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STUDY MATERIAL
PYRAMID IAS ACADEMY UNIT-7: ROAD ENGINEERING - I
KARAIKUDI 1.1. Introduction to road engineering:
Highway engineering
Syllabus  It is the one of the important branches of
DRAUGHTSMAN (Subject code: 388) transportation system which deals with
Unit-7: Road Engineering - I planning, design, construction and maintenance
1.1. Introduction to Road Engineering: of road system.
Highway engineering - Necessity and Characteristics of Modes of transportation
road transport - Technical term used in road engineering  The three basic mediums of transportation is
1.2. Road alignment: land, water and air. Land has given scope for the
Highway alignment – Surveys for road alignment - development of road and rail transport while
Factors affecting highway alignment. water and air have developed waterways and
airways respectively. Four different modes of
1.3. Classification of Roads:
transportation are
Various classifications – Based on location and 1)Roadways
function, materials (Earth roads, Gravel roads, WBM, 2)Railways
Bituminous, Cement concrete), traffic, importance. 3)Waterways
4)Airways

Necessity of road to a country

 A network of roads is an asset to the defence of
a during war days.
 It facilitates the movement of men and
material from one place to another
 Better law and order can be maintained with
the with the help of road.
 Educational and cultural contact can be
maintained.
 Help the growth of trade and other economic.
 Road serve as a feeds for railways, airways
and waterways.
 National resource of one can be easily tapped
and improved.
 They provide more employment
opportunities to the people.
 They help in providing National unity among
people of different states.
Characteristics of road transport
 It can be used by all types of vehicles including
animal driven, cycle and rickshaws.
 It is the only mode of transport which can serve
the remotest isolated villages in our country.
 It should be free from being submerged during
floods and thus should be available for safe
movement of traffic at all times.
 It offers flexibility of changes in direction of
travel as per need, comfort and convenience.
 It should be provided with easy gradient.

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 It requires small investment and maintenance  The formation of road, either natural or
cost as compared to railways airports, docks prepared, should be stable enough to carry the
and harbours. foundation and traffic load.
 Road transport offers a complete freedom to  The foundation depth should be adequate for
road used to transfer the vehicles from one effectively distributing traffic load over a
lane to another or from one road to another sufficient area of formation to keep the
road as per convenience and need of the user. intensity of load within the safe permissible
 Road transport is cheaper and time saving in limits of the soil.
particular for short distance travel.  The road surface should be suitable for the
 It should contain intelligently erected traffic general character of traffic and it should
signs and should make sufficient provisions possess characteristics such as
for the safety of pedestrians and vehicles. A) economical in construction and
 It should grant various amenities to road users maintenance costs,
such as grass verges, sufficient lighting, B) even and smooth, but hot slippery
watering and fuelling places at regular C) hard, durable with uniform wear
intervals, shady avenues, parking facilities in D) neither dusty nor muddy and easy for
city areas, etc. cleaning and repairing.
 It should possess good alignment directness and  The surface of road should be impervious and
visibility. impermeable to rain water.
 The curves along the road should be properly  The width of road should be sufficient and
designed and they should be free from blind camber or cross fall of surface should be
corners. sufficient.

Technical terms used in road engineering: 2. Roadways (B):

1. Land width (A):  It is a portion of the road used for the traffic
 The total width of land acquired for the road and includes carriage way.
along its alignment. 3. Carriageway (C):
 It is also known as right of way and it  The portion of the road way designed and or
depends upon the importance of the road constructed for vehicular traffic is called
and its possible future development. carriageway.
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4. Drainage (D): 11. Acceleration lanes:

 Removal and diversion of water from a high  An important road lanes of sufficient width
way is called high way drainage. and length are provided to enable vehicles to
accelerate to the design speed of the road
5. Arboriculture (E) : after emerging out the intersection. Such
 Planting tress on the road sides is called lanes are called acceleration lanes.
arboriculture.
12. Crown(J) :
6. Formation (F):  The highest point of a cross section of a high
 The prepared surface of the ground in its way is called a crown.
final shape after the completion of earth
work. 13.Formation width(F):
 The height of embankment or filling in the  It is the sum of the widths of
figure its ‘H’ and it should be 60cm above the carriage way and shoulders on both sides.
maximum floor level at that area.  In other words it is top width of a highway on
an embankment.
7. Shoulders (G):
 The space on both sides of the 14.Sub base:
carriageway to protect the road is known  A layer of broken stones placed over the sub
as shoulders. grade to give structural stability to the
 The width of each shoulders varies form pavement is called sub base. Actually it is
1.25m to 2.0 m. foundation layer.
 Generally they are in level with the roads  These are used under flexible pavements to
having a cross slope of 1 in 20 for proper improve their load supporting capacity.
drainage.
15.Base course:
8.Camber (H):  The layer of road structure laid over the
 The slope provided to the road surface in soling or layer which lies immediately under
transverse direction is called chamber, or the wearing course is called the base course.
crossfall of a road.
 It is provided to drain off the rain water from 16.Base coat :
the carriage way.  The intermediate layer between the
 The level difference between the outer edge basecourse and the wearing coat is called
and cross is the amount of camber. base coat.
 It is an optionable coat.
9. Alignment:
 The lay out or route of the centre line of the 17.Surfacing or wearing course :
road on the ground is called alignment of the  The top most layer on which the traffic
road. directly travelling is called road surfacing the
 It should be carefully decided before the main function of road surfacing is to provide
construction of road. a smooth and stable running surface.
 It is also known as carpet.
10.Angle of repose:
 The angle at which a soil can stand without 18 Binder course :
any support is called angle of the repose.  An intermediate course of asphalt mix
between the base course and the wearing
course is called binder course.

