Know All About Highway Engineering

Don’t want to sign up for the same-old, typically chosen Engineering courses? Want to go beyond the overcrowded domains of Engineering? Consider applying for a new age Engineering programme to satisfy your scientific bug as well as to avail better employment opportunities. One such budding programme is Highway Engineering, offered by a handful of universities over the globe. Advancement in highway technologies have solved multiple issues faced by urban and rural settlements like pollution, infrastructure deterioration, safety on road, traffic on road, space constrains, bad condition of roads, etc. n this blog, we are going to shed light on the significance of the course, offered courses, subjects covered and top universities you can choose from to pursue a program in this field.

What is Highway Engineering? 

A Highway Engineer tackles all these problems in a go by finding optimum solutions using CAD, management skills, planning and technologies. Civil Engineering is the parent academic discipline from which Highway Engineering has stemmed from. Considering the importance of planning, designing, constructing and operating roads and tunnels, this discipline has been branched out to train individuals who can create efficient road networks.

Roads, tunnels and bridges are quintessential in all parts of the world, for people, for the state and for business. Roadways are one of the major means of transportation, thus, safety and commutes of people and goods are in the hands of the constructors. 

The course constitutes of the following aspects:

• Traffic Flow 
• Geometric Alignment and Design
• Highway Pavement Materials & Design 
• Structural Design of Pavement Thickness
• Design of Intersections
• Pavement Maintenance
• Design of Interchanges

Importance of Highway Engineering 

Highway Engineering is an important course for a well planned civilization. They are used for:

1. Providing conveyance to people, goods, services, etc
2. Connecting remote areas with prime lands
3. Improving land value and quality
4. Generating employment and tourism opportunities to people 
5. Important role in creating a defense route

Highway Engineering Courses

There are two types of courses, bachelor’s degree and master’s degree program. Most of the universities offer a specialized masters programme in Highway Construction or Engineering to students with a Civil Engineering bachelors degree. Highway Construction is also one of the major subjects taught in BTech or BE Civil Engineering. 

Subjects

Subjects taught in Highway Engineering are designed in a manner to solve particular problems faced by people while commuting on road networks. Following is a list of important subjects that are generally covered in this field:

• Design Project Work 
• Road Construction Planning 
• Airport Construction and Planning 
• Soil Mechanics for Highway Engineers 
• Applied Statistics 
• Traffic Management 
• Rural Roads

What will learn in Highway Engineering?

With advancements in materials used for construction, techniques of constructions along with the varied issues faced by people and road transporters, the career path of a Highway Engineer is filled with an immense number of challenges. Let’s take a look at the different sub-fields that this Engineering comprises of: 

Planning & Development

• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Financing
• Highway Safety

Design

• Flexible Pavement Design
• Materials
• Geometric Design
• Rigid Pavement Design
• Drainage System Design
• Rigid Pavement Overlay Design
• Flexible Pavement Overlay Design
• Drainage System Design

Construction, Maintenance, and Management

• Highway Construction
• Highway Maintenance
• Project Management

Top Universities 

There are copious universities and academic institutions across the globe that offer a wide range of programs in this specialised field of Engineering. To make it easier for you, we have created the following list of top Highway Engineering universities that you can choose from:

University Name	Location
University of Birmingham	USA
Colorado School of Mines	UK
University of Exeter	UK
Universiti Putra Malaysia	Malaysia
Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki	New Zealand
NYU Tandon School of Engineering	USA
Universiti Tun Hussien Onn Malaysia	Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	USA
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak	Malaysia

Traffic and Highway Engineering

Traffic and highway engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses the method of civil engineering to achieve good roads that are safe for people. This engineering course is a graduation level course.

Typical highway and traffic engineering projects involve:

1. Designing traffic control devices
2. Taking care of installation and modification of traffic control systems
3. Investigating locations with high crash rates and developing measures to reduce these crashes
4. Estimating plans for commercial developments on traffic pattern
5. Preparing construction traffic control plans

What does a Highway Engineer do?

A highway engineer has several roles to take care of. These are some of the roles that a highway engineer has to play:

1. Overseeing roadway projects including costing, planning, implementation, etc.
2. Collaborating with other transport professionals around the world
3. Using digital tools and data to drive efficient asset management techniques

Career Paths 

After completing a degree program in Highway Engineering, you can pave your career path onto the following roads, check below: 

• Highway Construction Companies 
• Maintainance Companies 
• Real Estate Companies 
• Environmental Organisations 
• Sustainable Developmental Organisations 
• Universities for Higher Education 

The following list exhibits the job profiles offered: 

• Constructor 
• Project Manager 
• CAD Expert 
• Highway Engineer 
• Planning Engineer 
• Residence Engineer 
• Material Engineer 
• Pavement Engineer 
• Project Head 

FAQs

We hope that this blog was successful in helping you understand the key elements of an emerging field like Highway Engineering. If you are looking to pursue Highway Engineering programmes from universities abroad, you can get in touch with our Leverage Edu experts and we’ll help you find the right combination of a suitable course and university that can provide you with an immense exposure into this field.