Highway engineeringHighway engineering (also known as roadway engineering and street engineering) is a professional engineering discipline branching from the civil engineering subdiscipline of transportation engineering that involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, highways, streets, bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe and effective transportation of people and goods. Highway engineering became prominent towards the latter half of the 20th century after World War II.
Outline of constructionThe following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to construction: Construction – process of building or assembling infrastructure. A complex activity, large scale construction involves extensive multitasking. Normally, a job is managed by a project manager, and supervised by a construction manager, design engineer, construction engineer or project architect. Building Planning permission Nonbuilding structures including infrastructure Building construction Home construction High-rise co
Construction managementConstruction management (CM) is a professional service that uses specialized, project management techniques and software to oversee the planning, design, construction and closeout of a project. The purpose of construction management is to control the quality of a project's scope, time / delivery and cost—sometimes referred to as a project management triangle or "triple constraints." CM is compatible with all project delivery systems, including design-bid-build, design-build, CM At-Risk and Public Private Partnerships.
Road surfaceA road surface (English), or pavement (American), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, hoggin, cobblestone and granite setts were extensively used, but these have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete laid on a compacted base course. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the 20th century and are of two types: metalled (hard-surfaced) and unmetalled roads.
ConstructionConstruction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations, and comes from Latin constructio (from com- "together" and struere "to pile up") and Old French construction. To construct is the verb: the act of building, and the noun is construction: how something is built, the nature of its structure. In its most widely used context, construction covers the processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life.
Wearing courseThe wearing course, also known as a friction course or surface course, is the upper layer in roadway, airfield, and dockyard construction. The term 'surface course' is sometimes used slightly different, to describe very thin surface layers such as chip seal. In rigid pavements the upper layer is a portland cement concrete slab. In flexible pavements, the upper layer consists of asphalt concrete, that is a construction aggregate with a bituminous binder.
RoadA road is a thoroughfare for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, whose primary function is to serve as public spaces, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of roads, including parkways, avenues, controlled-access highways (freeways, motorways, and expressways), tollways, interstates, highways, thoroughfares, and local roads.
Road rollerA road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor-type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations. Similar rollers are used also at landfills or in agriculture. Road rollers are frequently referred to as steamrollers, regardless of their method of propulsion. Steamroller The first road rollers were horse-drawn, and were probably borrowed farm implements (see Roller).
Subbase (pavement)In highway engineering, subbase is the layer of aggregate material laid on the subgrade, on which the base course layer is located. It may be omitted when there will be only foot traffic on the pavement, but it is necessary for surfaces used by vehicles. Subbase is often the main load-bearing layer of the pavement. Its role is to spread the load evenly over the subgrade. The materials used may be either unbound granular, or cement-bound.
Foundation (engineering)In engineering, a foundation is the element of a structure which connects it to the ground or more rarely, water,(like with floating structures) transferring loads from the structure to the ground. Foundations are generally considered either shallow or deep. Foundation engineering is the application of soil mechanics and rock mechanics (geotechnical engineering) in the design of foundation elements of structures.
Home constructionHome construction or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside there. Beginning with simple pre-historic shelters, home construction techniques have evolved to produce the vast multitude of living accommodations available today. Different levels of wealth and power have warranted various sizes, luxuries, and even defenses in a "home".
Gravel roadA gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the United States. In New Zealand, and other Commonwealth countries, they may be known as metal roads. They may be referred to as "dirt roads" in common speech, but that term is used more for unimproved roads with no surface material added.
Shallow foundationA shallow foundation is a type of building foundation that transfers structural load to the earth very near to the surface, rather than to a subsurface layer or a range of depths, as does a deep foundation. Customarily, a shallow foundation is considered as such when the width of the entire foundation is greater than its depth. In comparison to deep foundations, shallow foundations are less technical, thus making them more economical and the most widely used for relatively light structures.
Deep foundationA deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural element of a deep foundation, driven or drilled deep into the ground at the building site. There are many reasons that a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, such as for a skyscraper.
Asphalt concreteAsphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, and the core of embankment dams. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the twentieth century. It consists of mineral aggregate bound together with bitumen (also known as asphalt), laid in layers, and compacted.
Index of construction articlesThis page is a list of construction topics. Construction Abated Abrasive blasting AC power plugs and sockets Access mat Accrington brick Accropode Acid brick Acoustic plaster Active daylighting Adaptive reuse Aerial crane Aerosol paint Aggregate base Agile construction Akmon Alternative natural materials Anchorage in reinforced concrete Angle grinder Arc welding Artificial stone Asbestos cement Asbestos insulating board Asbestos shingle Asphalt concrete Asphalt roll roofing Autocla