Transportation Engineering - I

MODULE I (A)
Dr. R. K. Kar
 Modes of Transportation
• Transportation?
It means safe and efficient movement of men and materials
(passengers and goods) from one place to other.
It contributes to the economic, industrial, social and cultural
development of any country.
It is important for economic development of any region as
every commodity produced (food, clothing, agricultural
products and industrial products) needs transportation at all
stages from production to distribution.
In the production stage raw materials are to be transported to
the production site and the finished products from production
site to market for distribution.
• Vehicle?
It means the device which carries man and materials from one
place to other.
• Route?
It means the path along which man and materials are carried
from one place to other.
 Contd…
Transportation modes provide the following two basic utilities.
• Place utility: In having men and materials at places where
they are wanted.
• Time utility: In having men and materials at places when
they are wanted.
Three basic modes of transport from surface point of view are
by land, water and air.
Land has given scope for development of road and rail
transport. Water and air have developed waterways and
airways respectively.
The roads include all types of roads (NHs, Expressways, SHs,
MDRs, ODRs and VRs) including city streets (Arterial, Sub-
Arterial, Collector street and Local street),
Railways offer transportation facilities both for long and short
distances. Waterways include oceans, canals, rivers and lakes
for movement of ships, steamers and boats.
Aircrafts and helicopters use the airways.
 Contd…
Thus, the four major modes of transport are:
• Roadways or Highways – two wheelers, three
wheelers, four wheelers etc.
• Railways – Train, Tram etc.
• Waterways – ship, boat, steamer etc.
• Airways - Aircrafts and helicopters
Apart from these four modes of transport, other
modes include pipelines for carrying water, oil
and other fluids; elevators/escalators/lifts,
conveyor belt, cables, aerial ropeways etc.
 Contd…
• Based on degrees of freedom
One degree of freedom (along a line): Train
movement, pipeline, conveyor belt, cables etc.
Two degrees of freedom (along and across): Road
vehicles and ship, boat etc.
Three degrees of freedom (along, across and
vertically): Aeroplane, submarine in airways and
waterways
• Based on energy
Animal, Human, petrol and diesel, steam, electric,
solar, atomic etc.
 Contd…
Air transport
• It is the fastest means of transport among all. It
attains maximum utility where savings of time in
transport is of utmost importance rather than
money.
• It provides the highest degree of comfort to the
passengers.
• The energy requirement to haul unit load through
unit distance is the highest in comparison to
other modes.
• It depends on other modes of transport.
 Contd…
Water transport
• This is the most economical mode of transport i.e. the
energy required to haul unit load through unit distance
is the minimum as compared to other modes.
• It is the slowest among the four modes.
• Transportation by water is possible between the ports
on the sea routes or along the rivers/canals where
inland facilities are available and thus depends on
other modes of transport.
• Waterways provide facilities for transport of heavy and
bulk commodities where time may not be of much
importance.
 Contd…
Railways
• Railways have their greatest utilization in the transport
of large volumes of heavy and bulk commodities over
long distances and in very long distance journeys of
passengers with safety, comfort and convenience.
• Railway tracks could serve as arteries for transportation
by land and the roads could serve as feeder system for
transportation to the interior parts and to the
intermediate localities between stations.
• The energy required to haul unit load through unit
distance is one fourth to one sixth of that required by
road.
• Full advantage of this mode should be taken for
transportation of bulk goods along land where rail
facilities are available.
 Contd…
Road transport / Highway transport
• Road transport provides maximum service including door to door service
to one and all and offers itself to the whole community alike.
• It uses various types of vehicles (animal drawn vehicles, cycle,
scooter/motorcycle, auto-rickshaw, car, jeep, bus truck etc.) in comparison
to other modes.
• It requires relatively a small investment. Motor vehicles are much cheaper
than the vehicles in other modes of transport. Construction and
maintenance of roads is cheaper than that of railway tracks, docks and
harbours and airports.
• Provides greater utility in transport over short and long hauls of light
weight commodities and of lesser volumes including that of passengers
over short and medium hauls. Particularly, for short haul road transport
saves time.
• It provides maximum flexibility for travel with respect to route, direction,
time and speed of travel etc. which are not available in other modes.
• Other three modes of transport depend on this mode for the service to
and from their terminals such as airports, harbours or stations. Thus, it
acts as a feeder system to other modes.
• Road transport is subjected to a high degree of accident due to flexibility
of movements offered to road users.