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19.Ashphalt : 28.Capacity :
 It is defined as the mixture of refinery  The maximum number of vehicles on a road
bitumen ad inert mineral matter. that can pass a given point in on hour is
 It is defined as the mixture of refinery defined as the capacity of road lane.
bitumen and inert mineral matter.  It depends upon the traffic
 It is used as a binding material during the Conditions.
construction of road.
29.Carpet :
20.Footpath :  The top layer or wearing coat of a bitumen or
 The portion of a roadway of an urban road tar concrete is called carpet.
which is reserved for the pedestrians is  It’s thickness varies from 2 cms to 2.5 cms.
called foot path.
30.Causeway :
21.Motor way :  These are submersible bridges usually
 The portion of an urban road which isused by provided for cross drainage on unimportant roads.
high speed and power driven vehicles is  They allow water to flow across the road
called motor way. surface during floods.

22.Trunk road arterial road : 32.Design speed:

 It is the main road forming the essential part  The safe permissible speed on a given
of highway system of a country. category of road is called design speed.

23.By -pass road : 33.District road:

 A road provided around the congested area  Road constructed with in the boundaries of
is called by-pass road. the district connecting its various towns,
industrial areas, head quarter, high ways and
24.Ring road : railways etc., are called district roads. They
 To enable free movement of traffic around an are comparatively less important.
urban area, a circumferential road is
constructed which is called ring road. 34.Drive way:
 A road constructed to secure access from a
25.Loop roads : road to a private property is called drive way.
 These are alternative roads provided to
divert traffic to avoid obstructions. 35.Earth roads:
 The roads whose foundation as well as
26.Road margins : wearing course are made of soil available at
 The portion of land on either side of the the site are called earth roads.
formation width of a road are known as road 36.Earth work:
margins.  The preparation of the subgrade to the
desired grade and camber is known as earth
27.Bitumen : work for the road.
 It is a viscous mateiral having adhesive
properties obtained either natural or by refinery 37.Felling:
processes and is soluble in carbondisulphide.  The process of removing stress is called
 As per I.S.I in India, only the refinery product felling
is termed as bitumen.

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38.Flash point: 41.Fly over:

 The lowest temperature at which the  The road junction designed to divide the
vapours of a substance catch fire traffic to pass over or under each other is
momentarily in the form of a flash under called fly over.
specified conditions of test is called the flash
point. 42.Geometric design of high ways:
 The design of road elements with which the
39.Flexible pavements: high way user is directly connected is called
 The pavements which reflect the the geometric design of a highway
deformation of subgrade and of subsequent
layers on the top surface are called flexible 43.Gradient:
pavements.  The rate of rise or fall along the length of the
40.Foot paths: road with respect to the horizontal length is
 In the urban roads, separate space is called gradient.
provided for the use of pedestrians either in
the middle or on edges of the road is called 44.Head way:
footpath. Generally footpaths are higher than  The distance between successive vehicles
the road by 15 to 25 cm. moving in the same lane and measured from
head to head at any instance is known as
head way space.
45.Highway:
 An important road of a road system is called
highway.

46.Inter sections:
 All road inter section which meet at about
the same level allowing traffic manoeuvre
like merging, diverting, crossing etc., are
called inter sections at grade.

47.Joint filler:
 The materials used to fill the space between
joints are called joint filler materials

48.Lane width:
 The width of carriage way is called lane
width. It comprises of vehicles width and
minimum side clearance provided for safety
considerations. Usually for a single lane, its
width is kept as 3.8m.

49.Macadam water bound:

 In this method of road construction, the
broken stones of the base and surface course
are bound by the stone dust in the presence
of moisture.

