CEE 4640

Sustainable Transportation Systems Design

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Senior-level design course in transportation, with a focus on design of sustainable transportation systems. The perspective in the course is one of system design, i.e., understanding the process of creating objectives, developing alternative designs and having models capable of representing the interactions among major elements of the overall system. We will also adopt a sustainable development or triple bottom line perspective, taking into account ecological and social as well as economic dimensions of transportation systems design. From this perspective, efficient transportation function achieves the economic objective, while quantifying and minimizing negative impacts addresses ecological and social goals. The interactions among the major system elements (vehicles, infrastructure, people, freight) occurs on networks, and we need to focus on how networks function. We will also study how resources are allocated and how capacity is maintained in networks. Systems design is examined from both a public sector perspective and from a private sector perspective.

Last 3 terms offered 2024FA, 2023FA, 2022FA

Learning Outcomes REF-FA25

• Develop the student's ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and basic transportation engineering in a design context.
• Design transportation systems to meet desired objectives.
• Develop the students' ability to see their solutions in a social context.
• Understand current issues related to design of effective transportation systems.

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