Objectives (Necessity) of highway planning
• Planning means looking ahead for new areas.
• Objective is to bring order out of chaos for old and existing
cities.
Plans may be;
• Short term plan (exp. National five-year plan)
• Long term plan (town planning for at least 20 years). Short
term plan is a part of long term plan but long term plan is
not necessarily an extension of short term plan.
• Interim plan is a temporary plan to allow the planned
construction for a short while and may become a part of
long term plan or may be discarded after the long term
plan is resumed.
• Action plan is the action taken for part or full plan
depending upon the scope, finance and time.
 Contd…
• Planning is considered now-a-days as a pre-
requisite before attempting any development
programme.
• Thus, highway planning is a basic need for
highway development.
• Planning is of great importance when the funds
available are limited whereas the total
requirement is much higher.
• Hence, in developing countries like India best
utilization of available funds has to be made in a
systematic and planned way.
 Objectives of highway planning
• The road network is to be planned for efficient and safe
traffic operation at minimum cost. Cost of
construction, renewal of pavement layers and
maintenance along with vehicle operation costs are to
be considered.
• To arrive at the road system and lengths of different
categories of roads which could provide maximum
utility and could be constructed within available
resources during the plan period under consideration.
• To fix up date-wise priorities for development of each
road link based on utility as the main criterion for
phasing road development programme.
• Future requirements and improvements of roads in
view of anticipated developments are to be planned.
• Financing system is to be worked out.
 Principles of highway planning
In order to achieve the objectives of highway planning,
the following basic principles are to be considered.
• The proposed road should be an integral part of
national road network.
• Priority/importance of a road is to be determined on
the basis of utility i.e. traffic demand.
• The road should form a part of development
programme and should be open to all types of traffic.
• Maintenance of all roads should be given priority over
new construction and sufficient funds are to be
allocated for maintenance.
• Statutory provision for traffic regulation must be there
for all roads.
 Road development plans
1st 20 year road development plan or Nagpur plan
(1943-1963)
• Road network in the country was classified into NHs,
SHs, MDRs, ODRs and VRs.
• Two plan formula based on star and grid pattern were
finalized for deciding two categories of road length (1st
category NHs, SHs and MDRs; 2nd category ODRs and
VRs) for the country as a whole as well as for individual
districts.
• Responsibility of construction and maintenance of NHs
was assigned to Central Govt.
• It was targeted to achieve 16 km of road length per 100
sq. km. by 1963.
 Contd…
2nd 20 year road development plan or Bombay plan (1961-1981)
• Target length of Nagpur plan was achieved by 1961. Hence the 2nd
road development plan or Bombay plan came into force.
• Total road length of 32 km per 100 sq. km was targeted by 1981.
• Maximum distance of any place in a developed or agricultural area
would be 6.4 km from a metaled road and 2.4 km from any
category of road.
• Maximum distance from any place in semi developed area would be
12.8 km from a metaled road and 4.8 km from any category of road.
In undeveloped areas the distances are 19.2 km and 8 km
respectively.
• Every town with population above 2000 in plains and above 1000 in
semi hill areas and above 500 in hilly areas should be connected by
metaled road.
• Expressways have also been considered in this plan and 1600 km
has been included in the proposed target of NHs.
• Length of railway track was considered independent of the road
system.
• Development factor of 5% was provided for future development
and unforeseen factors.
 Contd…
3rd 20 year road development plan or Lucknow plan (1981-2001)
• Roads were classified as primary (NHs and Expressways), secondary
(SHs & MDRs ) and tertiary (ODRs and VRs).
• All the villages with population above 500 (1981 census) should be
connected by all-weather roads.
• Over all road density should be increased to 82 km per 100 sq. km
by 2001.
• No part of the country is more than 50 km away from a NH.
• Expressways should be considered along major traffic corridors to
provide fast travel.
• All the towns and villages with population above 1500 should be
connected by MDRs and the villages with population 1000 to 1500
by ODRs. There should be a road within a distance of 3 km in plains
and 5 km in hilly areas connecting all villages or group of villages
with population less than 500.
• Long term master plans for road development should be prepared
at various levels.
• Existing roads should be improved by rectifying the deficiencies.
• There should be improvement in environmental quality and road
safety.
 Contd…
All-weather roads
Roads accessible/negotiable in all weathers
Overtopping of roads normally occurs during rainy season
leading to interruption of traffic.
