Mekelle University

EiT-M
School of Civil Engineering
Road & Transport Engineering

Highway Engineering I – CENG 3182

Chapter-Three
Geometric Design of Highways

By: Abinet G.
 Contents
• Introduction

• Design Controls and Criteria

• Cross-Sectional Elements of Highways

• Horizontal Alignment

• Vertical Alignment

• Coordination of Horizontal and Vertical Curves

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 Introduction
• Geometric design of highways is concerned with the dimension and
layout of road elements of the road way according to set of
standards.

• According to ERA standard, it is the process whereby the layout of

the road through the terrain is designed ;
• to meet the needs of the road users, i.e. Safety, Comfort,
Efficiency, Economy, and Environment etc.

• The basic highway geometric elements are :

1. Cross-sectional elements of a Road
2. Horizontal alignment and
3. Vertical alignment

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 …Contd.

Chapter-Three
Part One: Design Controls and Criteria

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 Design Controls and Criteria
• The design controls and criteria refers to the
constraints and requirements that a certain highway
should fulfill.
❖Design process involves
• Fixing of appropriate Road standard
• Geometric Design
Therefore, to have a good geometric design, it is
necessary to understand the design controls and
criteria related to a given road standard.

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 …Contd.
• Factors affecting the geometric design of a highway are:
(ERA 2013 Manual)
Functional classification of the road
The nature of the terrain
Design vehicle
Traffic volume (expected)
Design speed
Density and character of adjoining land use
Economic and environmental considerations
LOS
• These considerations are not of course, completely
independent of one another.
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 …Contd.
➢ So these considerations can be reduced to principal design
criteria
• Functional classification of the road
• Topography
• Traffic
• Design speed
• Design vehicle

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 Functional Classification of the Road
• Highways are grouped in to classes or system based of the
character of service they are intended to provide.

• Classification based on the speed and accessibility is the

most generic one.

✓ Mobility: The ability to move goods and passengers to their

destination. (in a reasonable time)

✓ Accessibility: the ability to reach desired destination

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 …Contd.

• When classified by Mobility,

arterials offer the highest level of
mobility.

• Collectors provide more balance

access and mobility, and

• Local roads favor access over

mobility.

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 …Contd.
• Ethiopian Road Functional Classification (or Road Hierarchy)
Roads linking centers of international importance and roads
Trunk roads terminating at international boundaries and have a present
AADT 1000 and as low as 150.

Roads linking centers of national or international importance

Link roads and have over 300 first year AADT, although values can
range between 75-10,000 AADT.

Roads linking centers of provincial importance AADT 150-

Access roads 300 but can range between 25-1,000 .

Roads linking locally important centers to each other, to a

Collector roads more important center, or to higher class roads and their fist
year AADTs between 25-300 .

Any road link to a minor center such as market to local

Feeder roads locations with AADT less than 150..

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 Nature of Terrain (Topography)
• The geometric design elements of a road depend on the
transverse terrain through which the road passes.
• Transverse terrain properties are categorized into four classes
as follows:
✓ Flat terrain 0-3% transverse slope
✓ Rolling terrain 3% - 25%
✓ Mountainous terrain 26% - 50%
✓ Escarpment >50%
• Highway elements such as gradient, sight distances, cross-
sections, drainage and speed of vehicles, are affected by hills,
valleys, rivers and ponds.
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 …Contd.

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 …Contd.

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 …Contd.

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 …Contd.

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 Traffic
• Traffic data indicates the service for which the road is being
planned and directly affects the geometric elements such as
design speed, width, alignment, etc.

Traffic volume

The traffic volume at the base year are counted; 𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻𝒐

❖Traffic Forecast – using the design period of a road (5-20

years) a reliable traffic projection should be made
considering the following elements.

Traffic Projection for the construction period;

𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻𝟏 = 𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻𝑶 (𝟏 + 𝒓)𝑿

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 …Contd.
Where;

r-is the growth rate

X- is the construction period

and, the traffic projection for the mid design period

𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻𝒅 = 𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻𝟏 (𝟏 + 𝒓)𝒏

Where, n is the mid design year

To forecast traffic growth it is usually necessary to separate traffic

into the following three categories:

• Normal traffic: Traffic which would pass along the existing road
or track even if no new pavement were provided.

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 …Contd.
• Diverted traffic: Traffic that changes from another route
(or mode of transport) to the project road because of the
improved pavement, but still travels between the same
origin and destination

• Generated traffic: Additional traffic which occurs in

response to the provision or improvement of the road.
PHV: for lane design, mainly to avoid over/under design
effect. It would be uneconomical to design a highway for the
peak hour traffic and would also be inadequate to design for
average hour volume.

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 …Contd.
❖Traffic Composition – the percentage of different types
of vehicles in the traffic stream – different types of
vehicles are converted into PCU to design a road width.

PCU: is a measure of the relative space requirement of a

vehicle compare to that of passenger car.

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 Design Vehicle
• In practice a mix of different vehicle types uses a road at
any time

• However, a road designed for truck-trailers while it is

mainly used by passengers car is uneconomical, and
designing a road for passenger cars while there are
significant number of trucks using it is again not
appropriate.

• Hence, a largest vehicle in size that uses the road in a

significant number (15% of the total AADT) on a daily basis
is considered as a Design Vehicle.
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 …Contd.
• Both the physical characteristics and turning capability of
vehicles are control the geometric design.

Width: affects the width of lane

Length: affects the radius and width of curves

Height: affect the clearance in overpass, Utility lines

Weight: affects the structural layers of road

• The road elements affected include the selection of

maximum gradient, lane width, horizontal curve
widening, and junction design.

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 …Contd.
• As per ERA 2013 Design Manual there are four general
classes of design vehicles.

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 …Contd.

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 Design Speed
• Design Speed : is the maximum safe speed at which vehicle can
travel with safety when conditions are favorable.

• Different drivers travel at different speed depending on

their behavior. However, for safety, a single
representative speed, known as design speed is necessary.
• Usually design speed is taken as the 85th percentile speed.
• It is the most important factor that affect most of the
geometric design elements
• It directly governs Sight distance, horizontal curve radius,
length of vertical curve, etc.

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 …Contd.
• Design Speed is selected from standards for designing a
specific section of road.
I. Based on the design traffic flow (AADT), a design
class/standard is selected ranging from DC8 to DC1(ERA,
2013)

II. Using road functional classification, design class, and

terrain type, the Design Speed is selected from Table 2-1.

III. With reference to the design speed associated with the

design class the allowable geometric constraints are fixed
as given in Tables 2-2 through 2-17 (For detail see ERA
2013 geometric design manual)
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Monday, November 20, 2023
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 …Contd.

Geometric Design Principles Flow chart

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