07/31/2009
It is important to know and understand what these signs mean for your safety.
**To view some traffic signs, click PICTURES OF ROAD TRAFFIC SIGNS.
Have you passed by the newly developed Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway or SCTEX in the Philippines? :)
This new facility makes life easier with smooth roads. However, utmost safe driving should still be observed.
This 2nd photo shows the Mabalacat Toll Plaza.
Some motorists complain that this expressway is the road way to heaven because of its straight geometry. Thus, again it is important to be alert when you are driving especially at night time.
SAMAL ISLAND Beaches
CROCODILE FARM
Eagle
Plan Ahead.
Before setting off, make sure you know in advance where you plan to go and what stops you will make on the way. Allow sufficient time. Make a checklist of what you need to bring.
Use Map.
Refer to the guide map which indicates all entrances and exits, toll service facilities and emergency call boxes. Doing this will help you have a safe, fast and pleasant journey.
Fitness Check for your vehicle:
It is very important to check the condition of your vehicle before you go.
Also make sure that:
On your travel, make sure that all your doors are locked and that you and your passengers WEAR SEATBELTS at all times.
Fitness Check for the Driver:
Fatigue greatly increases your accident risk. To minimize risk:
Vision
You must be able to read a vehicle plate number from a distance of 20.5 meters (67 feet - about five car lengths) in good daylight. If you need to wear prescription glasses (or contact lenses) to do this, you must wear them at all times while driving.
Alcohol:
Do not drink and drive as it will seriously affect your judgement and driving abilities.
If you are going to drink, don't drive.
Drugs:
Do not drive under the influence of drugs because this may greatly affect your alertness.
Source: NLEX Motorist's Handbook
Republic Act No. 8750 - Seat Belts Use Act
An act requiring the mandatory compliance by motorists of private and public vehicles to use seat belt devices, and requiring vehicle manufacturers to install seat belt devices in all their manufactured vehicles.
Republic Act No. 2000 - Limited Access Facilities Act
In this Act, The Toll Regulatory Board declares the North and South Luzon Expressways, including Balintawak to Tabang section of the North Luzon Expressway, as Limited Access Facilities or Expressways.
Republic Act No. 4136
An act to compile the laws relative to land transportation and traffic rules, to create a land transportation commission and for other purposes.
Republic Act No. 8794
An act imposing a Motor Vehicle User's Charge on owners of all types of Motor Vehicles and other purposes.
Section 7C of which provides penalties for overloaded trucks and trailers and prohibits vehicles that exceed the allowable gross vehicle weight or axle loads from proceeding the roadway. The axle load should not exceed 13,500 kgs or 13.5 metric tons.
An ITS seminar supported by the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) was conducted at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City last February 13, 2009 from 8:00AM – 4:00PM. The event was participated by members of academe (UP, DLSU, MAPUA Tech, and FEU), some national government agency representatives (DPWH, DOTC, DOST, MMDA, and LTFRB), and the private sector stakeholders like Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP), and Tollways Management Corporation (TMC). A keynote presentation given by Doctor Naohisa Okamoto, a visiting professor from University of Tsukuba in Japan, enriched the knowledge of participants on ITS by sharing current practices and or application as well as further studies regarding the topic in Japan.
What is Intelligent Transport System or ITS?
ITS is the application of information and communication technologies to surface traffic and transportation systems. (Sigua, 2008) The following diagram presented by Okamoto also illustrates ITS:
The GPS (Geographic Positioning System) device installed in some modern cars which provides information and guides drivers about the possible route from origin to destination is one of the examples of the application of ITS.
According to Okamoto, the key goal of ITS is to build integrated systems for people, roads, and vehicles in order to resolve problems of road transportation, including traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and environmental damage.
