Role of Transportation in National Development, Different modes of Transportation & Comparison | Transportation Engineering - Civil Engineering (CE) PDF Download

Role of Transportaion in National Development
Transportation is a non separable part of any society. It exhibits a very close relation to the style of life, the range and location of activities and the goods and services which will be available for consumption. Advances in transportation has made possible changes in the way of living and the way in which societies are organized and therefore have a great influence in the development of civilizations. Transportation is responsible for the development of civilizations from very old times by meeting travel requirement of people and transport requirement of goods. Such movement has changed the way people live and travel. In developed and developing nations, a large fraction of people travel daily for work, shopping and social reasons. But transport also consumes a lot of resources like time, fuel, materials and land.

Economic role of transportation Economics involves production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. People depend upon the natural resources to satisfy the needs of life but due to non uniform surface of earth and due to difference in local resources, there is a lot of difference in standard of living in different societies. So there is an immense requirement of transport of resources from one particular society to other. These resources can range from material things to knowledge and skills like movement of doctors and technicians to the places where there is need of them.
1.Transport extends the range of sources of supply of goods to be consumed in an area, making it possible for user to get resources at cheap price and high quality.
2.The use of more efficient systems of supply results in an increase in the total amount of goods available for consumption.
3.Since the supply of goods is no longer dependent on the type of mode, items can be supplied by some alternative resources if usual source cannot supply what is needed.

Social role of transportation: Transportation has always played an important role in influencing the formation of urban societies. Although other facilities like availability of food and water played a major role, the contribution of transportation can be seen clearly from the formation, size and pattern, and the development of societies, especially urban centers.

Formation of settlements: From the beginning of civilization, the man is living in settlements which existed near banks of major river junctions, a port, or an intersection of trade routes. Cities like New York, Mumbai and Moscow are good examples.

Size and pattern of settlements: The initial settlements were relatively small developments but with due course of time, they grew in population and developed into big cities and major trade centers. The size of settlements is not only limited by the size of the area by which the settlement can obtain food and other necessities, but also by considerations of personal travels especially the journey to and from work. The increased speed of transport and reduction in the cost of transport has resulted in variety of spatial patterns.

Growth of urban centers: When the cities grow beyond normal walking distance, then transportation technology plays a role in the formation of the city. For example, many cities in the plains developed as a circular city with radial routes, where as the cities beside a river developed linearly. The development of automobiles and other factors like increase in personal income, and construction of paved road network, the settlements were transformed into urban centers of intense travel activity.

Political role of transportation: The world is divided into numerous political units which are formed for mutual protection, economic advantages and development of common culture. Transportation plays an important role in the functioning of such political units. "

Administration of an area: The government of an area must be able to send/get information to/about its people. It may include laws to be followed, security and other needful information needed to generate awareness. An efficient administration of a country largely depends on how effectively government could communicate this information to all the country. However, with the advent of communications, its importance is slightly reduced.

Political choices in transport: These choices may be classified as communication, military movement, and travel of persons and movement of freight. The primary function of transportation is the transfer of messages and information. It is also needed for rapid movement of troops in case of emergency and finally movement of persons and goods. The political decision of construction and maintenance of roads has resulted in the development of transportation system.


Different Modes of  Transportation
Three basic modes of transport are by land, water and air. Land has given development of road and rail transport. Water and air have developed waterways and airways respectively. Apart from these major modes of transportation, other modes include pipelines, elevators, belt conveyors, cable cars, aerial ropeways and monorails. Pipe lines are used for the transportation of water, other fluids and even solid particles.
The four major modes of transportation are:
1.Roadways or highways
2.Railways
3.Airways
4.Waterways.

Airways: 
1.The transportation by air is the fastest among the four modes.
2.Air also provides more comfort apart from saving in transportation time for the passengers and the goods between the airports.

Waterways:
1.Transportation by water is the slowest among the four modes.
2.This mode needs minimum energy to haul load through unit distance
3.The transportation by water is possible between the ports on the sea routes or along the rivers or canals where inland transportation facilities are available.

Railways:
1.The transportation along the railway track could be advantageous by railways between the stations both for the passengers and goods, particularly for longer distances. 2.The energy requirement to haul unit load through unit distance by the railway is only a fraction (one fourth to one sixth) of the required by road.
3.Hence, full advantage of this mode of transportation should be taken for the transportation of bulk goods along land where the railway facilities are available.

Roadways: 
1.The transportation by road is the only mode which could give maximum service to one and all
2.The road or highways not only include the modern highway system but also the city streets, feeder roads and village roads, catering for a wide-range of road vehicles and the pedestrians.
3.This mode has also maximum flexibility for travel with reference to route, direction, time and speed of travel etc. through any mode of road vehicle.
4.It is possible to provide door to door service by road transport.
5.The other three modes (railways; water ways; airways) has to depend on the roadway for the service.
6.Ultimately, road network is therefore needed not only to serve as feeder system for other modes of transportation and to supplement them, but also to provide independent facility for road travel by a well planned network of roads throughout the country.