Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT6.2.4Tony RidleyTransportationTransport is the movement of people and goods from multipleorigins to multiple destinations by whatever means. Itincludes walking and cycling, shipping, pipelines and air, as wellas wheeled transport. But addressing transport problems goesbeyond considering the technology of transport.All people desire access to people, activities and the resourcesnecessary to lead a fulfilled life; access that is affordable, safe,secure, comfortable and convenient. Furthermore, no onewants to be adversely affected by other people’s use of transport.Transport systems could be much better, providing greaterenjoyment and quality of life to more people, with less environmentalimpact and far fewer deaths and injuries.Hardy Cross was a great twentieth century American Professorof Civil Engineering and an engineering philosopher. Prof. Crossconsidered engineering to be part of a trilogy; pure science,applied science and engineering (Cross, 1952). 160 This trilogy isonly part of a triad of trilogies into which engineering fits. Thefirst is pure science, applied science and engineering. The secondis economic theory, finance and engineering, and the thirdis social relations, industrial relations and engineering. Manyengineering problems are as closely allied to social problems asthey are to pure science. The limitations of academic classificationsare notorious; the workaday world does not fit into anacademic department or into so-called fields of learning. Weneed to consider the whole person, and the whole communityin which they live and work.Those who work in engineering are likely to find themselvesin contact with almost every phase of human activity. Notonly must engineers make important decisions about themere mechanical outline of structures and machines, theyare also confronted with the problems of human reactions tothe environment and are constantly involved in problems oflaw, economics and sociology. Herein lies the challenge andthe complexity of transport. Meanwhile, people and goodsare travelling more, further and faster. Indeed, there is increasingconcern for ‘carbon miles’ created by the consumption ofproducts from around the world. My father, for example, firsttravelled from Northeast England to London in 1924, sailingto the Thames as a passenger on a coal boat. I first travelled toLondon, by car with my parents, at the age of 14. My youngestson, Michael, had already travelled twice around the worldby air by the time he was 12 years old when we lived in HongKong.160 Cross, Hardy. 1952. Engineers and Ivory Towers. New York: Ayer.Transport is therefore enormously complex. At any time in atransport network there is a balance between demand andsupply, strongly influenced by price. Demand is influenced by awhole series of determinants: population, employment, landusepatterns, wealth and so on. As demand rises asymptoticallytowards capacity the flow of movement slows down and,more importantly, reliability deteriorates rapidly.The word ‘network’ is central. Theoreticians carry out intricatemathematical calculations to describe the flow along a singletraffic artery. Such calculations are further compounded whenthe moving vehicles do not have uniform behaviour characteristicsand the capacity of the artery is not an absolute number.This is certainly true of roads, but also applies to rail and airtransport. In terms of efficiency, and customer satisfaction,there are great advantages in finding a balance in which satisfieddemand (flow) at any point in a network is within capacityby a sufficient margin to avoid congestion and to enable reliableoperation. The theory of networks is a branch of appliedmathematics in its own right, showing enormous complexitieseven when the flow of traffic can be assumed to be uniform.It can be imagined what is involved when the demand characteristicsof people and goods are also taken into account,together with somewhat elastic measures of capacity andcomplex pricing mechanisms.Governments must develop and implement transport strategies,not least to provide the leadership and framework withinwhich private companies, entrepreneurs, private funding andpublic authorities can deliver transport services, whateverthey may be. Transport strategies, also, must be clear to theentire public whether motorist, pedestrian or passenger, andwhether young or old; or those working in transport, whetheras a developer, contractor, financier, traffic engineer or retailer.It is vital to ensure that everyone understands that compromisesare necessary. Mobility without regard for environmentalprotection is no more satisfactory than environmentalprotection without regard to the contribution of transport toquality of life.Electronic and information technology has the possibilityto transform our use of transport systems, to save lives andmoney, and to protect the environment. The speed of vehiclescould be regulated to ensure the safety of other road users.Such control would make a major contribution to the safety ofpedestrians. Much is rightly said about the divide between therich and the poor, but worldwide, one of the greatest dividesis between those inside and outside of automobiles. Transportengineers need to strive to bring safety standards on the roadstowards what is achieved by public transport and air transport.Doing so would provide a boost for walking and cycling.Also, manufacturers have made major investments that arenow producing automobiles with much improved fuel consumptionand also reduced emissions, which is of particular292