Some of the estimated benefits of using ITS are the following (according to US DOT as mentioned by Sigua, 2008):
a. Advanced traffic surveillance and signal control systems have resulted in travel time reduction ranging from 8-25%.
b. Electronic fare payment technologies for transit systems have resulted in increased revenues of 3-30% due to fewer evasions.
c. Incident management programs can reduce delay associated with congestion caused by incidents by 10-45%.
d. Electronic toll collection increases capacity by 200-300% compared to attended lanes
e. Widespread use of Mayday emergency notification devices can reduce the time it takes to discover a rural crash from 1 minute to 9.6 minutes.
ITS Deployment
· VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System)
A comprehensive data is inputted and processed in the
VICS therefore provides road traffic information in real time, realizing smooth traffic and higher travel speed, resulting in the improvement of actual fuel efficiency. The notable effect of VICS is the reduction in CO2 emissions which is about 240 Mt by 2010.
· ETC (Electronic Toll Collection Systems)
ETC uses electronic means of collecting toll fees which makes transaction faster than the manual payment scheme or E-pass. The vehicle need not stop at gates because a roadside antenna reads the on-board ETC card and automatically collects toll fee from prepaid debit-credit card.
There are approximately 22.1 million ETC on-board units have been installed as of December 2008. Moreover, the ETC utilization rate in expressways nationwide is 75.3%. Traffic jams caused by toll gates which constitute about 30% is lessened through non-stop, cashless toll collection at expressway tollbooths.
· Traffic Responsive Signal System
SMART System (State-of-the-Art Metro Manila Adaptive Responsive Traffic System)
This is a signaling project undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways –
SCATS uses detectors embedded in the pavement to determine the congestion level of road networks. It is a dynamic demand-responsive traffic system used for areawide control, the signal timings therefore evolve in response to detected traffic demand.
· Metro Manila ETC System (Electronic Toll Collection)
Most widely known as E-pass, ETC was first implemented in August 2000 along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the Skyway. In this system, a tag is placed on the inside surface of the windshield which is then electronically read at the entry and exit of E-PASS-ready toll lanes. Upon exit, it is read to determine the toll fee to be paid. A green light is given and the barrier is lift up if there is enough balance in one’s E-PASS account. A yellow light is also given if a subscriber’s prepaid toll balance is below P250 while red light means a zero balance account, thus, the subscriber cannot use the e-pass lanes to exit. This system is also employed in some toll collection booths of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). In 2006, there are about 20% ETC users in SLEX while about 6.5% in NLEX.
· RFID Project of MMDA (Application of RFID on Public Transport, presented by Mr. Tony Pagulayan of MMDA)
This is the reorganized bus route policy as well as control of dispatch of buses that ply along the EDSA. The main objective of this project is to minimize the number of buses along EDSA but increase its occupancy rate so as to improve traffic congestions, and further in the decrease of CO2 vehicle emissions.
How can we apply ITS in the
In the afternoon session of the seminar, a panel discussion regarding the query on how to apply ITS in the
Dr.
“Let us be selective in using appropriate technology for the
Prof. Francis Aldrine Uy, MAPUA Tech:
“Use ITS to solve social and environmental problems that is, by introducing environmental criterion in assessing the actual benefits of projects. The RFID project of MMDA for buses has potentials to be extended to private cars for easier car registration and vehicle emission testing but of course, there are issues on privacy and security which needs to be addressed.”
Prof. Sundo, Dep’t of CE of UP LB:
“There is a need for information dissemination on ITS. It is also important to revisit design of road facilities to address and manage issues on poor visibility, accidents and other transportation related concerns.”
Moreover, Dr. Benito Pacheco further inquired on whether ITS would be intelligible to the people or the system would be more of intelligent that the public may not easily grasp the concept and therefore the actual benefits are ignored and not fully optimized. The DOST representative on the other hand, pointed out that all of the discussion efforts boil down to issues on economic aspect of actually undertaking an ITS project. Dr. Ricardo Sigua in the later discussion posed an interesting challenge whether ITS is a tool or a toy.
