Road Map for References

Hey everyone,

There are a lot of references for the PM Transportation depth and I was trying to come up with a kind of road map to help during the test. I thought it would be handy while in the test that if I know what giant book to grab first that I won't waste a lot of time remembering that something is in the HCM versus the Green Book. Here's my first stab at it:

Transportation

MUTCD for:

Signs

Work Zone Setup

Markings

Delineator Placement and Spacing

HCM for:

AADT

PHF

LOS

FFS

Pedestrian and Bicycle LOS

Types of Interchanges

Signalized Intersections and Timings

Roadside Design Guide:

Clear Zone

Recoverable Foreslope

Sign Support Design

Roadside Barriers, Guardrail, End Treatments

Work Zone Safety Features (barriers, etc)

Green Book

Sight Distances

Superelevation

Side Friction Factor

Horizontal and Vertical Curve info

Interchange Configurations

Tangent Runout

Am I missing anything? Did I get something wrong?

This is an excellent tool for everyone to use. csb, please update this list as you refine it.

Vishal said:

This is an excellent tool for everyone to use. csb, please update this list as you refine it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. What information comes from the ITE Traffic Engineering Handbook?

The ITE book should be used mostly for driver behavior, conflict analysis, & accident analysis. It may actually help on a many other areas since it covers even geometric design but from a traffic engineer's point of view!

I used to ignore this book before, but this time around I decided to read it and I was amazing on how much information was actually in this book. Bewared though, this book is from 1999, some information stated is a bit out of date. Like they would quote HCM 1997 and 1990s AASHTO green book.

csb said:

Hey everyone,
There are a lot of references for the PM Transportation depth and I was trying to come up with a kind of road map to help during the test. I thought it would be handy while in the test that if I know what giant book to grab first that I won't waste a lot of time remembering that something is in the HCM versus the Green Book. Here's my first stab at it:

Transportation

MUTCD for:

Signs

Work Zone Setup

Markings

Delineator Placement and Spacing

HCM for:

AADT

PHF

LOS

FFS

Pedestrian and Bicycle LOS

Types of Interchanges

Signalized Intersections and Timings

Roadside Design Guide:

Clear Zone

Recoverable Foreslope

Sign Support Design

Roadside Barriers, Guardrail, End Treatments

Work Zone Safety Features (barriers, etc)

Green Book

Sight Distances

Superelevation

Side Friction Factor

Horizontal and Vertical Curve info

Interchange Configurations

Tangent Runout

Am I missing anything? Did I get something wrong?

Click to expand...

Where were you 18 months ago?

Seriously though, knowing where to look is a large part of the battle. If you can read a question and immediately recognize the appropriate reference(s) then you are on the right track.

Some folks will tell you not to bring too many books. I think you can bring as many as you want, if you know what is in the books. Bringing extra books as "security blankets" will hurt you but reaching for a book and realizing it's at home is just as frustrating.

I used some references for only one or two questions. But they turned challenging questions into easy ones and helped save time.

Besides what Willmar mentions, the ITE book also covers Left-turn deceleration length and storage length.

I realize I never updated this. Here's the version I used last October:

Transportation

MUTCD for:

Signs

Work Zone Setup

Markings

Delineator Placement and Spacing

Signal Warrants

HCM for:

AADT

PHF

LOS

FFS

Pedestrian and Bicycle LOS

Signalized Intersections and Timings

Roadside Design Guide:

Clear Zone

Recoverable Foreslope

Sign Support Design

Roadside Barriers, Guardrail, End Treatments

Work Zone Safety Features (barriers, etc)

Green Book

Sight Distances

Superelevation

Side Friction Factor

Horizontal and Vertical Curve info

Interchange Configurations/Types of Interchanges

Ramps

Tangent Runout

You can get some clear zone information from this book too

Great info

Thanks

Good luck with the exam!

a list like this is good for getting to know the references, but don't rely on it during the test...on top of it being a drain on valuable time, you should know your references well enough by then so that you wont need to refer to a list to figure out where something is

I disagree...the anxiety of a test can cause even the most well prepared person to forget which of the books to go to first. Taking a few seconds to confirm you are headed to the right manual can make a huge difference, rather than spending minutes looking for something you are "sure" is in the book you're in. Knowing your references well enough that when you hit the right page you can solve the problem quickly. This list served me the same way my tabs served...I knew my reference, but it was asking a lot for me to have memorized all of them. This list helped me finally pass because in other attempts I had panicked and looked in the wrong reference. I think anxiety in a test is common.

I agree that being well prepared is key. Anything else to help is extra!

This is probably the most useful post I encountered on this forum. Thanks CSB!

No problem! Good luck on the exam

I would definitely take the ITE traffic book. Plus the Portland Cement Design manual...got 2 freebies out of that. I also took ITE freeway design manual but alot of it is from the Green Book.

The ITE manual also has a lot of ADA requirements and regs that are not covered in the Green Book and that are on the exam sometimes. Tab the hell out of everything. Study crash attenuators in the RDG!