Duration of interruption at one stretch ≤ 12 hrs for ODRs and ≤
24 hrs for VRs in hilly terrain and ≤ 3 days in plain terrain.
Total period of interruption in a year ≤ 10 days for ODRs and 15
days for VRs.
Type of terrain Cross slope (%)
Plain 0 - 10
Rolling 10 - 25
Mountainous 25 - 60
Steep > 60
 Contd…
4th 20 year road development plan or Kolkata plan or VISION 2021 (2001-
2021)
• This document provides the vision for the next 20 years for development
and maintenance of all categories of roads. The urban roads as well as
roads for specific need i.e. tourism, forestry, mining and industrial areas
have also been considered. The research and development, mobilization
of resources, capacity building and human resources development, quality
system, environment and energy consideration for highway sector and
highway safety are also included.
• Need for construction of 15700 km of expressways and 66000 km of NHs
so as to achieve a square grid of 100 km side of National Highway system.
• An investment of 165000 million would be needed to remove the
deficiencies of the existing road network.
• GOI has imposed cess on diesel and petrol @ Re.1/- per litre initially and
rose to Rs.1.50 per litre subsequently. With this cess, the programme of
NHDP and PMGSY would be financed.
• SHs are to be increased from 124300 km by 2001 to 160000 km by 2021. A
length of 320000 km by 2021 was targeted. For VRs, it was to connect all
villages with 500 populations by 2010.
• Under NHDP it was proposed to develop 7300 km as East-West
(Porbandar-Silchar, 3300 km) and North-South (Srinagar- Kanyakumari-
Kochi, 4000 km) corridors and Golden Quadrilateral (Delhi-Mumbai-
Chennai-Kolkata-Delhi) of 5846 km.
 Jayakar Committee
• A road development committee to examine and report on
road development in India was constituted with M R
Jayakar as the Chairman in 1927 and the committee
submitted its report in 1928. Major recommendations are;
• Road development should be considered as a National
interest.
• Extra tax is to be levied on petrol from the road users to
develop a road development fund called Central Road Fund
(CRF).
• A semi-official technical body is to be formed to pool
technical know-how from various parts of the country and
to act as advisory body on various aspects of roads.
• A research institute is to be instituted to carry out research
and development work and is to be available for
consultations.
 Central Road Fund (CRF)
• As per the recommendations of Jayakar
committee CRF was formed on 1st March 1929.
• Consumers of petrol were charged 2.64 paisa
extra per litre to build up CRF.
• 20% of the annual revenue is to be retained as
central reserve for meeting the needs of
administrative expenses of the CRF, road
experiments and research on roads and bridges.
• Balance 80% is to be allotted to states based on
its actual petrol consumption.
 Indian Roads Congress (IRC)
• A semiofficial technical body, as per the recommendations
of Jaykar Committee, known as Indian Roads Congress (IRC)
was formed in 1934 at New Delhi by the Central Govt.
• It was constituted to provide a forum for regular pooling of
experience and ideas on all matters affecting the plg,
construction and maintenance of roads in India, to
recommend standard specifications and to provide a
platform for the expression of professional opinion on
matters related to roads.
• It has prepared the road development plans in India from
1943 to 2021.
• It publishes journals, standard specifications and special
publications related to highway engg.
• It works in close collaborations with the road wing of
MoRTH.
Central Road Research Institute (CRRI)
• Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) was set
up in 1950 at New Delhi for research in
various aspects of highway engg.
• It was as per the recommendations of Jaykar
Committee.
• It is one of the National labs of CSIR and
mainly engaged in applied research and offers
technical advice to state govts. and industries
on various problems concerning roads.
 Highway Research Board (HRB)
Highway Research Board of IRC was set up in 1973
to give proper guidance and direction to road
research activities in India.
The objectives are;
• To assess the nature and extent of research reqd.
• To correlate research information from various
parts of India and abroad
• To collect and disseminate results on research
• To channelize consultative services
National Transport Policy Committee (NTPC)
• NTPC was appointed in 1978 to prepare a
comprehensive national transport policy for the
country keeping in view the objectives and priorities
set out in five year plans. Report was available in 1980.
Major recommendations are;
• Liberalization of transport sector and transport as a
priority sector
• Optimal intermodal mix between road and rail
transport
• Requirement of roads in rural areas, hilly areas and
tribal areas
• Strengthening of NH system
• Increase in maintenance funds and all weather
connectivity to rural habitations
 History of road construction
Early developments
• Travel started with movement on footpaths.
