Transportation has always played an essential role in the development of society, originally with regard to trade
routes and harbours, but more recently with regard to land- and air-based systems as well. It is the transportation
engineer’s responsibility to plan, design, build, operate and maintain these systems of transport, in such a way as
to provide for the safe, efficient and convenient movement of people and goods. Increasing environmental concerns have revived an interest in the development and management of public transportation systems.

Professional activities can range from road and transit design and operation at the urban scale, to railroad, seaway and airport location, construction and operation at the regional and national scale. Transportation engineering in North America focuses on automobile infrastructures, although it also encompasses sea, air and rail systems.

Automobile infrastructures can be split into the traditional area of highway design and planning, and the rapidly
growing area of traffic control systems. The transportation engineer faces the challenge of developing both
network links and major terminals to satisfy transportation demands, with due regard for the resultant land-use,
environmental and other impacts of these facilities. Employment opportunities are available both in the public
sector (e.g., federal and provincial government transportation ministries, regional and municipal roads, traffic and transit agencies) and the private sector (e.g., engineering consultants, trucking, railroad and airline companies, vehicle manufacturing). The undergraduate core and technical complementary program provide for a solid
grounding in transportation engineering sufficient for related professional employment.

In the Transportation Engineering lab, test on highway materials are performed such as:-

Test on aggregate:-

1) Aggregate Impact Value Test
2) Los Angeles Abrasion value Test
3) C.B.R. Test
4) Marshall Stability Test
5) Elongation and Flakiness Index Test

Test on Bitumen:-

1) Determination of Specific Gravity of Bitumen
2) Determination of Flash and Fire point of Bitumen
3) Determination of Softening Point Test (Ring & Ball Test)
4) Determination of Penetration of Bitumen