGENCY RESPONSIBLE:
Department of Public Works and Highways
or DPWH
- It was started during the Spanish
Colonial Era and It was in 1900s when
the transportation depends on the roads
It was during in the American Period
when the roadways were developed in
the Philippines.
- Maximo Paterno, the first Minister of
Ministry of Public Works and
Communications (1899).
- On January 30, 1987, with the approval
of the 1987 Constitution, the Ministry
was reconfigured into a department.
- The State shall maintain an engineering
and construction arm and continuously
develop its technology, for the purposes
of ensuring the safety of all
infrastructure facilities and securing for
all public works and highways the
highest efficiency and the most
appropriate quality in construction. The
planning, design, construction and
maintenance of infrastructure facilities,
especially national highways, flood
control and water resources
development systems, and other public
works in accordance with national
development objectives, shall be the
responsibility of such an engineering
exercise of this responsibility shall be
 decentralized to the fullest extent
feasible.
ROAD CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM:
 Expressways/Freeways
 Highways (National Road)
- Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
 Provincial Roads
 Municipal/City Roads
 Barangay Roads
ROAD CLASSIFIACTION SYSTEM:
 EXPRESSWAYS / FREEWAYS
- a controlled-access highway network
managed by the Department of Public
Works and Highways which consists of
all expressways and regional high
standard highways in the Philippines.
- The Philippine expressway network
spanned 420 kilometers (260 mi) in
length in 2015 and it is to be extended
to 626 kilometers (389 mi) by 2020 and
995 kilometers (618 mi) beyond 2030
according to the master plan submitted
by the Japan International Cooperation
Agency in 2010.
- The first expressways in the Philippines
are the North Luzon Expressway
(NLex), formerly known as North
Diversion Road and the South Luzon
Expressway (SLex), formerly known as
South Super Highway. Both were built in
the 1970s during the presidency of
Ferdinand Marcos.  the roads.
- The first elevated toll road in the
Philippines is the Skyway or the South
Metro Manila Skyway Project, built from
1995 to 1999 during the presidencies
of Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada.  The national roads in the Philippines are
- The Southern Tagalog Arterial
Road (STAR) Tollway I, from Santo
Tomas to Lipa in Batangas was opened
in 2001. STAR Tollway II, from Lipa to
the Batangas City Port, opened in 2008.
- The Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway or
SCTEx Project was initiated under the
administration of former President
Joseph Estrada with an original project
cost of ₱15.73 billion. Construction was
started in 2005 under the government of
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
o EXPRESSWAYS / FREEWAYS:
NUMBERING SYSTEM
- Under the implementation of a route
numbering system commissioned by the
Department of Public Works and
Highways (DPWH) on 2014,
expressways are labelled with yellow
pentagonal signs with black numerals.
They are prefixed with the letter "E" for
"Expressway"
 HIGHWAYS (NATIONAL ROADS)
- It is a network of national roads owned
and maintained by the Department of
Public Works and Highways which are
organized into three classifications
depending on their function or purpose
they serve within the road network:
Primary Roads, Secondary Roads and
Tertiary Roads
- The national roads connecting major
cities are numbered N1–N82. They are
mostly single and dual
carriageways linking two or more cities.
- As of October 15, 2018, the Philippine
highway network has a total length of
21,523.26 kilometers (13,373.93 mi) of
concrete roads, 10,099.52 kilometers
(6,275.55 mi) of asphalt roads, 1,264.49
kilometers (785.72 mi) of gravel roads,
and 45.44 kilometers (28.24 mi) of earth
roads, with a grand total of 32,932.71
kilometers (20,463.44 mi)
- National Roads have Kilometer Post
that usually can be seen on the sides of
CLASSIFICATION OF HIGHWAYS IN THE
PHILIPPINES
classified into three types by the Department of
Public Works and Highways under the Philippine
Highway Act (Republic Act No. 917) signed by
President Elpidio Quirino on June 20, 1953 and
the series of memorandums issued by the
Department between 2009 and 2014.
 National Primary - roads which form
parts of the main trunkline system and
directly connect three or more major
cities and metropolitan areas with a
population of at least 100,000. 
Assigned 1-to-2-digit route number.
 National Secondary - The national
secondary roads are roads that
 complement the primary roads and
provide access to other major
population centers.  Assigned 3-digit
route numbers.
 National Tertiary - The third
classification was introduced in 2014
known as national tertiary roads. They
include other existing roads
administered by the DPWH which
perform a local function. No route
number assigned.

KILOMETER POST - are the concrete markings

that you can see on the sides of the road. These
act as mini landmarks and has distance
information written on it. They're usually colored
with yellow and white paint to make them easily
visible to driver's and passenger's eyes.

This is also referred to as the distance from "KM

0". Kilometer-zero is the kilometer markers
located all over Luneta in Manila.

CIRCUMFERENTIAL AND RADIAL ROADS:

 Circumferential Roads - The first road

numbering system in the Philippines
was adapted in 1940 by the
administration of President Manuel
Quezon, and was very much similar to
U.S. Highway numbering system.  It will
act as beltways of the city, forming
altogether a web-like arterial road
system.
 Radial Roads - There are ten (10) radial
roads that serves the purpose of
conveying traffic in and out of the city of
Manila to the surrounding cities of the
metropolis and to the provinces,
numbered in a counter clockwise
pattern.  All radial roads start at
kilometer zero which is the flagpole
fronting the Jose Rizal Memorial
Monument in Rizal Park.