LECTURE NO: 16, 17, 18, and 19

TOPIC: COMMUNICATION (ROADS, RAILWAYS, AIRPORTS AND HARBORS)

INTRODUCTION:
Cities are the engines of our civilization, where specialized services are available for our
living, working and recreation. It is a grave reality that no city can be termed as a good
city which does not possess efficient communication system. Without good
communication system even the concept of city can not be comprehended. It is such
integral part of city which shapes the city dynamics & makes its morphology.
Communication is the basis of the existence of city. It is the means of communication
which defines the significance of any city.
According to John Rat Cliffe[1], The greater the degree of specialization, development
& growth in society, the greater the degree of dependence among urban activities, the
greater the extent of movement between them; this movement and communication in city
thus determines the location of activities and the use of land.
Keeping this statement in mind it is quite significant for a physical land use planner to
understand the means of communication within a city and location of activities
accordingly or more appropriately it can be said that efficient communication is the key
to direct landuse patterns in the city. Therefore the understanding of communication
systems is a prerequisite for a good planner.
The second major perspective on communication is that, Perhaps the greatest single
factor upon which the success of human organizations depends is the ability to
communicate. The revolution brought about by the development of communication
means has had profound affects upon human society.[2]
Because communication increased the centralization in business and government; they
have stretched the vision of the communities and amalgamated culture, arts and
techniques and regional communications facilities with all other national endeavors. The
national, regional and local authorities always stress upon city planners to provide the
components of communication in urban plans because by its very nature the means of
communication makes the nervous system of the city.
Thus the aforementioned perspectives on communication lead us to variety of issues and
the depth that possessed within the term communication itself.
The term communication, may refer to transportation, whether, road network, railways,
airways or water ways. Communication may also refer to telephone, radio, telegraph,
television, internet, mobiles & fax. The term communication can also be defined with
respect to news papers, magazines, Journals, reports, books, professional papers and
bulletin. However, the focus in current discussion is to evaluate communication as a

whole in the urban planning context and a special stress is given to communication with
respect to transportation.
COMMUNICATION WITH REFERENCE TO TRANSPORTATION:
For an appropriate and rapid growth and development of a city a good network of roads,
railways, airways & waterways quite essential. As the parks, gardens & open spaces are
the lungs of the city. Similarly roads & railways are the arteries of the city & Airways
& waterways bring the blood circulation or the trade & commerce to the city. The layout
of roads & railway within a city is determined by zones within a city, where as types of
roads determines the shape & size of hosing plots. Thus the roads & streets plan can be
considered as the foundation of a town plan.
RETROSPECT OF COMMUNICATION & TRANSPORT:
Similarly Airways, Waterways & Railways provides the reason for existence to the city.
In early times, the transport was on head-loaded and animal loaded such as horses,
bullocks, camels, mules & elephants etc. Then emerged the animal driven vehicles like
bullock carts & Tongas in which the speed & carrying capacity was limited. Then with
the invention of stream engine local trains came into being & there occurs mass
transportation of goods & passengers. Then with electricity trains started running on
roads & then emerged automobile industry & become the popular means of transportation
due to high speed & flexibility. Then cities become crowded with these automobiles & all
the open lands in cities are utilized for Railways, Tube Railways & Rapid Transit system.
In all these development road system was always been the major aspect of transport
system and in developed countries auto mobile population now reached up to half of the
human population. Where as the space requirements of these automobiles become more
than human beings themselves, & roads have failed to fit in with the requirements of
vehicles. Thus the transportation problems are quite evident in each growing city.
ROADS & ROAD NETWORK:
The principle element of communication & transportation is Road.
FUNCTION & NECESSITY:
Roads has four basic functions i.e. Movement of People & Goods, Access to Residential
Places, Provision of Air & Light to Building & Provision of Services & Utilities both
over head & underground.[3]
CLASSIFICATION IN GENERAL:
The classification of roads occurs on four variables i.e. type of construction gives us
names like, Earth, Murum Roads, Mettle Roads, Asphalt Roads and Concrete Roads. The
jurisdictions give us names like Local Road, District Roads, State Highways, & National
High Ways. Shape geometry defines roads like, rectangular road, ring road, diagonal
road, radial road & circular road. The function of road gives us names like, residential
road, commercial road or avenue, promenade (along sea side or natural feature)
boulevard and park ways.
CLASSIFICATION IN URBAN CONTEXT:

Apart from these classifications the urban roads are classified specifically in four
categories as per their significance. These include, arterial roads, secondary or subarterial roads, local roads & other roads. Arterial roads are those which connect the town
with state highway or national highway. They pass through the city and made for fast
moving traffic with heavy load of passengers & goods. They are especially planned
straight by avoiding sharp curves with not less than 25-30 meters width. Secondary or
sub arterial roads are known as major roads of city connecting major parts of the city.
They are especially designed for comparatively slow moving traffic and act as link
between arterial roads & local roads. The local roads are known as minor roads to
provide access to buildings. They are not linked. They are not lined with arterial roads &
processes no through traffic. They are especially designed as per contours of land with
minimum 7-10 meters width. The other urban roads are bypass roads, outer & inner ring
roads, express ways & free ways. The bypass roads are those which are made to avoid
congested city areas, to increase the speed of vehicles with smooth flow & to save time &
fuel. They are also known as loop-roads. The outer & inner ring roads are in the form of
ring within & surrounding town to divert through traffic from city & act as bypass &
reduce the traffic congestion from town. The express ways mainly function as arterial
roads within mega cities to accommodate growth of traffic. They are especially designed
with easy gradients & smooth curves to carry speedy & safe traffic & do not form a part
of regular street system. They are comparable next to railway in cost and capacity of
traffic. Free ways are special routes to carry fast moving traffic. They are specifically
designed with high standard of alignment, clear visibility, wide carriage way, easy
gradient & smooth curves; the free ways function as arterial roads passing around city
with controlled access.
METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS:
Another major element of communication and transport is Railways & Rail Network. It is
an evident fact that, railways gave impetus to industrial revolution, where as metropolitan
railway was been a significant element of city today. It is a grave reality that, urban rail
transport has played an important role and will continue to play a vital part in creating &
sustaining the cities of today & tomorrow
DEFINITION & MEANING:
The term Metropolitan Railways covers a great variety of facilities; Primarily it includes
rapid transit facilities of railway which includes self contained right of way and stations
located below & above ground level. The metropolitan railways are primarily designed to
handle relatively heavy volumes of inner urban and suburban traffic over medium
distance. Its major advantage is of higher speed (Commercial Speed) if compared with
other public transport on congested roads of city. Its only disadvantage is the longer
walks to and form stations.
TYPES & CLASSIFICATION:
The metropolitan railways can be divided in various types, system & classifications. i.e.
subways, underground, Metro, Metropolitano, U. Bahn, Tunnel Bahn & S. B. Hahn
Systems.[4] These types & classification of metropolitan railways are based on speed
facilities & mode of transport in each context. For instance the faster urban railways are

related to main line suburban railways such as S. Bahn, Reseau Express Regional etc.
Such as underground street cars, pre-metro, U-strassen bahn etc. in addition to there are
some non typical modes of urban railway such as funicular and these are also known as
inner-urban rapid transit facilities.
MODERN DEVELOPMENTS:
After this brief background of metropolitan railways it is necessary to understand the
modern development in the metropolitan railways. Basically there are four types of
development occurred in metropolitan railways i.e. S. Bahn System, underground street
cars, Non typical modes & subways.
S. BAHN SYSTEMS:
S. Bahn is a German term which is originally derived from the from the metropolitan
railways system in Berlin. The original terminology of S. Bahn, emerged from Stadt
RingundVorvobahnen[5] which means, city, circle and suburban railways.
However, it would be inconvenient to pronounce the term in totality therefore S. Bahn
emerged as a generic term. It denotes those railways that are associated with the
suburban sections of the main lines. The S. Bahn systems mainly developed to promote
the growth of conurbations or suburban growth. They are used to support the suburban
commuter traffic along the radial lines to the central areas. Secondly these are developed
to segregate the suburban and long distance railway services. With this system the
commuters become able to reach their in town destination without any change. The S.
Bahn Systems are also termed as cross links & inner urban transport due to their similarly
of function with spaced stations & higher commercial speed. The S. Bahn systems
developed in various mega cities of the world such as there are two links in Berlin and
Hamburg, the junction lines in Brussels, S Bane in Copenhagen, Schnell bahn in
Vienna, Blue trains in Glasgow, new S. Bahn in Munich & Frankfurt. Similarly there are
advanced S. Bahn System are built Ruhr region of Germany i.e. in Stuttgart, Manchester,
Liver Pool & Melbourne.
UNDERGROUND STREET CARS:
The concept of underground street can mainly developed in Boston, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Oslo and Vienna. Basically underground street cars are developed to
distinguish between subways and conventional street cars along the surface roads on the
basis of speed & capacity scales. The underground street cars are promoted for in-town
tunnel sections operations with or without signaling systems. These are also termed as
short capacity. Though there is a great decline in underground street cars all over the
world, however in Germany & Belgium these are mainly developed with an intension to
serve as an intermediate stage to a full-fledged subway. Furthermore the concept of
underground street cars can be understood with the notion that these are the low capacity
underground railways which are intended to achieve sped and to save energy &
resources.
NON TYPICAL MODES OF METROPOLITAN RAILWAY:
In few cases urban transport demands for non typical modes of Metropolitan Railway due
to some geographical or topographical reasons; from these non typical modes of