• Animals were used for transport of men and materials.
• Animal drawn vehicles were developed after the
invention of wheels.
• This required a hard surface for the wheeled vehicles
to move on.
• First road on record was that of Assyrian empire
constructed on 1900 BC.
• During Roman Empire roads were constructed in large
scale and earliest construction techniques known are
of Roman roads.
• The Romans are considered as pioneer of road
construction.
 Roman Roads
Main features are;
• Built straight regardless of gradients
• Built after the soft soil was removed and hard
stratum was reached.
• Total thickness was 0.75 m to 1.2 m at some
places even though the magnitude of wheel
loads was low.
 Contd…
Construction procedure:
A trench of width equal to that of
carriageway was dug along a straight path
by removing the soft soil from top and the
depth of excavation was upto a hard
stratum.
One/two layers of large foundation stones
were laid in lime mortar to 10-20 cm.
then a layer of lime concrete with big
stones to a thickness of 25-40 cm was
laid.
Another layer of lime concrete of 25-40 The cost of construction was
cm was laid with small stones. very high for the animal drawn
Then a wearing course 10-15 cm vehicles on those days when
consisting of dressed large stone blocks compared to modern road
was set in lime mortar at the top. construction.
 Tresaguet construction
Construction steps:
The subgrade was prepared and a layer of
large foundation stones 17 cm thick were laid
on edge by hand.
At the two edges of pavement large stones
were embedded to serve as submerged
kerbs.
The corners of these foundation stones were
hammered and then the interstices filled
with smaller stones.
Broken stones were packed to a thickness of
8 cm and compacted.
Top wearing course was made of smaller
stones and compacted to 5 cm at edges and
gradually increasing towards centre giving a
cross slope of 1:45 to provide surface
drainage.
Shoulders were also provided with cross
slope of 1:20 to drain surface water to side
drains.
 Metcalf construction

• John Metcalf was engaged in road

construction in England when Tresaguet was
doing in France.
 Telford construction
Construction steps:
A level subgrade was prepared to desired width of 9 m.
Large foundation stones of thickness 17-22 cm were laid with hand with their largest face
down so as to be in stable position. Stones of lesser thickness (17 cm) at edge and greater
thickness (22 cm) towards centre to provide a cross slope.
The interstices between foundation stones were filled with smaller stones and compacted.
The central portion of about 5.5 m width was covered with two layers of angular broken
stone to compacted thickness of 10 cm and 5 cm. Initially rammed and later allowed to be
compacted under traffic and get consolidated by the rains.
A certain width of pavement towards edges was constructed by compacted broken stones,
15 cm thick, sometimes in lime mortar instead of using kerbed stone to provide lateral
stability.
A binding layer of wearing course 4 cm thick was constructed on top with gravel and
finished to a cross slope of 1:45.
Telford also proposed to provide cross drains at intervals of 90 m.
 Macadam construction
• Macadam’s method is the first method based on
scientific thinking.
• It was realized that the stress due to wheel loads
of traffic gets reduced at the lower layers and
hence it is not necessary to provide large and
strong boulder stones as foundation at the lowest
layer of pavement.
• Various subsequent methods were based on
Macadam’s construction and some are named
after him (WBM, WMM, Penetration Macadam
and Bituminous Macadam).
 Contd…
Construction steps:
Subgrade is compacted and
prepared with a slope of 1:36 up
to desired width.
Broken strong stones, all passing 5
cm size sieve were compacted to
10 cm.
2nd layer of 10 cm stones of size
3.75 cm was laid.
The top layer consists of stones of
size less than 2 cm and compacted
to 5 cm and finished to a cross
slope of 1:36.
 Further developments
• WBM roads under the combined action of mixed traffic and
adverse weather conditions could not last long. To minimize
dust nuisance, several dust palliatives including heavy oil
and bituminous materials were tried with varying degree of
success.
• The next development was the penetration and bitumen
macadam roads and other types of surface dressing
methods using bituminous materials. For better
performance, superior bituminous mixes like bituminous
carpet and bituminous concrete were also developed in a
scientific way.
• Use of CC for roads has been popular even before the use
of bituminous mixes. The only disadvantage of CC
pavement is high initial cost and cannot be afforded in
India. On the other hand BT road has the advantage of
stage construction.