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50.Mandatory signs: over bridge across another high way then it

 The regulatory sings which are is called an over pass.
compulsory is called mandatory signs installed
at 2.8m above the ground level. It is a defect in 59.Patch repair:
road pavement.  Repair of localized damaged surface is called
patch repair.
51.Map cracking: 60.Perception time:
 It is the defect in road pavement the  Time required for a driver to realise the
cracking of bituminous surfaces due to necessity of applying brakes to the vehicles,
fatigue in an irregular fashion is called map is called perception time.
cracking.
61.Pot holes:
52.Mastic asphalt:  When the stone aggregate are lost from
 A mixture of bitumen, fine aggregates and the base course of a pavement the holes formed are
filler in suitable proportion which gives a called pot holes.
void less and impermeable mass is called
mastic asphalt. 62.Prime coat:
 A bituminous wearing surface placed upon a
53.Optimum moisture content: previously untreated compacted foundation
 The amount of moisture at which the layer is called prime coat.
maximum dry density of a particular soil is  Its function are to seal the pores and to make
attained for a particular amount of the underlying layer water proof and to
compaction is called optimum moisture develop interface bonding.
content.
63.Primer:
54.Native asphalt:  The adhesive material which penetrates into
 The asphalts which occur in pure or nearly the capillary voids of the existing base and
pure state in nature is called native asphalt. plug them is called primer.

55.National high way: 64.Ravelling:

 Main high way running through the length  The removal of material from bases course of
and breadth of a country connecting ports, the pavement is called ravelling.
capitals of states, and other strategic points
for defense purpose are called National high 65.Regression:
ways.  The changes in the strength of the sub
grade are known as regression.
56.Non-skid coats:
 To increase the skid resistance, a light coat of 66.Return wall:
bituminous material and aggregate has to be  Wall provided at right angles to the
applied on the existing surface. This coat is abutments to support earth fill at their back
called non-skid coat. are called return walls.

57.Obligatory points: 67.Reaction time:

 These are the points which govern the  The time taken from the instant the
alignment of the high ways. object is visible to the driver to the instant
brakes are applied effectively is known as
58.Over pass: reaction time.
 When the major high way is taken above
general ground level by constructing the
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68.Reflection cracks: 74.Sealer:

 These cracks are developed in bituminous  Compounds used to seal the joints are known
surfacing laid over existing cement concrete as sealer.
pavements.
75.Set back or clearance distance:
69.Rigid pavements:  The distance between the centre line of a
 The pavements in which deformation of the horizontal curve to an obstruction on the
sub grade are not reflected on the surface inner side of the curve is called setback
are called rigid pavements. distance.
 In this case the load is distributed over a
wide area of sub grade soil. 76.Sheet asphalt:
 A carpet of sand and bitumen mix
70.Rotary intersection or traffic rotary: containing no coarse aggregate is known as
 A rotary intersection is an enlarged road sheet asphalt.
intersection where all converging vehicles  It is used for a bearing course.
are forced to move round a large central
island in one direction only before they get 77.Skid:
into their respective directions radiating  When wheels slide without revolving the
from the central island. phenomenon is called skidding.
78.Slides:
 The movement caused by finite shear failure
is called slide.

79.Slip:
 If the wheel revolves more than the
corresponding longitudinal movement along
the road, then the phenomenon is called slip.

80 Spalling of joint:
71.Ruling gradient:  When the stone girt enters into the joint
 The maximum gradient with in which the space reducing the effective width of the
designer attempts to design the vertical joint the fault developed is called spalling
profile of the road is called ruling gradient. In joint.
plains its value is 1 in 30.
81.Summit curves:
72.Sand asphalt:  Curves whose convexity is upwards are
 Base course or a surface formed from a called summit curves.
mixture of sand, asphalt and cement with or
without mineral filler is called sand asphalt. 82.Tack coat:
 An single application of bituminous material
73.Seal coat: on an existing surfaces such as cement
 A bituminous thin layer applied over an concrete, bituminous or brick surface etc. to
existing bitumen pavement is called seal coat. ensure proper bond between the new and
 Its main function is to seal the surface old surface is called tack coat.
against ingress of water.

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83.Tar:
 It is a viscous liquid obtained from the
destructive distillation of coal or wood in the
absence of air.