metropolitan railway the prominent examples are of Schwebebahn above the river of
Wuppertal, the funicular railways in Haifa & Istanbul and the rack railways Lausanne
Quehy etc[6]. Mainly the list of non typical modes of Railways shall continue in the
future due to revived modes of rail transport, however at present the mono-rails of
various types & hover trains are few more examples of non typical modes of metropolitan
railway.
METROPOLITAN SUBWAYS:
The metropolitan railways have always been termed as fringe mode of transport. From
these fringe modes there is a great majority of subways or rapid transit railways. As the
cities began to spread & the streets & road became increasingly congested the need arose
for faster & unencumbered in town railways which were primarily designed to cope with
heavy volumes of inner-urban traffic to heavily build up areas of city center. These rapid
transit railways or sub ways were built booth above & below the ground. In many cases
these in town subways or elevated railway lines were later extended to suburban areas.
Initially these rapid-transit facilities were confined to only metropolitan cities, however
later on it was also developed in smaller size cities due to three basic reasons. i.e. growth
of traffic congestion in streets & roads, due to geographical and topographical reasons &
due to concentration of commuter traffic on few corridors of city. The cities of Stockholm
& Helsinki are the examples of such smaller cities where threes subways developed.
Currently it is world wide recognized that, rapid transit facilities are most efficient means
of moving great number of people safely & quickly through congested urban areas.
Secondly the rapid transit facilities are not only of direct benefit to the passengers using
them but it is also significant for community at large. Because it helps to alleviate street
congestion, promote mobility of labor and revitalize the central business districts which
are endangered with congestion & pollution. As the construction and operation of rapid
transit facilities is a mega project of mega activity; therefore increasingly it is regarded as
the task of public authorities. Because the capital cost of such projects is quite huge &
one can not insist on its commercial viability. However in recent years large corporate
institutions & international funding agencies like World Bank are also interested in such
project. Therefore there established such concepts like BOOT (Built, Own, Operate &
Transfer) or BOT (Built, Operate & Transfer) through which such projects are made in
even developing countries.
RETROSPECT OF SUBWAY DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD:
The first subways developed in 1863 in London which was stream operated. However
after the advent of electrification soon the subway become universal mode of traction.
With the passage of time there occurred technical & progressive improvement in
subways. Such as Tunneling method greatly improved all kinds of tunnels i.e. deep level,
open & covered, rock tunneling etc. Similarly rolling stock & performance improved
with some innovations like rubber-tried traction, signaling & telecommunication.
Through modern electronics highly sophisticated automatic train operation & fare
collection process came into being. The track capacities also varied to great extent. For
instance the track capacity reached up to 40 trains per hour however; for greater
reliability & lower maximum facilities around thirty to thirty six trains per hour are often
preferred. There train capacity also improved greatly with design and number of cars with

