UNIT 4 -MAE-VIAL

UNIT 4
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
There is nothing more remarkable than the fact that, over

the last two thousand years, since the Romans started to spread
the network of roads, the world has not been able to make any
essential improvements in road making (Figure 12.1.).
Figure 12.1. Roman road structure

The reason why the Roman roads are so durable is because
of the great amount of effort that was put into the design and
construction. The Roman highway system made possible a rapid
communication between Rome and the provinces of the empire.
Figure 12.2. Telford’s road structure

Modern highways are still built according to the principles
laid down in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by a
Frenchman Pierre Tresaguet, the Englishman Thomas Telford
(Figure 12.2.), and a Scot, John
L. MacAdam whose name has passed into English in the words
macadam and macadamize (Figure 12.3.).
12. Transportation 5
Engineering
These men designed the first modern roads that had a firm
sub-grade, the surface on which the foundation rested. Their
roads also included good drainage and a wearing surface. The
top layer of a pavement is referred to as a wearing surface.
Figure 12.3. MacAdam’s road structure

The purpose of the wearing layer is to protect the base
layer from wheel abrasion and to waterproof the entire
pavement structure. Both Tresaguet and Telford used broken
stones, on top of which a base course of aggregates of smaller
size and a wearing surface of still smaller stones were built up.
Their roads were also slightly curved in a crown so that the
water would run off.
Figure 12.4. John L. MacAdam
MacAdam (Figure 12.4.) realized that the soil itself could

bear the weight of the road when it was compacted or pressed
down, as long as it remained dry. He was able therefore to
eliminate the heavy cost of the stone foundation by laying a
base course of crushed stone on top of a compacted footing.
The iron wheels of the carriages of his day ground the stones of
the top level into a continually smoother and more watertight
surface. These
12. Transportation 5
Engineering
roads were adequate during the nineteenth century when
wagons and carriages had tires made of iron or steel.
When the automobile appeared at the beginning of the
twentieth century the weight of the automobiles broke up the
smooth surfaces. Therefore, the top layer was bound together
more firmly by mixing the crushed rock with tar or bitumen.
Millions of kilometers of roads throughout the world today have
this kind of surface.
LANGUAGE PRACTICE
I. Complete the sentences with reference to the text:

1. Engineers whose principles of road-building are still
applied to the building of modern highways are
2. The roads designed by MacAdam differ from those
designed by Tresaquet and Telford in
3. MacAdam’s roads became inadequate in the
twentieth century because
4. The layer that directly receives the wear of traffic is

called
WORD CHECK
II. Translate:
Agregado, capa de rodadura, calzada, capa base,
construcción duradera, construcción resistente al agua,
compactación del suelo.
III. Fill in the gaps with the most suitable phrasal verbs: put off, let
in for, sort out, feed into, call in, interested in
Transport engineering is very nearly the hidden face of civil
engineering of which it is a specialization. Transport
engineers are a) e.g. to b) a junction that is not
working. It c) many a graduate ” straight“ civil
engineering, having no idea
what they d)_____ themselves _ . Transport engineers are e)
transportation modelling and traffic engineering.
Results of the research are f) the computers.
IV. Is the following information stated in the above one? If it is which
paragraph (s) is it?
Computer models are used to predict the amount of traffic. Interviewing
people about the start and the finish of their journeys is involved in
preliminary surveys. After looking at problems a new range of options is
developed. A new signaling sequence or a roundabout may be included.
Enormous scope
1. Civil for specialization
Engineering as a is offered in this field. A social5value is
contained in transportation engineering as well.
Profession
V. Write the main ideas in English from the below information:
El diccionario de inglés de Oxford define “la construcción de macadán” como

el proceso de compactar pequeñas piedras en una masa sólida sobre una
base convexa y bien drenada de la carretera. El nombre proviene de John
MacAdam, un hombre cuya fama como ingeniero en Inglaterra solo fue
rivalizada por su contemporáneo Thomas Telford. El nombre de MacAdam se
convirtió en sinónimo del proceso de construcción de caminos, y su diseño
sólido y financieramente rentable complementó el sistema de canales que se
construyeron en las Islas Británicas durante la Revolución Industrial. En 1830,
el gobierno francés adoptó el principio de construcción de carreteras de
MacAdam.

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UNIT 4

There is nothing more remarkable than the fact that, over

Figure 12.1. Roman road structure

Figure 12.2. Telford’s road structure

Figure 12.3. MacAdam’s road structure

Figure 12.4. John L. MacAdam

MacAdam (Figure 12.4.) realized that the soil itself could

I. Complete the sentences with reference to the text:

4. The layer that directly receives the wear of traffic is

V. Write the main ideas in English from the below information:

El diccionario de inglés de Oxford define “la construcción de macadán” como

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