Sources:
1. Sigua, R. 2008 Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering. University of the
2. Okamoto, N. Intelligent Transportation System/Service.
3. Sigua, R. ITS Experience in the
4. ITS Seminar Panel Discussion. EDSA Shangri-La Hotel,
Photo taken in the Traffic Control RoomFuture Developments
The future development of the airport is looking vibrant with the construction of a new development adjacent to the passenger terminal called Sky City. This will consist of Sky Plaza - an office, retail and business complex integrated with the passenger terminal, which will then link to the rest of Sky City. Sky City will have the Asia-World Expo exhibition centre, a second hotel project, a nine hole golf course and a permanent cross boundary ferry terminal. Phase two may well consist of a business park, more hotels, and further leisure and entertainment facilities.
The airport will also add extra inter-modal transportation facilities, including the new marine terminal (hosting the cross boundary and domestic ferries), an additional airport express line which will be adjacent to the exhibition centre and a new bus station.
Sky Plaza, which extends from the passenger terminal and is fully integrated with the airport and airport express railway station, will feature airline check in facilities, a transport interchange for coaches (in readiness for Disney), two office towers (total of 30,000m²) and a 38,000m² retail and entertainment centre.
Cargo Expansions. DHL opened a new Central Asia Hub in August 2004, a dedicated and purpose-built air express cargo facility, at the Hong Kong International Airport. The $100 million facility is the largest of its kind in the region. With the opening of the new Central Asia Hub, DHL has become the only express and logistics company to operate a dedicated air express cargo facility in Hong Kong. The 18,200ft² facility is capable of handling up to 440t/d of air express cargo.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is the main international gateway of the Philippines. In 2006, the airport handled 17,942,465 passengers which registered 10.6% growth in passenger numbers from 2005. Thus, this event placed the airport 71st worldwide in terms of passenger traffic.
On October 11, 2007, www.Wikipedia.org stated that the new and largest commercial airplane, Airbus A 380 MSN009 test aircraft, landed in NAIA and demonstrated that it can be used under normal airline operating conditions.
CONCLUSION:
HKIA being the tagged as ‘Superhub’ in Asia is evidently well designed to handle greater number of passengers and cargos than NAIA. Thus, HKIA has more equipment and facilities and offers more services in terms of passenger conveniences, aircraft, and freight handling than NAIA. However, it must be noted that if the controversial Terminal 3 of NAIA would have not encountered problems and opened for operation then the airport could handle an additional of 13 million passengers as well as more cargos.
The differences between the two may arise according to travel demands which dictate the design and future development of the facilities. Moreover, HKIA is strategically built on sea by reclamation which also serves as the entry port of ferries coming from China whereas NAIA is located in the main land of Manila. The prevailing geographical conditions surrounding HKIA can allow future expansions and developments while NAIA does not have the same features since informal settlers are crowding the adjacent airport area.
References:
1. http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=373310
2. http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=166
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninoy_Aquino_International_Airport
5. Encarta Encyclopedia
Dee Williams Says:
Posted on November 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
source: http://civilengineerblog.com/civil-engineer-civil-engineering-jobs/
US Job Listings click here.
Philippines:
Federal Builders Inc. Date posted: 20 Jan 09
| Career Level | Middle | |
| Qualification | Degree | |
| Yr(s) Exp | N/A | |
| Job Category | Architectural Services, Engineering - Civil / Structural, Engineering - Others | |
| Job Location | NCR - San Juan City | |
| Salary | Not Specified / Negotiable | |
| Job Type | Full Time, Permanent |
Applicants must be a graduate of BS Civil Engineering preferably a Board Passer.
Applicants may either be Male or Female not more than 30 y/oApplicants must be willing to work in Paranaque City or in Malate, Manila.
to apply, click here.
Woodfields, Consultants, Inc. Date posted: 21 Jan 09
We offer competitive packages and challenging work environment that encourages professional development and growth. For interested applicants, please send resume with 2x2 picture at email address: mortega@wci.com.ph or aramos@wci.com.ph attention to: Ms. Analyn D. Ramos, HR Assistant Our website: www.wci.com.ph
