Road transport
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Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using
The nature of road transportation of goods depends on, apart from the degree of development of the local infrastructure, the distance the goods are transported by road, the weight and volume of an individual shipment, and the type of goods transported. For short distances and light small shipments, a
People are transported on roads. Special modes of individual transport by road such as cycle rickshaws may also be locally available. There are also specialist modes of road transport for particular situations, such as ambulances.
History
Early roads
The first methods of road transport were
With the advent of the
New road networks
As states developed and became richer, especially with the Renaissance, new roads and bridges began to be built, often based on Roman designs. Although there were attempts to rediscover Roman methods, there was little useful innovation in road building before the 18th century.
Starting in the early 18th century, the
In 18th century West Africa, road transport throughout the Ashanti Empire was maintained via a network of well-kept roads that connected the Ashanti capital with territories within its jurisdiction and influence.[5][6] After significant road construction undertaken by the kingdom of Dahomey, toll roads were established with the function of collecting yearly taxes based on the goods carried by the people of Dahomey and their occupation.[7] The Royal Road was built in the late 18th century by King Kpengla which stretched from Abomey through Cana up to Ouidah.[8]
The quality of early turnpike roads was varied.
Industrial civil engineering
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, new methods of highway construction had been pioneered by the work of three British engineers, John Metcalf, Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam, and by the French road engineer Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet.
The first professional road builder to emerge during the Industrial Revolution was John Metcalf, who constructed about 180 miles (290 km) of turnpike road, mainly in the north of England, from 1765. He believed a good road should have good foundations, be well drained and have a smooth convex surface to allow rainwater to drain quickly into ditches at the side. He understood the importance of good drainage, knowing it was rain that caused most problems on the roads.
The surveyor and engineer Thomas Telford also made substantial advances in the engineering of new roads and the construction of bridges. His method of road building involved the digging of a large trench in which a foundation of heavy rock was set. He also designed his roads so that they sloped downwards from the centre, allowing drainage to take place, a major improvement on the work of Trésaguet. The surface of his roads consisted of broken stone. He also improved on methods for the building of roads by improving the selection of stone based on thickness, taking into account traffic, alignment and slopes. During his later years, Telford was responsible for rebuilding sections of the London to Holyhead road, a task completed by his assistant of ten years, John MacNeill.[13]
It was another Scottish engineer, John Loudon McAdam, who designed the first modern roads. He developed an inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate (known as macadam). His road building method was simpler than Telford's, yet more effective at protecting roadways: he discovered that massive foundations of rock upon rock were unnecessary, and asserted that native soil alone would support the road and traffic upon it, as long as it was covered by a road crust that would protect the soil underneath from water and wear.[15]
Also unlike Telford and other road builders, McAdam laid his roads as level as possible. His 30-foot-wide (9 m) road required only a rise of three inches from the edges to the center. Cambering and elevation of the road above the water table enabled rainwater to run off into ditches on either side.
20th century
Macadam roads were adequate for use by horses and carriages or coaches, but they were very dusty and subject to erosion with heavy rain. The Good Roads Movement occurred in the United States between the late 1870s and the 1920s. Advocates for improved roads led by bicyclists turned local agitation into a national political movement.
Outside cities, roads were dirt or gravel; mud in the winter and dust in the summer. Early organizers cited Europe where
Modern tarmac was patented by British civil engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley, who noticed that spilled tar on the roadway kept the dust down and created a smooth surface.[19] He took out a patent in 1901 for tarmac.[20] Hooley's 1901 patent involved mechanically mixing tar and aggregate prior to lay-down and then compacting the mixture with a steamroller. The tar was modified by adding small amounts of Portland cement, resin, and pitch.[21]
The first version of modern controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. The Long Island Motor Parkway on Long Island, New York, opened in 1908 as a private venture, was the world's first limited-access roadway. It included many modern features, including banked turns, guard rails and reinforced concrete tarmac.[24] Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, crossing oncoming traffic, so it was not a controlled-access highway (or "freeway" as later defined by the federal government's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices).
Modern controlled-access highways originated in the early 1920s in response to the rapidly increasing use of the
Italy was the first country in the world to build controlled-access highways reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only.
In Canada, the first precursor with semi-controlled access was The Middle Road between Hamilton and Toronto, which featured a median divider between opposing traffic flow, as well as the nation's first cloverleaf interchange. This highway developed into the Queen Elizabeth Way, which featured a cloverleaf and trumpet interchange when it opened in 1937 and until the Second World War boasted the longest illuminated stretch of roadway built.[27] A decade later, the first section of Highway 401 was opened, based on earlier designs. It has since become North America's busiest highway.
The word freeway was first used in February 1930 by Edward M. Bassett.[28][29][30] Bassett argued that roads should be classified into three basic types: highways, parkways, and freeways.[30] In Bassett's zoning and property law-based system, abutting property owners have the rights of light, air and access to highways but to not parkways and freeways; the latter two are distinguished in that the purpose of a parkway is recreation, while the purpose of a freeway is movement.[30] Thus as originally conceived, a freeway is a strip of public land devoted to movement to which abutting property owners do not have rights of light, air or access.[30]
Trucking and haulage
Trucking companies (in American English terminology) or haulage companies / hauliers (in British English) accept cargo for road transport. Truck drivers operate either independently – working directly for the client – or through freight carriers or shipping agents. Some big companies (e.g. grocery store chains) operate their own internal trucking operations. The market size for general freight trucking was nearly $125 billion in 2010.