crush load capacity of 1500 passengers per train or more during a full peak. Similarly the
commercial speed depends on station spacing, rolling stock and performance which range
from 15 to 25 miles per hour or 22 to 40 kilometer per hour. In March 1973 rapid transit
facilities of subway type metropolitan railway were in operation in thirty eight cities of
the world. In addition to that, new rapid transit lies of subway type were under
construction or in advance state of planning in 28 cities. Similarly at least twenty other
cities have plans for rapid transit facilities.[7] It also includes the city of Karachi
Pakistan. Following are some interesting facts regarding subways development in the
world. Among existing subway systems, London has greatest route length over 250 miles
or 400 kilometers. Moscow had largest number of passengers approximately 1500
millions per annum. New York has greatest number of stations nearly 500, vehicles over
7000 and staff of 27000.
AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:
Since 1952 world air passenger traffic has been increasing at the rate of 14.5 percent
annually where as air freight traffic is increasing by 17.5 percent annually.[8] It is a
grave reality that growth of air transport effects the development of regional & national
economics and promotes International trade. The travel & tourism industries are also a
major influence on national economics and constitute the most valuable parameter of
international trade.
TYPES OF AIR TRAFFIC:
Basically there are two major types of air traffic. i.e. air carrier traffic and general
aviation. The details of which is as follows:
AIR CARRIER TRAFFIC:
These types of air traffic usually related to public sector of air transport industry which
offer air services as regular scheduled services or as non-scheduled or on charter basis
services for the carriage of both international & domestic passengers & freight traffic.
GENERAL AVIATION:
This type of air traffic covers all the other civil aviation which serves the specific private
users, such as Business & Personal travel, agricultural spraying, aerial survey or self
piloted recreational flying.
AIR TRAFFIC GROWTH:
One of the significant elements of air ways & air transport is growth of air traffic which
causes both positive and negative impacts. For instance the advantage of air traffic
growth is reduction in cost of air travel; which cause progressive improvements in air
craft performance in terms of increase in pay load, speed and range. Where as the
disadvantages of air traffic growth & increasing size and performance of the air craft are
growing problems of airport congestion, loss of amenity and congestion of ground
transportation between airports in major urban centers. Furthermore the planning
implications of the size and location of major airports affects the size, location and traffic
pattern of urban and regional transportation facilities. Additionally, a major airport is

often a major feature in the local economy and becomes a strong determinant of local
land use pattern & distribution of population and employment.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:
It is an evident fact that, continued growth in air traffic and airport congestion creates an
interest for the development of Short take off and landing (STOL) and Vertical
take off and landing (VTOL) air craft for wide spread use of air carriers. The
commercial STOL and VTOL air craft would be smaller than the conventional short
haul air crafts and would operate on inner city routes or forum special air ports which are
more centrally located within a city. This it would reduce the travel time from city center
to a major air port. The adoption of STOL and VTOL serve better if new short
landing strips, air corridors and approach paths are developed separate from those used
by conventional air craft. Currently the operating & development cost of STOL and
VTOL is high than conventional air traveling. However in future, the further
improvements in technology shall help to remove this difference and their may be tough
competition. It is quite evident that the size of air craft shall increase in future for
medium and long haul services. Whereas; it is uncertain that what would be the impact of
super sonic passenger services.
AIRPORTS & ITS DEVELOPMENT:
The basic premise of an efficient air ways transport is air port & its development. Without
understanding the air port & its development the concept of air ways & air transport can
not be comprehended. Basically these are three major aspects of regarding air port & its
development. i.e. Function, Location and Facilities and Airport.
FUNCTIONS OF AN AIRPORT:
The primary function of an airport is to provide safe & efficient means of interchange
between air transportation and ground transportation. Secondly the airport is the center
from which control is exercised over air traffic on defined air routes and on approaches to
air ports. The airports differ in terms of size, nature of traffic handled and the types of air
traffic control. In USA the federal aviation authority (FAA) developed a classification of
urban areas with respect to air traffic hub or the number of passenger handled at the
airport[9].
LOCATION OF AN AIRPORT:
The total land area required for an airport is based on three major determinants.
a) Nature and Scale of traffic handled and its rate of growth.
b) Physical and climatic characteristics of site.
c) Performance characteristics of current & future air crafts i.e. number, length and
configuration of run ways required.
Similarly, for the acceptable location of airports there are three significant operational
factors.