 Highway alignment requirements
The centre line of the pavement/road connecting two stations is
the alignment. The basic requirements of an ideal alignment
between two terminal stations are that it should be short, easy,
safe and economical.
• Short: It is desirable to have shortest alignment between two
stations. A straight alignment would be the shortest though
there may be several practical considerations which would
cause deviations from the shortest.
• Easy: The alignment should be easy to construct and maintain
with minimum problems. It should be easy for operations of
vehicles with easy gradients and curves.
• Safe: The alignment should be safe enough for construction
and maintenance from the view point of stability of natural
hill slopes, embankment and cut slopes and foundation of
embankments. It should be safe for traffic operation with safe
geometric features.
• Economical: Initial cost of construction, maintenance cost and
vehicle operation cost taken together should be lowest.
The alignment should offer maximum utility by serving max.
population and products.
 Contd…
Various factors which control highway alignment
in general are:
• Obligatory points
• Traffic
• Geometric design
• Economics and
• Other factors
In hill roads additional care has to be taken for
stability, drainage, geometric standards of hill
roads and resisting length.
 Contd…
Obligatory points
• Points through which alignment is to pass.
These points often cause the alignment to deviate
from the shortest or easiest path. These points may
be bridge site, intermediate town, mountain pass or
a quarry.
• Points through which alignment should not pass
It may be necessary to avoid certain points like
religious place, costly structures, and unsuitable
land thereby deviating from the shortest path.
Contd…
 Contd…
• Traffic
New road to be aligned should keep in view the desired lines,
traffic flow patterns and future trends. It should suit the traffic
requirements.
• Geometric design
Geometric design factors such as gradient, radius of curve,
sight distance would govern the final alignment.
• Economics
The alignment based on the above factors should also be
economical i.e. initial cost plus maintenance cost and vehicle
operation cost taken together should be minimum. Deep
cuttings and high embankments are to be avoided.
• Other factors
These may be the drainage considerations, hydrological
factors, political considerations and monotony. After a few km
of straight road, it may be desirable to have a slight bend to
break the monotony and keep the driver alert.
 Contd…
Special considerations for hill roads
• Stability
Special care should be taken to align the road along the side of the hill
which is stable. Landslide is the common problem in hill roads.
• Drainage
Numerous hill side drains are to be provided for adequate drainage
across the road. Attempts are to be taken to align the road in such a
way so as to keep the no. of CD work to minimum as they are costly.
• Geometric standards of hill roads
Different sets of geometric standards are followed in hill roads w.r.t.
gradient, curves and speed, ruling gradient is to be attained in most of
the lengths, minimizing steep gradient, hair pin bend and needless rise
and fall.
• Resisting length
Resisting length of a road may be calculated from the total work to be
done to move the loads along the route taking the horizontal length,
the actual difference in elevation between the two stations and the
sum of ineffective rise and fall in excess of floating gradient. Resisting
length should be kept as low as possible.
 Highway location survey
Stages are:
• Map study
• Reconnaissance
• Preliminary survey
• Final location and detailed survey
 Map study
• If the topographic map of the area is available, it is
possible to suggest the likely routes of the road.
• A topographic map is characterized by large scale detail
and quantitative representation of relief, usually using
contours in modern mapping.
• This map shows both natural and manmade features. It
is a detailed and accurate graphic representation of
cultural and natural features of the ground.
• Scale varies from 1:50000 to 1:250000. In India,
topographic maps are available from survey of India
with 15 m to 30 m contour intervals.
• The main features like rivers, lakes, valleys, hills etc. are
shown on these maps.
• By careful study of these maps, it is possible to have an
idea of several possible alternate routes so that further
details of these may be studied later at the site.
 Contd…
100

90

80

90
80

Ridge line

Valley line
 Contd…
The probable alignment can be located on the map from
the following details available on the map.
• Alignment avoiding valleys, ponds or lakes.
• When the road has to cross a row of hills, the
possibility of crossing through a mountain pass.
• Approximate location of bridge site for crossing rivers,
avoiding bend, if any.
• When a road is to be connected between two stations
one on the top of hill and other on the foot, then
alternate routes can be suggested keeping in view the
permissible gradient. Suppose the scale of contour
map is known, then from contour interval it is possible
to decide the length of road between two consecutive
contours, keeping the gradient within limits.