84.Trace cut:
 A narrow track 0.6m to 1.2 m wide prepared
along the alignment of a hill road to enable
access to the road for inspection during
location of the route is known as trace cut. 91.Creteways:
 Where bullock cart traffic is heavy and
85.Traffic: construction of bituminous or other type of road
 All types of vehicles using road such as buses, is costly, a type of trackway or wheeler is found
trucks, carts, cycles etc. and pedestrians out to segregate the slowly moving traffic.
together form traffic.  Such a road is known as creteway and it is in
the form of concrete slabs which may either
86.Transition curve: be cast-in situ or precast.
 Curve provided between a circular curve and  The central portion of 3.6m to 5m width is
straight portion of a road is called transition used by fast moving traffic and the creteways
curve. on the sides are meant for slow moving iron-
 Its radius varies from infinite at the straight tyred bullock cart traffic.
to finite value at circular curve for providing  The narrow longitudinal strips of creteways
easy change of direction of the road. are 600mm to 750mm wide, 100 mm to 150
mm thick and 1.3 to 1.5m centre to centre
87.Valley curves: apart.
 Curves with convexity downwards are called
valley curves. 92.Kerbs:
 To show the boundary between the road
88 Vertical curves: pavement and shoulder or footpath or islands, kerbs
 Curves provided at the intersection of and provided.
different grades in the vertical alignment of a  For rural roads, the provision of submerged
highway are called vertical curves those kerbs at pavement edges between the road
curves provide easy change in gradients for pavement and shoulders will increase the
fast moving vehicles. lateral stability of the granular base course
and flexible pavements.
89.Wing wall:  The simplest form of traffic separator will be
 Walls provided at an angle of 30° to 45° to the in the form of pavement markings.
abutments to retain earth fill at their backs  In case of important roads dividing islands or
and to direct the flow to the culvert at the parkway strips may be provided to serve as
upstream end are called wing walls. traffic separators.
 As per the recommendations of the I.R.C, a
90.Brick edging: minimum desirable width of 5m is necessary
 For widening the main carriageway, the for medians of rural highways and it may be
brick edging provides a cheap and effective reduced to 3m where land is restricted.
method.
 The extra 600mm width of flat bricks or
bricks on edge on either side of the carriageway
provides additional travelling surface.

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93.Traffic separators or medians:  The size and shape of the guide islands will
 For two sets of traffic lanes intended to serve depend upon the layout and dimension of the
traffic moving in opposite directions, the intersections.
traffic separators or medians are sometimes  Guide island serves the following purpose
provided for the following purpose: I) Control of speed
I)To avoid head-on collision between vehicles II) Control of angle or conflict
moving in opposite directions. III) Separation of conflicts
II)To channelize traffic into streams at IV) Protection of traffic for vehicles
intersections. leaving or crossing the main traffic
III)To protect pedestrians. system
IV)To segregate slow traffic. V)Protection of pedestrians
V)To shadow the crossing and turning traffic.

94.Rutting:
 These are longitudinal depression that form
98.Refuse island:
due to repeated application of loads on the
 An island provided at or near a crosswalk to
same portion of road.
aid protect pedestrian crossing the roadway
 They are also known as consideration of
is called a Refuse pedestrian island.
pavement layers.
 Refuse islands make crossing much safer in
multilane roads.
95.Frost heaving:
 Refuse islands are provided after two or
 Depending upon the ground water and
three lanes in a multilane road.
climatic conditions a localized heaving up of
portion of pavement takes place due to the
action of frost.

96.Traffic island:
 Traffic islands are raised areas
constructed within the carriageway to provide
physical channels to guide the vehicular traffic.

97.Guide island:
 This is also called channelising island. these
islands are used to guide the traffic into
proper channels through the intersection
area.
 Guide islands are very useful as traffic
control device for intersections.

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1.2. Road Alignment:  towns and group of villages.

 The course or route, position along which the  The alignment should be such that is crosses
center line of a road is located in the plan is the minimum number of bridges crossing
called “Road Alignment”. Before starting the culvers, and embankment places.
actual construction the center line of the  It should provide smooth curves and easy
road is first marked on the plan and then on gradients.
the site.  It should be such that minimum earth work
 The horizontal alignment includes the in embankment or cutting
straight path, the deviations and horizontal  The alignment should provide good sight
curves distance
 The vertical alignment includes the changes  It should be free from obstruction like ponds,
in gradient and vertical curves. lakes, wells, monumental and historical
Principle or factors effecting highway alignment: building etc.
 Shortness:  The alignment should run through such
 The alignment of the road should be places where materials of road construction
as short as possible. and labour are easily available.
 As far as possible straight and level  Marshy and low lying land having poor
alignment which ensure higher speed drainage may be avoided
traffic.  Unnecessary Zigzags in alignment should be
 Easiness: avoided.
 Alignment should be such that it is  The alignment should not have lengthily
easy to construct and maintain the straight routes to avoid monotony.
road with minimum problems (i.e) Special considerations while aligning roads on Hilly
flexible in construction and Areas:
maintenance.  Stability of hill side slopes.
 It also should be easy for operation of  Drainage of surface and subsurface water
vehicles with easy gradients and flowing from the hill side.
curves.  Special geometric standards for hill roads.
 Safety:  Resisting length.
 Ensure safety during the Surveys for road alignment:
construction, utilization and also at  The starting point and terminating point on
the time of maintenance. road alignment is given by a highway
 Economic: engineer may be economical route
 Construction and maintenance cost connecting them.
should be less.  For this purpose engineering surveys
 Alignment is considered economical will have to be carried out.
only if the total life cycle cost  So, before a highway alignment is finalized in
considering initial cost, maintenance a new highway project, engineering surveys
cost and vehicle operation cost is to be carried out.
lowest.  The various engineering surveys which are
 The alignment should cross the railway lines carried out for the choice of route of a new
and other roads and bridges at right angles. highway
 It should cross the rivers, canals or streams are
etc. at place where its width is minimum and 1.Map study
where good the durable foundation 2.Reconnaissance survey
available. 3.Preliminary survey
 The alignment serves maximum population\ 4.Location
 by connecting intermediate important
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1. Map study alternative routes found out by