In the U.S. many truckers own their truck (rig), and are known as owner-operators. Some road transportation is done on regular routes or for only one consignee per run (full truckload), while others transport goods from many different loading stations/shippers to various consignees per run (less-than-truckload). On some long runs only cargo for one leg of the route (to) is known when the cargo is loaded. Truckers may have to wait at the destination for a backhaul.[31]
A
Hours of service
To avoid accidents caused by fatigue, truckers have to adhere to strict rules for drive time and required rest periods. In the United States and Canada, these regulations are known as
Licenses
Truck drivers often need special licenses to drive, known in the U.S. as a
Weights
Some loads are weighed at the point of origin and the driver is responsible for ensuring
The European Union uses the International Recommendation, OIML R 134-2 (2009). The process may involve a scale house and low-speed scales or higher-speed WIM road or bridge scales with the goal of public safety, as well as road and bridge safety, according to the Bridges Act.[36]
Modern roads
Today, roadways are primarily
Modern pavements are designed for heavier vehicle loads and faster speeds, requiring thicker slabs and deeper subbase. Subbase is the layer or successive layers of stone, gravel and sand supporting the pavement. It is needed to spread out the slab load bearing on the underlying soil and to conduct away any water getting under the slabs. Water will undermine a pavement over time, so much of pavement and pavement joint design are meant to minimize the amount of water getting and staying under the slabs.
Shoulders are also an integral part of highway design. They are multipurpose; they can provide a margin of side clearance, a refuge for incapacitated vehicles, an emergency lane, and parking space. They also serve a design purpose, and that is to prevent water from percolating into the soil near the main pavement's edge. Shoulder pavement is designed to a lower standard than the pavement in the traveled way and won't hold up as well to traffic, so driving on the shoulder is generally prohibited.
Pavement technology is still evolving, albeit in not easily noticed increments. For instance, chemical additives in the pavement mix make the pavement more weather resistant, grooving and other surface treatments improve resistance to skidding and
Traffic control
Nearly all roadways are built with devices meant to control traffic. Most notable to the motorist are those meant to communicate directly with the driver. Broadly, these fall into three categories: signs, signals or pavement markings. They help the driver navigate; they assign the right-of-way at intersections; they indicate laws such as speed limits and parking regulations; they advise of potential hazards; they indicate passing and no passing zones; and otherwise deliver information and to assure traffic is orderly and safe.
Two hundred years ago these devices were signs, nearly all informal. In the late 19th century signals began to appear in the biggest cities at a few highly congested intersections. They were manually operated, and consisted of semaphores, flags or paddles, or in some cases colored electric lights, all modeled on railroad signals. In the 20th century signals were automated, at first with electromechanical devices and later with computers. Signals can be quite sophisticated: with vehicle sensors embedded in the pavement, the signal can control and choreograph the turning movements of heavy traffic in the most complex of intersections. In the 1920s traffic engineers learned how to coordinate signals along a thoroughfare to increase its speeds and volumes. In the 1980s, with computers, similar coordination of whole networks became possible.
In the 1920s pavement markings were introduced. Initially they were used to indicate the road's centerline. Soon after they were coded with information to aid motorists in passing safely. Later, with multi-lane roads they were used to define
In the 20th century traffic control devices were standardized. Before then every locality decided on what its devices would look like and where they would be applied. This could be confusing, especially to traffic from outside the locality. In the United States standardization was first taken at the state level, and late in the century at the federal level. Each country has a Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and there are efforts to blend them into a worldwide standard.
Besides signals, signs, and markings, other forms of traffic control are designed and built into the roadway. For instance, curbs and rumble strips can be used to keep traffic in a given lane and median barriers can prevent left turns and even U-turns.
Toll roads
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (November 2021) |
Early toll roads were usually built by private companies under a government franchise. They typically paralleled or replaced routes already with some volume of commerce, hoping the improved road would divert enough traffic to make the enterprise profitable. Plank roads were particularly attractive as they greatly reduced rolling resistance and mitigated the problem of getting mired in mud. Another improvement, better grading to lessen the steepness of the worst stretches, allowed draft animals to haul heavier loads.
A toll road in the United States is often called a turnpike. The term turnpike probably originated from the gate, often a simple pike, which blocked passage until the fare was paid at a toll house (or toll booth in current terminology). When the toll was paid the pike, which was mounted on a swivel, was turned to allow the vehicle to pass. Tolls were usually based on the type of cargo being transported, not the type of vehicle. The practice of selecting routes so as to avoid tolls is called shunpiking. This may be simply to avoid the expense, as a form of economic protest (or boycott), or simply to seek a road less traveled as a bucolic interlude.
