Transportation Engineering>Modes of Transportation
An Air Transport Engineer will encounter design problems from all areas of operation within and around an airport. Flight schedules must be optimized between the passengers and the planes. Runways must be made safe in thickness, length, and direction. Traffic control patterns and procedures must be set for the individual airport design to optimize down time. Luggage loading and removal processes must be optimized. Engineers make things work to their maximum capacity - so it is with airports.
Railway Engineers (not the train drivers) are concerned with the design and maintenance of the routes that trains take. Turn radii must be just right, to minimize space and material cost, and maximize safety for the cars. Bridges must be sturdy and able to support very heavy loadings. Goods being loaded and offloaded must be managed in the stockyards in an efficient manner that expedites the movement of all goods. And, probably most important of all - trains must be scheduled and tracks managed so that collisions never occur.
Maritime Engineers are those who are responsible for the safe and timely passage of vessels through and around the waterways of the world. The water is the oldest form of freight transportation, and it is the engineers job to maintain the tradition of reliable goods transport using this medium. Port and dock design, for ship loading, offloading, and maintenance, must be done in the most efficient possible manner. Schedules must be designed. Routes must be created and maintained, both in native waterways and through man-made locks and reservoirs.
With the growing problem of air pollution and vehicle congestion in the urban areas of the world (particularly the U.S.), the attraction and necessity of mass transit systems become obvious. Such systems are varied in their approach, style, and individual benefits vs. drawbacks. Some of the common areas of emphasis include subways, busing systems, monorails, trolleys, and light rail. As cities continue to grow and bedroom communities become more crowded, parking will diminish and such systems will become more and more common - as will the engineers who design them.
Unknown to many people, the sidewalks, crosswalks, tunnels, and bike paths that are used by pedestrians and bicyclists require a certain amount of engineering to insure the safety of the users and the low liability of the city building them. Such systems of paths and right-of-way laws require compromise on the part of both the users and the vehicles, and the engineer of such projects is responsible to find the happy balance between the two groups.