 If the topographic map of the area is reconnaissance survey and to determine
available, it is possible to suggest the likely with the greater accuracy the cost of high
routes of road way along the alternative route to decide
 In India, topographic maps are available which route will be the most economical.
from the Survey of India, with 15 or 30 meter  The preliminary survey decides the final
contour intervals. route and should be done with great
 The main features like rivers, hills, valleys precision as it depends the alignment of the
etc., are also shown on these maps. final route.
4.Location survey
 The main object of location survey is to carry
out the detailed survey along the route which
has been found and fixed as the most
economical route from the data of the
preliminary survey.
 It established the center line of the actual
highway to be laid and hence location survey
is completed, then construction work
started.
1.3. Classification of roads:
1.3.1.Based on Location and Function:
Actually the classification based on location and
function is more rational. According to Nagpur plan,
Indian roads have been classified into five categories as
follow:
A) National highway (NH)
B) State highways (SH)
C) Major district roads (M.D.R)
D) Minor or other district roads (O.D.R)
E) Village roads (V.R)

A) National highways:
 These are the important roads of
the country connecting ports, capitals, foreign
highways and important cities etc.
2.Reconnaissance survey  They run through the length and breadth of the
 A reconnaissance survey is the first country.
engineering survey that is carried out in  Generally the National Highway should have
territory which has not been previously two lanes of at least 8m width and at least 2 m
surveyed object of reconnaissance survey wide shoulders on both sides.
are,
B) State highways (SH):
1. To obtain general knowledge of the whole  These are the main roads within the State and
territory they connecting the national highways of
2. To obtain information regarding the salient adjacent state, district headquarters and
feature of the territory important cities within the state and serve as the
3. By reconnaissance survey, a number of possible main arteries for traffic to and from district
roads.
alternative routes between two points can be
 In some places they may even carry heavier
worked out. traffic than some of the national highways but
3.Preliminary survey this will not alter their designation or function.
 The object of preliminary survey is to  NH and SH have the same design speed and
conduct the survey work along the geometric design specification.
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C) Major district roads (MDR): Programme (NHDP) plans have been made to
 These roads are constructed with nearly the build 4 to 6 lane express highways since 1991.
same specification as those of the State  A major part of NHDP is the Golden
highways.
Quadrilateral project.
 They are intended to connect areas of the
production and markets with State highways  It entails upgrading and widening of 6000
and railways. km of highways connecting the four major
 These roads should be fit to be used throughout metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai Chennai
the year and they should be designed to take and Kolkata.
traffic into the heart of the rural area.
Following are the three National Express Highways,
D) Other district roads (ODR) :
which have been constructed under NDHP.
 These roads are somewhat of lower
i) The Golden Quadrilateral:
specification as compared to major district
 This project entails upgrading and widening
roads.
of about 6000 km of highways connecting the
 They are connected to major district roads
four major metropolitan cities of Delhi,
and railways.
Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
 They are intended to serve the interior rural
 There is no railway crossing on the entire
population of the district.
length, but it will have 75 railway over
E) Village roads (VR):
bridges.
 These roads connect village and groups of
ii) North South Corridor:
villages with each other and also to the
 This express highway is form
nearest district road, National highway,
the Srinagar to kanyakumari.
railway or river ghat.
iii) West East Corridor:
 They are mostly un-metaled roads, so during
 This express highway is from Porbandar
monsoon, these roads become unusable.
(Saurashtra, Gujarat) to Silchar (Assam).
 A metaled road, which
 Total length of these two corridors will be
passes near a village and is connected by a
around 7300km.
kachha road is known as the village approach
road. It is maintained by the village panchayat.
1.3.2. Based on Materials:
F) Border roads: (A) Earth roads:
 These roads are constructed by the  Earth road is one whose foundations as well
