Helping careers move into the fast lane

What role has Highways: The Location, design, construction and maintenance of road pavements played in a senior highway planner’s career? Mohammed Riyas from Egis International shares some real-life applications.

I am currently working as a senior planning engineer for one of the highway projects in Qatar in the Middle East. I’ve always kept up-to-date with technical books related to highway planning and engineering. Highways: The Location, design, construction and maintenance of road pavements, edited by Coleman O'Flaherty with David Hughes, is one of the best books I’ve ever read. This comprehensive book covers all of the crucial aspects of road engineering from site investigation to maintenance. This book provides technical information in an easy to comprehend manner. Therefore, whenever I felt stuck during the duration of a project, I’ve always used this book to find a straightforward clarification to my highway engineering problem. I’ve kept on referring to the book whenever I have encountered issues during the design or construction stages of the projects I’ve been involved in over the years. I even consulted this book for highway maintenance advice.
 
In addition, I am currently completing my Charter with The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka and I’m using Highways to write my technical experience report, especially when it comes to the topic of pavement design. Although most of the case studies are from the UK, highway engineering fundamentals are transferable across national boundaries. A competent engineer can easily apply the technical guidance provided in the book to other geographical locations.
 
Another topic covered in Highways that highly interests me is earthworks, which is by far the most important structure in road construction, in my opinion, and the foundation of a successful highways engineering project. The in-depth explanation of earth structures attracted me to this book – from my experience most of the projects that fail do so due to poor earthworks design.
 
One of the main reasons I found this book essential during my career is its ability to simplify methods, steps and calculations, and include essential formulas and examples without overwhelming the reader. Finally, I’m grateful to the editors as well as ICE Publishing for releasing such a marvelous book which has time and time again assisted me in progressing my career further.
 
Find out more about highway engineering including pavement design and earthworks in the publication edited by Coleman O'Flaherty with David Hughes, Highways: The Location, design, construction and maintenance of road pavements, available in both print and digital format.