HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.

By Laurence I.Hewes '98 and Clarkson H. Oglesby. NewYork: Wiley, 1954. 628 pp. $8.00.

This is a text designed primarily for use in the undergraduate courses in highway engineering. Primary emphasis is placed on engineering design and the principles that underlie it while drawing on the experience of the student gained through his interest in highways to supplement that material in the text devoted to construction practices and techniques. The varied terminology associated with highway design is clearly defined and covered in an orderly fashion and then utilized to explain fundamental concepts and construction techniques.

The solution sought by the designer in any given instance is a function of many variables which must be synthesized by considering questions such as: Does it recognize and fulfill social needs? Does it satisfy legal requirements? Does it accomplish the function for which it is built? Is it economically justified and does it represent the best possible expenditure of funds? Will it take advantage of recent advances in technology? The answers to these problems are developed through experience founded on fundamental knowledge. This is the aim of this text; the provision of the basic factors to develop a logical thinking by today's student and tomorrow's engineer.

Typical state highway departments are described to provide an acquaintance and understanding of these organizations and the distribution of their efforts. The different methods of road inventory and traffic counting are described in some detail since they provide the data used to determine the necessity of new construction or improvement of existing facilities. Since alternative solutions exist to any problem, the techniques used to determine the best economic solution are described in considerable detail, including, also, latest data on operating costs of motor vehicles. The problems of highway finance are treated separately from those of highway economy thereby, in this reviewer's opinion, increasing the effectiveness of their coverage. Highway surveys and plans and the application of engineering principles to highway location are treated in a general manner.

With this material as a background the major portion of the text is then devoted to the usual concepts of highway design. Geometric design principles are well covered, incorporating the more recent findings in this field. Information necessary for an understanding of the behavior of soils under the action of highway loadings is covered in a chapter on base courses. Several chapters are devoted to the description and design of asphaltic and reinforced concrete pavements and associated problems such as drainage and maintenance. Wherever possible, material from other civil engineering fields is drawn upon to provide a rational basis for design.

In the words of Thomas H. MacDonald, who wrote the foreword to the text, "The completed work is a lucid, authoritative and thorough exposition of the best modern highway practice."