Border Road organization and maintained by as wearing course are made out of the soil
the Border Roads Development Organization available at site.
(BRDO).  The road prepared from natural soil
 From the nations defence point of view these available at site is the cheapest.
roads are of much importance.  In India, earth roads are used to a great
 Total length of border roads is over 7961km. extent as they are cheap and easy in
 The Manali (Himachal Pradesh) to Leh construction and maintenance.
(Capital of Ladakh) is the highest border  These roads are fair weather roads as they
roads. become muddy in rainy seasons and dusty in
G) Express highways: dry weather.
 To meet with the present day fast moving  They are suitable for bullock cart traffic.
traffic, the express highway or expressways  The type of construction depends on
have been constructed for connecting the type of soil available at site.
important places.  The camber provided in earth roads is very
 These expressways have controlled access steep and varies between 1 in 20 to 1
and grade separation at all road and rail in 25.
crossing.
 Under the National Highway Development
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 In order to provide good drainage to earth gravels occur in nature in which pebbles are
roads, a steep and cross slope is very held together by either lime or contains high
essential. percentage of oxide of iron.
Advantages of gravel roads
 The maximum slope of 1 in 20 is
 A good gravel road is smooth, somewhat
recommended to avoid erosion due to rain
resilient and pleasing in appearance.
water and formation of cross ruts.
 It is found that a well compacted gravel road
Advantages of earth roads
gives good transaction and is not slippery
 They can be constructed speedily.
when wet for moderate speeds.
 They involve the use of locally available earth
 The capacity of gravel road may be taken as
and it can be so arranged that earth obtained
about 100 tonnes of pneumatic tyred
from cutting is equal to earth required for
vehicles or 60 tonnes of iron tyred vehicles
filling. This is known as balancing of
per day lane.
earthwork and it may be obtained by proper
Disadvantages of gravel roads
selection of gradient.
 They may become impassable, if drainage is
 They prove cheap in construction cost.
bad.
 When the traffic increases, they provide good
 They get dusty in dry weather.
foundation for other type of good road over
 They require frequent reshaping in the form
them.
of filling up pot holes, ruts and depressions.
 They tend to become soft in continuous wet
weather.
(C)Water bound macadam roads
 The oldest type of highway pavement used in
modern, times is known as Macadam after
Disadvantages of earth roads: the name of John Macadam, a Scottish
 Most of the earth roads in our country are Engineer.
fair weather roads and they become useless  The term Macadam in the present time
in monsoons. means the road surface and base constructed
 They are useful for light traffic only. of crushed or broken aggregates cemented
 They wear out quickly. Hence their repair together by the action of rolling and water.
and maintenance costs are high.  The binding action in W.B.M is achieved by
(B) Gravel roads: stone screening used as filler in the presence
 A graveled road consists of a carriageway made of water.
of a layer of compacted gravel.  Water bound macadam is constructed in
There are few considerations govern the construction of thickness varying from 8 to 30 cm depending
gravel roads.they are, upon the the design requiremements.
 Drainage: The carriageway of the gravel road  The surface course of W.B.M. gets
should be provided with a camber of 1 in 25 to deteriorated very soon under the action of
1 in 30 to achieve good drainage of the road
mixed traffic.
surface.
 Gravel: It should be composed of pebbles which  So now a days the W.B.M is used as base
are hard, tough and durable rock particles to course for the superior type of pavement
resist abrasion. The most durable pebbles come such as bituminous or cement concrete
from quartz. But pebbles from hard limestone surfacing.
and good trap are also good material. The least  Generally,the layers in W.B.M. are laid in 12
durable pebbles are those from sandstones,
to 15 cm thickness.
shales or soft slates.
 Quality of binder: For making a good road  The total thickness may be upto 30 to 35 cm
surface, the pebbles should be held together by depending upon the design requirements.
some cementing material such as clay which is  Each layer is compacted to 75 to 80% of its
the most generally available binder. But certain loose thickness by smoothed wheel rollers.
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 In W.B.M. roads generally camber is is used in place of bitumen.