Companies were formed to build, improve, and maintain a particular section of roadway, and tolls were collected from users to finance the enterprise. The enterprise was usually named to indicate the locale of its roadway, often including the name of one of both of the termini. The word turnpike came into common use in the names of these roadways and companies, and is essentially used interchangeably with toll road in current terminology.
In the
Toll roads peaked in the mid 19th century, and by the turn of the twentieth century most toll roads were taken over by state highway departments. The demise of this early toll road era was due to the rise of canals and railroads, which were more efficient (and thus cheaper) in moving freight over long distances. Roads wouldn't again be competitive with rails and barges until the first half of the 20th century when the internal combustion engine replaces draft animals as the source of motive power.
With the development, mass production, and popular embrace of the automobile, faster and higher capacity roads were needed. In the 1920s limited access highways appeared. Their main characteristics were dual roadways with access points limited to (but not always) grade-separated interchanges. Their dual roadways allowed high volumes of traffic, the need for no or few traffic lights along with relatively gentle grades and curves allowed higher speeds.
The first limited access highways were Parkways, so called because of their often park-like
After 1940 with the
Interstate Highway System
In the United States, beginning in 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the
By 1956, most limited access highways in the eastern United States were toll roads. In that year, the
Since the completion of the initial portion of the Interstate Highway System, regulations were changed, and portions of toll facilities have been added to the system. Some states are again looking at toll financing for new roads and maintenance, to supplement limited federal funding. In some areas, new road projects have been completed with
The newest policy passed by Congress and the Obama administration regarding highways is the Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011.
Pneumatic tyres
As the horse-drawn
See also
- National Highway System (USA)
- Passenger vehicles in the USA
- Transportation in the United States
- National Transportation Safety Board
- German autobahns
- Glossary of road transport terms
- Neo-bulk cargo
- Public transport
- Traffic congestion
- Transportation forecasting
- Transport engineering
- List of roads and highways
- Transport portal
- Portal:Transport/Trucking media
- Portal:Transport/Highway media
Bibliography
- Lay, M. G. (1992). Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them. Sydney: Primavera Press. ISBN 1-875368-05-1.
References
- ^ "What is 'Road Transport'". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
- ^ "Road Transportation – A History and How We Use it Today". American Auto Move. 30 August 2012. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ a b Webb. English Local Government. pp. 157-159
- 15 Cha. 2. c. 1.
- ISBN 9781135365844. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-04-11. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
- ISBN 9004083553.
- ^ Herskovits, Melville J. (1967). Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (Volume I ed.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
- S2CID 161238713.
- ^ Parliamentary Papers, 1840, Vol 256 xxvii.
- ^ The Turnpike Trust Archived 2014-05-25 at the Wayback Machine Schools History.org, Accessed July 2011
- ^ Lay 1992, p. 72.
- ^ Oxford, Robert (3 September 2003). "How old is that route?" (PDF). Institution of Civil Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- New York Times. Archived from the originalon June 30, 2012. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "1823 - First American Macadam Road" Archived 2011-06-24 at the Wayback Machine (Painting - Carl Rakeman) US Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration (Accessed 2008-10-10)
- ^ Craig, David, "The Colossus of Roads", Palimpsest, Strum.co.uk, archived from the original on 14 November 2020, retrieved 18 June 2010
- ^ McAdam (1824), p.38
- ^ Lay 1992, p. 83.
- ^ From: 'Northern Millwall: Tooke Town', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 423-433 Archived 2014-01-16 at the Wayback Machine Date accessed: 24 May 2009
- ISBN 0-632-05852-8, retrieved 22 June 2010. (Details of this story vary a bit, but the essence of is the same, as are the basic facts).
- ISBN 978-0-7922-8296-9, archivedfrom the original on 9 September 2021, retrieved 23 June 2010
- ^ Hooley, E. Purnell, U.S. patent 765,975, "Apparatus for the preparation of tar macadam", July 26, 1904
- ^ a b Lenarduzzi, Thea (30 January 2016). "The motorway that built Italy: Piero Puricelli's masterpiece". The Independent. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ a b c "The "Milano-Laghi" by Piero Puricelli, the first motorway in the world". Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- ^ Patton, Phil (9 October 2008). "A 100-Year-Old Dream: A Road Just for Cars". The New York Times.
- ^ "Built to Meander, Parkway Fights to Keep Measured Pace". The New York Times. 6 June 1995. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ Hershenson, Roberta (18 June 1995). "Bronx River Parkway on an Endangered List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ISBN 978-0-7743-9388-1.
- ISBN 9780786442829.
- ISBN 9780821417676.
- ^ a b c d Bassett, Edward M. (February 1930). "The Freeway: A New Kind of Thoroughfare". American City. 42: 95.
- ^ Brown, Dennis. "What is a backhaul?". Freight Broker Bootcamp. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Bartsch, Frank (4 June 2013). "Truck freight - nothing easier than". BB Handel. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ^ "What do we want to achieve ?". European Commission. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- ^ "About CAT Scale". CAT Scale. 4 December 2015. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Foxx, Anthony R. (2012-10-01). "Freight Management and Operations". US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ "International Recommendation (OIML R 134-2" (PDF). International Organization of Legal Metrology. 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 20 September 2018.