a) Air traffic control requirements i.e. minimal interference to and from traffic control
operations of neighboring airports.
b) Height obstructions and other navigational hazards, i.e. tall buildings, smoke and birds.
c) Prevalent weather conditions including wind distribution and incidence of flog and
snow.
Apart from these operational factors there are also some significant planning & social
factors which affects the location of an airport. For instance:
a) The location of airport requires a balance between danger & noise disturbance.
b) Provision of good accessibility from the center of population it serves.
c) Travel time and costs of surface transport to the airport.
d) Connection to rapid transit system, highways and public private transport etc.
PLANNING & DESIGN OF AIRPORT FACILITIES:
From the view point of planning & designing of an airport facility one of the important
goal is to arrange free flow of passengers and goods. There shall be a balance of capacity
throughout in all facilities in airport; so as the risk of congestion may be minimized;
because the congestion may affect the operating efficiency of entire airport complex.
There are two types of functional areas within an airport i.e. Operational Areas or Air
Side Areas and Terminal Areas or Land Side Areas.
AIR SIDE AREAS:
These include such facilities as runways, taxiways and aircrafts holding areas. In the
design & performance of these facilities special care is given to system of air traffic
control which determines the operational capacity of an airport, and the servicing and
maintenance areas or the operational buildings of the airport.
LAND SIDE AREAS:
Primarily these include such buildings & facilities which provide a means of inter change
for both passengers and goods or between ground transport and air transport. The design
concepts for land side areas evolved from simple low capacity terminal buildings to high
capacity layouts which are popularly termed as Finger Terminals. The current design
concept is to decentralize certain functions such as, ticketing, baggage handling &
passenger waiting & sorting areas into a separate smaller units or satellites. Secondly it is
the main design criteria to provide the passenger terminals with a convenient and efficient
access to both public & private land transport to adequate parking facilities by avoiding
long walking distances within terminals. Thirdly now it is mandatory that, there shall be
efficient baggage handling & smooth processing of passengers through governmental
controls i.e. Customers, Immigration & Health. Finally a flexible layout that can
accommodate rapid technological change & expression is a pre-requisite of contemporary
airport design.

ROLE OF A CIVIL ENGINEER IN AIRPORT DESIGN:

According to Professor A. K. Bhatti[10] who describes in his book, Town Planning for
the Third World, that, A Civil Engineer has nothing to do any thing about the design &
manufacture of an aircraft nor about its navigation as such; However, he is expected to do
all about its landing and the accommodation of all the activities which are to be carried
out with respect to the passenger and the cargo service. He has to design structurally very
strong & durable pavement for very heavy wheel-loads of the aircraft. The present day
airport design therefore involves various aspects of civil engineering. i.e. pavements,
roads leading to airport, storm water drainage, water supply, building, hangers and a
number of installations. Thus a civil engineer is responsible for basic infrastructure for
an airport and his responsibility is quite high with respect to security of passengers.
WATER WAYS, SEA PORTS, HARBORS & DOCKS:
It is a grave reality that, the economic planning of any region is profoundly based on the
availability of commercial docks and harbors in the area because at micro scale it affects
the Land use of an urban area & at macro scale location of major urban centers depends
upon it.
NEED OF PORTS & HARBOR:
The Sea Ports are mainly required to boost any economy essentially for import & export
of goods and due to increase in trade & commerce. Especially there is an abject need of
deep water berths & dry are steadily increasing in size and dead weight of minimum
45000 tons. Apart from that there is a greater demand of docks & seaports due to oil
cargo which cause phenomenal expansion of ports all over the western world.
RETROSPECT OF PORTS & HARBOR:
The earlier largest port of the world is developed at Rotterdam, for such vessels
mentioned above; however after the Second World War harbors & seaports were rebuilt
to accommodate the larger ships of at least 100000 tons dead weight. It is necessary to
mentioned here, that after the construction of under water oil pipe lines the need for such
larger ports reduced to greater extent throughout the world. However; whenever such
pipelines are in evident the demand for larger ports increases.
IMPACTS OF PORT & HARBOR:
The major impact of large seaports emerges at the dockyard area in the city; because it
creates congestion & change in landuse to evident need for large storage space and in
land or up country transport facilities.
EFFICIENCY OF PORT & HARBOR:
The in land transport system contributes greatly to port efficiency because it is necessary
to make earlier arrangements for delivery of exports & collection of impact from the
docks as efficient as possible. Another major issue regarding sea ports and docks is the
shift of goods transport from railways to roadways. It requires quite profound
adjustments. A planner must make constant surveillance of the reversal of these trends