provided of the order 1 in 36 to 1 in 48. Advantages of W.B.M. roads:
Types of Macadam Road  If in good condition it can take a composite
Macadam roads may be classified into four groups as traffic of about 900 tonnes per lane day.
follows depending upon the method of binding action.  If W.B.M. surfacing is maintained its designed
1.Water bound macadam: profile and grade by regular repairs, it is
 It is the layer of broken stone found to give service for a long time.
aggregates bound together by stone dust or screening  Their initial cost is low.
and water applied during construction, and compacted  They make use of locally available material
by heavy smoothed wheel rollers. and labour.
Disadvantages of W.B.M. roads:
 Due to depressions on road surface, small
water pools are formed and it results in a
complete disintegration goes on and finally it
results in a complete disintegration of the
road surface.
 Poor maintained WBM road causes
inconvenience and danger to the traffic.
 Maintenance cost of the WBM road is high.
 The failure of WBM road mainly occurs due
2.Traffic bound macadam: to intensive traffic insufficient foundation,
 It is the wearing surface composed of broken poor drainage system, unsuitable broken
stones or gravel, consolidated by the action aggregates, dirty binding material weak
of traffic. launches or supports for resisting lateral
 This type of surface generally is built pressure and perviousness of surface.
gradually by successive application of tow or  They are permeable to rain water and it leads
more layers. to the softening and yielding of subsoil.
 The compacted thickness of each layer may (D)Bituminous roads
very from 2.5 to 5.0 cms.  A bituminous road is defined as a road in
3.Bituminous macadam: which bitumen is used in one form or the
 It is the compacted layer of clean crushed other as a binder to keep together the coarse
stone o reasonably uniform in size. aggregates or road metal.
 Over this layer a second layer of crushed  Such a load is also sometimes referred to as
stone together with bituminous material black top road because it exhibits a black
heavily sprayed appearance due to presence of bitumen.
 Much of the bituminous material penetrates
into the voids and binds the stones together.
 To fill the surface voids of the first course, a
uniform thin layer of smaller aggregate is
spread and rolled.
 Then again a light application of bituminous
material is applied and a thin layer of still
smaller aggregates is spread and rolled.
 This is generally known as penetration Bitumen
macadam.  It is a mixture of natural pyrogenous
4.Cement macadam: hydrocarbons and their non-metallic
 It is similar to bituminous macadam. derivates which may be solids.
 Only difference is that in this case cement
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 Liquid viscous or gaseous but must be performance of bituminous roads. So the

completely soluble in carbon disulphide or control of the quantity is absolutely
simply it is a hydro carbon compound in necessary.
solid or semi-solid state.  It is tedious during mixing.
 It is obtained by partial distillation (E)Rubberized asphalt concrete road
of crude petroleum either by nature or  It is modified method of construction used
artificially in refinery. instead of bituminous road, for improving
 The bituminous material or bitumen in the the quantity of road pavement.
form of asphalt and tar products is one of the  Rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC) also
major highway construction materials in the known as asphalt rubber or just rubberized
world. asphalt is a pavement material that consists
 The three important qualities of of regular asphalt concrete mixed with
bitumen which have made bitumen a popular crumb rubber-ground.
binding material are as follows:  It is used for pavement construction and
 It gives an impermeable surface such road is known as rubberized asphalt
 It has proved an excellent binding concrete road.
material
 It softens when heated Advantages of rubberized asphalt concrete road
Advantages of bituminous roads  Reduces reflective cracking in asphalt
 Depending upon the method of construction, overlays.
they considerably increase the strength of  Reduces the maintenance costs.
pavement.  Improves resistance to cracking in new
 The cracks are not formed on the surface of pavements.
bituminous roads and the surface can be  Improve pavement life.
prevented from splitting.  Skid resistance is more when compressed to
 The maintenance costs of bituminous roads the other pavement.
are comparatively less.  Reduces the road noise.
 The surface of bituminous roads is non- (F)Cement concrete roads
slippery.  Concrete roads are the roads in which the
 They can effectively resist the adverse effects carriage way is made up by a concrete slab of
or rain,changes in temperature and wind. required thickness and strength.
 They grant water proof surface.
 They provide smooth, durable and
comfortable road surface for traffic.
 They resist the detrimental action of
moisture of the underlying layers of soil as
well as water used during construction. Methods of construction of cement concrete roads
 When the bituminous layer is provided on  Alternate bay method
the top of an existing low coat road, it  Continuous bay method
eliminates the dust nuisance.  Expansion joint and strip method
Disadvantages of bituminous roads Alternate bay method:
 Costly in construction.  In this method, if the road is of single lane, it
 If the bituminous materials is in excess over is divided into suitble bays of 6m to 8m
the optimum value for a given mix it becomes length and the construction work is carried
harmful to the good performance of the out in alternative bays.
bituminous roads.  If the road is of double lane, the construction
 The viscosity of the bitumen-aggregate work is carried out in odd bays of one lane
mixture plays a great role in determining the
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and even bays of the other lane as shown in  The joints are then suitably filled up with
figure. fillers like asphalt and finished so as to
 The construction of next bays is commenced provide for the expansion of the concrete
after the concrete laid in earlier bays dries slab.
out i.e. nearly after one week or so .  By this method, any width of road can be
constructed at ease and it gives better
alignment and finish.
 It also carries the traffic during construction
and hence, no temporary diversion road is
necessary.
 There has been considerable improvement
in the technology of joints in concrete roads
and hence, most of the modern concrete
Continuous bay method:
roads are constructed by this method.
 This is also known as strip method or full
Advantages of cement concrete pavement
width method.
 It provides a good riding surface.
 The entire width of the road is constructed
 Life of cement concrete pavement is more
continuously from one end to the other.
i.e., between 30 to 40 years.
 No provision for expansion joint is made.
 Maintenance cost is low.
 However, a construction joint is provided
 The vehicle operation cost is minimum.
where the new concrete meets the
 Tractive or rolling resistance is low.
previously laid concrete.
 It provides high night time visibility.
 This method is suitable for roads having
Disadvantages of cement concrete pavement
width not exceeding 4.5m and it is very
 Initial cost of construction is very high
simple in construction.
 It requires skilled person for construction
 However, it does not stand a high
 Construction time required is more
temperature variation as no provision is
 It takes more time for opening to traffic after
made for expansion and contraction.
construction.
 It also requires the provision the provision of 1.3.3.Based on Traffic:
a temporary diversion road since the entire Character of traffic:
road with is under construction.  This is determined by the type of vehicles which
 This method is generally not favoured. use the road.
 If the traffic vehicles include fast moving
trucks, cycles, bullock carts, etc. it is known as
mixed traffic and is designated by letter M.
 Similarly the letters T and P will indicate
respectively that the traffic consists mostly of
trucks and passenger vehicles.
Designed speed:
 This is indicated by a figure.
 For instance, the figure 60 would mean that the
road has designed speed of 60 km ph.

