THE HIGHWAY AND

ITS DEVELOPMENT
A. Highway in the Philippines
Highways in the Philippines include roads that can be
classified into six divisions:
The Maharlika Highway
Controlled-access highways
The Regional Highways
The Provincial Highways
The Manila Arterial Road System
The secondary city and municipal avenues and roads
The Maharlika Highway
The Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the
Maharlika ("Nobility/Free People") Highway
(AH26 AH26) is a 3,517 km (2,185 mi) network
of roads, bridges, and ferry services that
connect the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and
Mindanao in the Philippines, serving as the
country's principal transport backbone.
Controlled-access highways

is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed

vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress
regulated.
They are known by various terms worldwide,
including Autobahn, autoestrada, autopista,
autoroute, autostrada, freeway, motorway, snelweg,
thruway, and sometimes less precise terms such as
expressway, highway, interstate, or parkway
The Provincial Highways
Here are some examples of Toll-Free Provincial Highways in the Philippines

Aguinaldo Highway (Cavite and Batangas)

Kennon Road (Benguet and La Union)
Dalton Pass (Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya)
Quirino Highway (Manila and Bulacan)
Fortunato F. Halili Avenue (Bulacan)
Del Monte-Norzagaray Road (Bulacan)
Kalayaan Avenue (Manila and Rizal)
Marikina-Infanta Highway (Manila, Rizal and Quezon)
Antero Soriano Highway (Cavite)
Governor's Drive (Laguna and Cavite)

Acacia Highway (Cebu)

Jose P. Laurel Highway (Cebu)
Jose P. Laurel Highway (Quezon and Albay)
Jose Abad Santos Avenue (Bataan and Tarlac)
MacArthur Highway (Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan and La-Union)
Batasan-San Mateo Road (Manila-Rizal)
Ayala Highway (Albay and Quezon)
Manila East Road (Manila, Rizal, Quezon and Laguna)
Filipino-American Friendship Highway (Angeles City)
The Manila Arterial Road System

is the highway numbering system that is currently being implemented

in Metro Manila in the Philippines, organizing the major thoroughfares
of the Metropolis. The system was adopted during the term of
President Ferdinand Marcos in 1965 and is still imposed by the
Department of Public Works and Highways.The Metro Manila Arterial
Road System numbering is very much different to other road
numbering system in other countries. The roads that are part of the
Metro Manila Arterial Road System are the National Roads, the
Circumferential Roads, and the Radial Roads, as well as the other major
roads connecting the cities of Manila, Quezon, North and South
Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, Navotas, Pasay,Paraaque, Las Pias,
Taguig, Marikina, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pateros and San Juan as
B. Planning Difficulties
The planning process commences with the
collection of historical traffic data covering the
geographical area of interest.
Growth levels in past years act as a strong
indicator regarding the volumes one can expect
over the chosen future time, be it 15, 20 or 30
years.
Planning Difficulties (contd.)
The demand for highway schemes stems from the
requirements of people to travel from one location to
another in order to perform the activities that make up their
everyday lives. The level of this demand for travel depends
on a number of factors:
1. The location of peoples work, shopping and leisure facilities
relative to their homes
2. The type of transport available to those making the journey
3. The demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the
population in question.
 As an example of the relationship between these characteristics
and the change in traffic demand, let us examine Dublin Citys
measured growth in peak travel demand over the past ten years
together with the levels predicted for the next ten, using figures
supplied by the Dublin Transport Office (DTO) in 2000.

Table 1.1 shows that between 1991 and 1999 peak

hour demand grew by 65%.
 The cause of these substantial increases can be seen when one
examines the main factors influencing traffic growth population,
number of cars per household and economic growth. Between 1991
and 1999, the population within the area increased by just over 8%,
and car ownership by 38.5%, with gross domestic product increasing
to 179% of its 1991 value. DTO have predicted that, between 1999
and 2016, population will increase by 20% and car ownership by 40%,
with gross domestic product increasing to 260% of its 1991 value (see
Table 1.2).
 On the assumption that a road scheme is selected to cater
for this increased future demand, the design process
requires that the traffic volumes for some year in the future,
termed the design year, can be estimated. (The design year is
generally taken as 1015 years after the highway has
commenced operation.)
The basic building block of this process is the current level of
traffic using the section of highway at present. Onto this
figure must be added an estimate for the normal traffic
growth, i.e. that which is due to the year-on-year annual
increases in the number of vehicles using the highway
between now and the design year
C. Highway Programming
In order to evaluate various projects from various parts of
the state, information is collected consisting of the following
items: transportation inventories, traffic analyses, modal
forecasts, future system requirements, levels of service,
population data and forecasts, land use inventories, public
facilities plans, and basic social, economic, and
environmental data.
This information comes from various sources, both public
and private, is updated on a regular basis, and is used in
developing the states transportation improvement program.
 The statewide fiscal program is also considered in
developing the plan. Transportation investment, fiscal
forecasts, and consideration of expenditure tradeoffs
between modes are some of the financial
considerations affecting the project selection process

Public input is sought from regional to local levels.

