R.B.

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

NIRALI-13
FENNY-35
RASHMI-44
HIMANI-49
KEYUR-57
Transport Infrastructure:
THESE ARE FOUNDATIONAL STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS FOR TRANSPORTING PEOPLE AND GOODS.
• Transport Infrastructure plays an important role in the growth process .
• Increasing mobility of resources and increasing factor productivity .
• Transport Infrastructure saves time. Decreases the cost of transportation.
• Transportation development in rural areas strengthens linkages between towns and the countryside. Its helps adoption of new
technology by reducing the cost of inputs and marketing of outputs.

THE FOLLOWING ARE COMMON TYPES OF INFRASTRUCTURE.

ROADS:
• Roads are divided into five categories for administrative purpose i.e. National Highways, State Highways, Major District Roads,
Other District Roads and Village Roads.
• The Central Govt. is responsible for the maintenance only National Highways. The State Govt. is responsible for the
maintenance of State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District Roads and Village Roads.
Railways:
• Indian Railways is a departmental undertaking of Government of India. It operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen
by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India.
• Indian Railways has 114,500 kilometers of total track over a route of 65,000 kilometers and 7,500 stations. It has the world's
fourth largest railway network after those of the United States, Russia and China.
• The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country and carry over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight
daily.

Bus-based System:
• they all benefit from the free use of existing roads they are cheap and flexible to operate as compared with rail-based public
transport.
• They are of particular importance in developing countries, where they are intensively used, with the largest Indian cities, for
example, having up to 40 per cent of trips made by bus.
• Buses are less efficient users of energy than urban rail systems and emit more pollution, though their record on these criteria is
much superior to other forms of motorised road transport.
• The flexibility and low cost of bus operation and maintenance, together with the prior existence of the necessary roadways,
mean that buses are likely to remain firm favourites in cities in both industrialised and developing societies.
Airports:
• An airport is a location where aircraft such as
fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take
off and land.
• Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport.
Smaller or less-developed airports—which
represent the vast majority—often have a single
runway shorter than 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

Seaports:
• A port is a location on a coast or shore containing
one or more harbors where ships can dock and
transfer people or cargo to or from land.
• Port locations are selected to optimize access to
land and navigable water, for commercial
demand, and for shelter from wind and waves.
Ports with deeper water are rarer, but can handle
larger, more economical ships.
• Since ports throughout history handled every
kind of traffic, support and storage facilities vary
widely, may extend for miles, and dominate the
local economy. Some ports have an important
military role.
WALKWAYS Developing Poor population
Walking is the most important form of urban transport. countries
• In developing countries walking dominates urban transport for
the poor, who walk most often and furthest. In India, for
example, the lower income groups depend upon walking for
almost 60 per cent of all urban journeys. Many of these
walkers do not have a moral choice as such, because of their
poverty.
• In developing countries walking dominates urban transport for
the poor, who walk most often and furthest. Walking Low income
Taxis and Informal Modes:
• Taxis are small vehicles that usually carry one passenger over short distances, often in city centres where parking shortages make
the use of private cars difficult.
• They have high unit costs, especially of labour and fuel, and thus tend to be used principally by those on higher incomes and for
business travel.
• Their contribution to the modal split in western cities is typically below 1 per cent, though they may have particular importance
at certain times and for certain groups such as women and the disabled to whom they offer the advantages of security and door-
to-door convenience.

LIVING STREETS:
streets designs for multiple uses by restricting the speed of vehicles and giving pedestrians right of ways. Living Streets are often
design for children, recreational and green spaces such as community garden.
2. Non-motorised Vehicles:
• In industrialised countries the pedal cycle is the principal vehicle in the category, but it rarely accounts for more
than 10 per cent of the modal split.
• However, it is developing countries that non-motorised vehicles assume dominance as a means of mobility, though
there is much variability between countries in the particular vehicle used.
• In China, the cycle predominates, with ownership levels as high as 460 per 1000 people in some cities, and 80 per
cent of all trips being made by cycle. In Indian cities essential trips (work and education) are made primarily by
non-motorised modes (Table 5.2). Bangladesh, for example has a fleet of 8,400 buses, but has 14,000 auto-
rickshaws and 7, 00,000 cycle-rickshaws. It also uses 1, 60,000 bullock carts for personal transport.

3. Private cars:
• In the industrial world the car is now the leading mode for all categories of journey.
• Though ownership levels are static in some inner urban areas, generally speaking the number of households with
one, two or more vehicles continues to grow throughout industrial societies, with one car for every 1.7 people in
the USA and every 2.9 in Europe (excluding Portugal and Greece).
• There are evident transport advantages of car ownership and these are augmented by powerful social and
economic pressures that have made the car a symbol of wealth, choice and success.
• The contrast with cities of the developing world is marked and is principally a function of income. Though
ownership rates may be growing quickly this is from a low base, so that cities such as Calcutta and Nairobi still have
fewer than 50 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.