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Engineering Online

CE 402/502 Traffic Operations

3 Credit Hours

Highway capacity; traffic control devices and warrants; freeway facilities; intersection treatments; signalized control of junctions and arterials.

Prerequisite

Introductory transportation course (NC State CE 305 Traffic Engineering) or consent of instructor.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course the students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate and apply a basic understanding of highway capacity concepts, methods and applications,  using both manual and computer methods.
  • Demonstrate and apply specific knowledge of Highway Capacity Manual procedures supplemented with the use of computer software programs.
  • Perform signal timing for isolated and coordinated signals.
  • Conduct analyses of congested freeways and arterials.
  • Design and perform a data collection and statistical analysis plan (learned and demonstrated through a term research project assignment).
  • Conduct a literature review to assess the state of the art and research needs in specific areas of traffic operations (learned and demonstrated through a term research paper).

Course Requirements

Homework10%
Midterm Exam35%
Final Exam35%
Literature Review Paper20%

Textbook

Required: R. Roess, E. Prassas and W. McShane, Traffic Engineering, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Fifth Edition, 2018.

An e-version of the textbook (deeply discounted) will be available through the NC State Library “All-In Digital Access” program.

Reference Material

The HCM 2016 (or HCM6) is available for purchase from the National Academies of Sciences if one is interested. For more information please visit: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/175169.aspx. Note that the HCM6 version is the one covered in the PE exam.