Contd…
 Reconnaissance
• After the map study, the second stage of survey
for highway location is the reconnaissance to
examine the general character of the area for
deciding the most feasible routes for detailed
studies.
• A field survey party may inspect a fairly broad
stretch of land along the proposed alternate
routes of the map in the field.
• Simple instruments like Abney level, tangent
clinometer, barometer etc. are used to collect
additional details rapidly.
• All relevant details not found in the map are
collected and noted down.
 Contd…
Some of the details to be collected during reconnaissance are:
• Valleys, ponds, lakes, marshy land, ridge, hills, permanent
structures and other obstructions along the route which are not
available in the map.
• Approximate values of gradient, length of grades and radius of
curves of alternate routes.
• Number and type of CD structures, HFL and natural ground water
level along the probable routes.
• Soil type along the routes from field identification tests and
observation of geological features.
• Sources of construction materials, water and location of stone
quarries.
• When the road is to pass through hilly or mountainous terrain,
additional data on geological formation, dip of strata, type of rocks,
seepage flow etc. may be observed to decide the stable side of the
hill for alignment.
• A rapid reconnaissance may be done by aerial survey. From the
details collected during reconnaissance, the alignment proposed
after map study may be altered or even changed completely. A few
alternate alignments may be chosen for further study based on
practical considerations at site.
 Preliminary survey
The main objectives of preliminary survey are:
• To survey the various alternate alignments
proposed after the reconnaissance and to collect
all the necessary physical information and details
of topography, drainage and soil.
• To compare the different proposals in view of the
requirements of a good alignment
• To estimate the quantity of earth work, materials
and other construction aspects and to work out
the cost of alternate proposals.
• To finalize the best alignment from all
considerations
 Contd…
Preliminary survey may be carried out by any one of
the following methods:
• Conventional approach in which a survey party
carries out surveys using the required field
equipment, taking measurements, collecting
topographical and other data and carrying out
soil survey.
• Modern rapid approach by aerial survey, taking
the required aerial photographs and by
photogrammetric methods and photo
interpretation techniques for obtaining the
necessary topographic and other maps including
details of soil and geology.
 Conventional Preliminary survey
• Primary traverse
1st step is to establish the primary traverse, following the
line recommended in reconnaissance. As these traverses
are open traverse no adjustment of errors is possible
later, so the angles should be very accurately measured
by theodolite. Length of centre line should be measured
by using very good and accurate chaining methods or by
tacheometry or by modern instruments.
• Topographical features
After establishing the centre line, the topographical
features are recorded. All the geographical and manmade
features along the traverse and for a certain width on
either side are surveyed and plotted. Absolute minimum
width is the land width of approved alignment.
 Contd…
• Leveling work
Leveling work is carried out to give the Centre line
profiles and typical C/Ss. Leveling work in preliminary
survey is kept minimum just sufficient to get approximate
earth work in alternate alignments. To draw contours C/S
levels in 100-200 m in plain terrain and 50 m in rolling
terrain and 30 m in hilly terrain are taken.
• Drainage studies and hydrological data
Drainage investigations and hydrological data are
collected so as to estimate the type, no and approximate
size of CD structures. The vertical alignment i. e. the
grade line is decided on the basis of HFL, ponded water
level, depth of water table, amount of surface runoff etc.
 Contd…
• Soil survey
A detailed soil survey is not necessary. Hand augers or post-
hole augers are used to collect the soil sample upto a depth of
1-3 m below the likely finished road level or existing ground
level whichever is lower. When the road is to be constructed
over an embankment, the depth of exploration should extend
twice the height of embankment from the ground level.
Position of GWT is noted, if met with during exploration. For
rapid progress, geophysical methods of soil exploration are
best suited. Electrical resistivity method is commonly used in
road projects. The soil samples collected during field work are
subjected to identification and classification tests in the Lab.
• Material survey
Survey for stone aggregates, sand etc. and identification of
suitable quarries are made. Availability of construction
materials like cement, lime, brick, steel rods etc. and their
locations are ascertained.
 Contd…
• Traffic survey
Traffic volume counts of the classified vehicles are to be
carried out on all existing roads in the region preferably
for 24 hrs a day for 7 days. O - D surveys are useful for
deciding the alignment of roads.
• Determination of final centre line
After completing the preliminary survey and conducting
the comparative studies of alternate alignments, final C/L
of the road is to be decided in the office before final
location survey. For this, the preliminary survey maps
consisting of the contour maps, L/S and C/S of the
alternate alignments are prepared and studied to decide
the best alignment satisfying the engg., aesthetic and
economical requirements.
