Traffic Engineering Design

What is Traffic Engineering Design?


To understand a traffic engineering design, you first need to understand what a traffic engineer is. Simply put, a traffic engineer is a qualified engineer who studies, analyzes, and develops road projects.

Traffic engineering design is the final of those three options – developing. It is a traffic engineer’s job when designing to create a transportation system that is safe and efficient. Taking a variety of factors into consideration – such as needed intersections, surrounding buildings, and the volume of traffic in the area – a traffic engineer will design a transportation system that is both efficient and safe.

Key Elements of Traffic Engineering Design

Traffic Flow

When a traffic engineer is designing a transportation system, they need to understand the volume of traffic in the area and consider how their new or improved roadways will handle it. Parts of the design like signs, signals, extra lanes, and speed limits will all impact traffic flow. The goal is to keep traffic flowing efficiently and safely and to avoid congestion.

Safety

Safety is the number one concern for traffic engineers. They work diligently to understand the needs of the area they’re designing to ensure that everything is built to optimize safety for pedestrians as well as drivers. They will add proper signs, signals, and extra lanes to ensure traffic is controlled and safe as it moves through the area. 

Efficiency

When designing a new transportation system, a traffic engineer’s second concern is efficiency. They’ll either collect their own data or use data from a traffic study of the area to determine traffic volumes and behavior at different times of day, as well as the causes of certain traffic behavior like delays. With a combination of roadway design, speed limits, lane additions, and safe intersections, a traffic engineer can create an efficient system that reduces travel time for all drivers through the area. 

Sustainability

With efficiency as a traffic engineer’s second priority, it makes perfect sense that sustainability and traffic design can easily work together. By reducing travel times and keeping traffic flowing, a vehicle’s emissions will be lowered when using a well-designed system.

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