and the landuse potentials around the port so as the surrounding sites can be utilized for
taking best economic advantage.
DEFINITIONS OF PORT & HARBOR:
Furthermore, according to, Akhter. K. Bhatti[11], Harbor is an area of the sea so
protected naturally or artificially, as to afford shelter and refuge to the vessels during
storms. Thus it signifies the security provided by harbor to vessels. A harbor can also be
termed as a place where vessels could be built, launched or repaired and where ships
could lie at an anchor with safety & security during loading & un-loading operation of
cargo & people.
PORT & HARBOR CLASSIFICATION:
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a harbor is a partly enclosed protected water area
to provide safe and suitable accommodation for vessels seeking refuge, supplies,
refueling, repairs or the transfer of cargo. Whereas; port is a terminus or an intermediate
station in the sea-route port more appropriately it can be said that, when terminal
facilities are added to a harbor it can be termed as port. The classification of harbors &
ports can be made on three basic determinants, i.e. Nature, Function & Location.
NATURAL CLASSIFICATION:
The natural classification of harbor is of three types. i.e. Natural Harbor, Semi-natural
Harbor & Artificial Harbor.
NATURAL HARBOR:
It is the harbor which is protecting from storms and waves through natural land contours
& rocky out crops or Islands. The basic issue in natural harbor design is the formation of
its entrance in such a manner to ensure calm in the harbor. The harbors of New York,
London, Sydney & Bombay can be cited as natural harbors.
SEMI-NATURAL HARBOR:
It is the harbor which is protected on sides by head land i.e. Cape, Peninsula, Cliff, Bluff
etc. The Semi-Natural Harbor may be in the form of Ply month or pocket in which the
design issue is to protect only the entrance of harbor for navigation.
ARTIFICIAL HARBOR:
It is the man made harbor, which is protected from storms and waves through break water
(i.e. which breaks the speed limit of waves). The artificial harbor can be created or design
through dredging and for protection or break water a rubble mound or vertical wall is
made.
FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION:
The functional classification of harbor is again of three types, i.e. Commercial Harbor,
Military Harbor and Harbor of Refuge.
COMMERCIAL HARBOR:

From economic point of view the commercial harbor is most significant of all harbor
types because its main function is to accommodate mercantile marine, for loading /
unloading of cargo and for transaction of trade. The commercial harbors have special
requirements of docks, quays, transit sheds, ware housing, overhauling machinery and
means of communication such as roads & railways. The commercial harbors are mainly
developed long sea cots, mouth of rivers, inside estuaries and inside or along banks of
rivers & canals. Most of the time commercial harbors are either the part of a bigger
harbor complex or make independently as units of single commodity terminals such as oil
terminal, coal port, ore port or fishery harbor for fishing trawlers. Some of the significant
examples of these specialized unit purpose commercial harbors are Karachi Port, Bin
Qasim, Gwadar Port, Sydney Port, San Francisco, London, & New York Harbors.
MILITARY HARBOR:
The military harbor is also known as naval Bas. The main purpose of military harbor is
obviously to accommodate, Naval Crafts & to serve as a supply depot. The significant
examples of Military Harbor are Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. In case of Karachi & Bombay
the harbors are essentially a commercial complex with oil terminals, general cargo births
and a naval base which is the unique examples.
HARBOR OF REFUGE:
Such harbors which provide shelter & security to vessels in case of sudden storms are
known as harbors of Refuge. These harbors are developed & located along dangerous
coast with easily accessible stations. There are three basic requirements of harbors of
refuge i.e. ready accessibility, sea & commodious anchorage and facilities for obtaining
supplies & to execute minor repairs. The size of refuge harbor is based on maximum
number of ships to be accommodated and the size of largest vessels likely to visit the
harbor. The harbor of refuge also used as naval bases during war times & equipped with
adequate means of defense. The popular examples of Refuge harbors are, Sand Bay
Harbor, on eastern coast of USA and outer harbor of Madras and Vishakhapatnam which
are both refuge & commercial harbors.
LOCATION CLASSIFICATION:
From location view point harbors can be classified in four basic types. It includes sea or
ocean harbor, river & estuary harbor, canal harbor and Lake Harbor.
HARBOR REQUIREMENTS & MAIN FEATURES:
There are six basic requirements of harbors and ten basic features. The harbor
requirements includes, easy access, adequate accommodation, safe anchorage, repair
facilities, supplies facilities and other requirements as Jetties, Breaths, Transit Sheds,
Ware Housing, Cranes, Hotels, Banks, Post Office, Roads & Railways. The main feature
of harbor are, appropriate entrance, approach channels both inner & outer, turning basin,
Shelter Basin, Break waters, Wharves and Quays, Jetties & Piers, Lock & Located Basin,
Dry Docks and Slipway and Ancillaries, including locating moorings, anchor, lights,
transit shed ware housing, fire protection towers etc.
PLANNING & DESIGN OF HARBORS:

There are four major factors or determinants of harbor provision in a city. These include
need, economic justification, expected volume of commerce and inland communication
availability. The need of harbor primarily emerges due to military reasons. i.e. Naval
Base or Air Base. Secondly the growth of town may reach to such extent when foreign
trade & commerce become an abject need of city. Thirdly if the city, start producing
certain products or commodity which requires to be exported then port develops. For
instance port Bin Qasim in Karachi developed due to steel mill in the city. The economic
justification is evaluated on the basis of income and social benefits above the capital cost
& operating cost of harbor. The expected volume of commerce required extensive studies
& surveys of city & its hinter lands produce. The inland communication availability is
judged by existing roads, rail, air and inland waterway transportation system. For the
decision regarding location of harbor various types of data is collected. It includes, site
investigation, hydrographic charts, which consists information about depth of water,
character of bottom and range of tides. The other data includes winds movement,
temperature and rainfall, aerial contour mapping, etc. The final site selection is based on
maximum natural protection from wind & waves, water depth to accommodate large
ships, appropriate sea bed which could ship anchors with less capital, maintenance and
dredging cost. After selection of site next step is to develop port layout & cost estimates.
Though there is no specific rule to make the layout of the harbor; however the planner
must consider the littoral drift, protection from storm water, wharves & jetties, and
erosion and siltation process.
CONCLUSION:
On the basis of aforementioned discussions following conclusions are drawn. The term
communication addresses a wide range of phenomenon; however for a Civil Engineer it
is necessary to understand it from the view point of transportation & especially in an
urban context. With respect to transportation in urban context communication deals with,
road ways & road network, metropolitan rail ways, air ways & air transport, and finally
water ways, sea ports, harbors, and docks. All communication modes in an urban context
have its own dynamics and details. For instance the primary element in urban context is
the roads and their classification. Secondly the metropolitan rail ways has become an
especially domain of communication in urban context. It includes, S. Bahn Systems,
Underground Street Cars, Non Typical Modes of Metropolitan Railway and Subways.
Thirdly it is quite necessary that in urban context how the system of airways, air transport
and air ports works. In these respect types of air traffic its growth and future development
of air ways & air transport is very significant. Especially the air port & its development in
an urban context is quite vital issue to be understood. It includes, function, location
planning & design of airport facilities and role of a civil engineer in it. Finally with
respect to cities of large size which are located along sea or ocean, rivers & estuaries,
canals & lakes the major element of communication is Harbor, Sea port and Waterways.
In this regard a civil engineer must understand the dynamics of harbors which includes its
need, impact, types, classification, planning, design & construction of harbors.
REFERENCES:

[1] John Rat Cliff is the author of book An Introduction to Town & Country Planning,
1974, Published by Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd, 3 Fitzroy Square London WI,
United Kingdom.
[2] For details please see, Arnold Whittick, Encyclopedia of Urban Planning Published
b McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974, USA.
[3] For details please see, G.K. Hiraskar, Fundamentals of Town Planning, 1993,
Published by; Dhanpat Rai & Sons, Nai Sarak, Delhi 11006 India.
[4] For Details please see, Metropolitan Railways, by Erwin Rock well,
Encyclopedia of Urban Planning by, Arnold Whittick, 1974, Published by McGrawHill book Company, New York, USA.
[5] Ibid No. 4
[6] Ibid No: 4.
[7] Ibid No: 4.
[8] For details please see, David Briggs, Air Transport, Encyclopedia of Urban
Planning by Arnold Whittick, Published by Mc Grew-Hill Book Company, New York
USA.
[9] Ibid No: 8.
[10] Professor Akhtar K. Bhatti, was Professor of Civil Engineering at Mehran
University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan, & Author of the
book, Town Planning for the Third World, 1993, Published by Feroz sons (Pvt) Ltd,
Karachi Pakistan.
[11] Professor Akhtar. K. Bhatti, was Professor of Civil Engineering at Mehran
University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan, & Author of the
book, Town Planning for the Third World, 1993, Published by Feroz Sons (Pvt) Ltd,
Karachi Pakistan.
POSTED BY TOWN PLANNING AT 5:06 AM