 Aerial survey
In case of aerial survey the steps are:
• Taking aerial photographs of the strips of land to be
surveyed with required longitudinal and lateral
overlaps.
• Photographs are examined under stereoscopes and
control points are selected for establishing the
traverses of alternate proposals. Control points are
located on the maps.
• Using stereo-pair observations, the spot levels and
subsequently the contour lines may be obtained.
• Photo-interpretation methods are used to assess the
geological features, soil conditions, drainage
requirements etc.
 Final location and detailed survey
Final location
• The C/L of the road finalized in drawing is to be
transferred to the ground during the location
survey.
• This is done by using transit theodolite and by
staking of the C/L.
• Major and minor control points are established
on the ground and the centre pegs are driven,
checking the geometric design requirements.
• Modification in final location may be made in the
field, if required. C/L stakes are driven at suitable
intervals say 50 m in P & R terrain and at 20 m in
hilly region.
 Contd…
Detailed survey
• TBMs are fixed @ 250 m along the alignment and at all CD
Structures and underpass.
• The C/S elevations are taken upto the desired width at
intervals of 50-100 m in plain terrain, 50-70 m in rolling
terrain, 50 m in built up areas and 20 m in hilly terrain.
• C/S may be taken at closer intervals at horizontal sharp
curves and when there is abrupt change in cross slope.
• All river crossings, valleys etc. are surveyed in detail upto
considerable distance on either side.
• Minimum three sections, one at bridge site and one each
on U/S and D/S are to be taken for a bridge. For catchment
area upto 3 sq km, it is to be 100 m U/S and D/S; catchment
area 3-15 sq km it is to be 300 m U/S and D/S and for > 15
sq km the same is to be 500 m U/S and D/S in addition to
one at the centre of the bridge.
 Contd…
• All topographical details are noted down and plotted
using conventional signs.
• Adequate hydrological details are collected and
recorded.
• A detailed soil survey upto a depth of 1.5-3.0 m below
ground line or finished grade line whichever is lower is
carried out.
• For high embankments, the depth is to be twice the
height of embankment.
• CBR of the soil at least one per km along the alignment
is found for design of pavement.
The data during detailed survey should be elaborate and
complete for preparing detailed plans, design and
estimates of the project.
 Important Plans
• Key map: It should show the existing and proposed
roads and important places to be connected. Size of
plan is not greater than 22 cm x 20 cm. Scale is chosen
suitably depending on the length of road.
• Index map: It should show the general topography of
the area and the details are symbolically represented.
It should be of suitable scale with size being 32 cm x 20
cm.
• Preliminary survey plans: Plans showing details of the
various alternate alignments and all information
collected are normally drawn to a scale of 1:4000 to
1:10000.
• Detailed plans: Show the ground plan with alignment
and boundaries, contours at intervals of 1-2 m, in plain
country a scale of 1:2400 and in close country, a scale
of 1:1200 may be adopted for detailed plans. Size of
plan may be A2 size or 60 cm x 42 cm approx.
 Contd…
• Longitudinal sections: Should be drawn to the same horizontal scale of
the ground as in detailed plan. Vertical scale may be enlarged 10 times the
longitudinal scale. L/S should show the datum line, existing ground level,
vertical profile of the proposed road and the position of CD structures.
• Cross sections: C/Ss are generally drawn to a natural scale of 1:200 to 250.
It is drawn at every 100 m or at closer intervals in case of abrupt change in
topography. C/S drawings should extend at least upto the proposed right
of way. The C/S number (chainage), reduced levels, toe distances and the
area of cut/fill should be shown on C/S drawings.
• Land acquisition plans and schedules: These are usually prepared from
detailed survey plans for land acquisition details. Govt. land, pvt. land and
forest land etc. are shown in different colours. Land schedule in prescribed
format stating the plot no., type of land, area etc. is prepared. Scale is
1:4000 or less.
• Detailed design: Needed for CDs, RW, Breast wall, drains etc. and plans
are drawn to a scale of 1:100. Drawings of road intersections are prepared
showing the pavement, shoulder, islands etc. to a scale of 1:100.
• Land plan for quarries: Where quarries for construction materials are to
be acquired for new projects, separate land plans should be prepared. Size
of such map and scale may be the same as suggested in land acquisition
plan.
THANKS