Traffic density:
 The number of vehicles using the road per hour
or per day is known as traffic density and it is
generally based on per day basis.
Expansion joint and strip method:  For instance, the traffic density of 1200 would
 In this method the road is divided into mean that 1200 vehicles per day use that road.
longitudinal strips and transverse bays by
With the above three characteristics, the
means of timber formwork.
classification of highways can be made suitably and it
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will give at a glance the facilities provided for the user operators on the build, operate and
of the road. For instance,1200 M60 would mean that the transfer (BOT) format under the direct
highway has mixed traffic of 1200 vehicles per day and tolling method.
it is designed for a speed of 60 km.p.h.
 Under this policy, the private companies
1.3.4. Based on Importance:
 Very heavy traffic road: Which carry above build the express highways and after an
600 vehicles a day agreed period or concession period of
 Heavy traffic road: Which carry 251 to 600 time, when they have recovered their
vehicles investments and profits, the express
 Medium traffic road: Which carry 70 to 250 highway is transferred over to the
vehicles a day government.
 Light traffic road: Which carry below 70 Following are some of the major BOT projects of
vehicles a day India,
1.3.5. Based on Transported tonnage:  Kundli Maneswar Palwal (kmph)
No Type of road Class Tonnage limit per express way: It is also known as the
day western peripheral expressing and it is
1 NH A 1500 to 2500 the largest expressing BOT project in the
B 2500 to 5000 country.
C Above 5000
2 SH - 1000 to 1500  Delhi- Gurgaon express way: The
3 MDR A 500 to 750
project envisage conversion of the Delhi-
B 750 to 1000
4 ODR - 200 to 500 Gurgaon section of NH8 into an access
5 VR - Below 200 controlled 6 to 8 lane highway with
service lane across certain section and
 This classification is based on the total strengthening of existing lane from 14.3
average weight of the vehicles passing over to 42 km, falling partly in Delhi and
the highway per day. Haryana.
 Table shows the tonnage limits for various
types of roads.  Gwalio - Jhansi highway BOT
 Thus NH B 60 would mean that the National (Annuity): The project aimed for the up
highway has tonnage between 2500 to 5000 gradation from the existing two lanes to
per day for the designed speed of 60 km p.h. four lanes of Gwalior - Jhansi section
 In a similar way, MDR A 50 would mean from 16 km to 96km on NH 75 under
major district road for tonnage between 500 north south corridor in the states of Uttar
to 750 per day for the designed speed of 50 Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
km.p.h.
 With the above discussion, it is clear that the  Lucknow - Sitapur Highway: The size of
classifications based on traffic and project is 76 km work involves
transported tonnage are important from the improvement operation and
engineering point of view only. maintenance including strengthening
 The classification based on location and and winding of the existing two lane road
function is well-defined and hence, it is found into four lane on NH 24.
to be popular and acceptable in practice.
Build, operate and transfer (BOT) project in
India
 The Central Government of India has
decided to introduce the concept of
revenue sharing in the construction of
express highway undertaken by private
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