Civil Engineering: : Transportation Engineering

The main transportation fields of specialization (and courses) are:

Highway Design and Operations

Geometric design of freeways, two-lane highways and various types of intersections and other road facilities, such as acceleration/declaration lanes, weaving sections and ramps. Optimal and proper operation of highways, including calculation of road capacity and level of service, determination of consistency for road planning and analysis of flow characteristics including flow breakdown phenomenon and the means to prevent it.

Pavement Design

Design, construction and maintenance of asphalt flexible pavements, rigid concrete pavements, railways, embankments and  supporting structures. Investigation and engineering characterization of pavement materials are taught both theoretically and practically in the Faculty’s materials laboratory.

Traffic Engineering and Road Safety

Understanding the interaction between human users, vehicles and infrastructure and their effect on traffic flow and safety. Knowledge of traffic flow characteristics such as, flows, speeds and densities and tools to affect traffic characteristics through traffic control measures, such as traffic signals and signs and ramp meters.

Transportation Planning

Transportation planning deals with the reciprocations between traffic systems and activity systems and land use patterns. This field focuses on the implementation of tools that aid in decision making with respect to transportation related projects. Relevant courses include discussions on the role of transportation systems and their importance in urban growth, basic prediction models for demand and functionality of the transportation system, required data for developing traffic prediction models and the relevant mathematical methods.

Public Transportation

Knowledge in public transportation systems includes design of systems – network and route design, determination of frequencies, timetable planning, crew and vehicles scheduling and public transportation reliability. Related classes also provide knowledge in railway systems, air traffic and design of public transportation terminals.

Intelligent Transportation Systems:

This emerging field is focused on the application of innovative information technologies in transportation systems and infrastructure. Examples can be found in intelligent control systems (such as the one in Ayalon Highways), automatic tolling systems (such as in the Cross Israel Highway), use of GPS and mobile phone technologies for travel time mapping, smart cards for public transportation and more.