Local and regional planning organizations, as well as
private individuals, have a chance to express opinions
and provide input to the project selection process.
Community Involvement
Under the Council on Environmental Quality CEQ regulations,
public involvement is an essential element of the NEPA
process, and the proposing agency must make sincere efforts
to encourage and provide for early and continuing public
participation in the decision-making process.
Early incorporation of public input on project alternatives
and issues dealing with social, economic, and environmental
impacts helps in deciding whether to prepare an EA or an
EIS, the scope of the document, and the important or
controversial issues related to the project or program.
E. Highway Economy
Cost-benefit analysis is the most widely used method of project
appraisal throughout the world. Its origins can be traced back to a
classic paper on the utility of public works by Dupuit (1844), written
originally in the French language.
The technique was first introduced in the US in the early part of the
twentieth century with the advent of the Rivers and Harbours Act 1902
which required that any evaluation of a given development option must
take explicit account of navigation benefits arising from the proposal,
and these should be set against project costs, with the project only
receiving financial support from the federal government in situations
where benefits exceeded costs.
F. Location of the Proposed
Road
The basic principle for locating highways is that roadway
elements such as curvature and grade must blend with each
other to produce a system that provides for the easy flow of
traffic at the design capacity, while meeting design criteria
and safety standards.
The highway location process involves four phases:
1. Office study of existing information.
2. Reconnaissance survey.
3. Preliminary location survey.
4. Final location survey.
1- Office study of existing
information
The first phase in any highway location study is the
examination of all available data of the area in which the
road is to be constructed. This phase is usually carried out in
the office prior to any field or photogrammetric
investigation.
These data can be obtained from existing engineering
reports, maps, aerial photographs, and charts, which are
usually available at one or more of the states departments
of transportation, agriculture, geology, hydrology, and
mining.
Data should be obtained on the following
characteristics of the area:
Engineering, including topography, geology, climate, and
traffic volumes.
Social and demographic, including land use and zoning
patterns.
Environmental, including types of wildlife; location of
recreational, historic, and archeological sites; and the
possible effects of air, noise, and water pollution.
Economic, including unit costs for construction and the
trend of agricultural, commercial, and industrial activities.
2- Reconnaissance Survey
The object of this phase of the study is to identify several feasible
routes, each within a band of a limited width of a few hundred
meters. When rural roads are being considered, there is often very
little or no information available on maps or photographs, and
therefore aerial photography is widely used to obtain the required
information.
Feasible routes are identified by a stereoscopic examination of
the aerial photographs, taking into consideration factors such as:
Terrain and soil conditions.
Serviceability of route to industrial and population areas.
Crossing of other transportation facilities, such as rivers, railroads, and
other highways.
3- Preliminary Location Survey
During this phase of the study, the positions of
the feasible routes are set as closely as possible
by establishing all the control points and
determining preliminary vertical and horizontal
alignments for each. Preliminary alignments are
used to evaluate the economic and
environmental feasibility of the alternative
routes.
3.1 Economic Evaluation
Economic evaluation of each alternative route is
carried out to determine the future effect of investing
the resources necessary to construct the highway.
The benefit-cost ratio method is used for this
evaluation. Factors usually taken into consideration
include road user costs, construction costs,
maintenance costs, road user benefits, and any
disbenefits, which may include adverse impacts due
to dislocation of families, businesses, and so forth.
3.2 Environmental Evaluation
Construction of a highway at any location will have a significant
impact on its surrounding. A highway is therefore an integral part of
the local environment and must be considered as such.
In general, the requirements call for the submission of environmental
impact statements for many projects. These statements should
include:
A detailed description of alternatives.
The probable environmental impact, including the assessment of positive
and negative effects.
An analysis of short-term impact as differentiated from long-term impact.
Any secondary effects, which may be in the form of changes in the patterns
of social and economic activities.
Probable adverse environmental effects that cannot be avoided if the
4- Final Location Survey
The final location survey is the detailed layout of the
selected route, during which time the final horizontal and
vertical alignments are determined and the final positions
of structures and drainage channels are also determined.
The conventional method used is first to set out the points
of intersections (PI) of the straight portions of the highway
and then to fit a suitable horizontal curve between these.
G. Highway Plans and
Specifications
When the highway planning process takes place within a
large urban area and other transport options such as rail and
cycling may be under consideration alongside car-based
ones, the procedure can become quite complex and the
workload involved in data collection can become immense.
In such circumstances, before a comprehensive study can be
undertaken, one of a number of broad strategy options must
be chosen:
a. The land use transportation approach
b. The demand management approach
c. The car-centred approach
d. The public transport-centred approach.
Land use transportation
approach
Within this method, the management of land use planning is seen as
the solution to controlling the demand for transport. The growing trend
where many commuters live in suburbs of a major conurbation or in
small satellite towns while working within or near the city centre has
resulted in many using their private car for their journey to work. This
has led to congestion on the roads and the need for both increased
road space and the introduction of major public transport
improvements. Land use strategies such as the location of employment
opportunities close to large residential areas and actively limiting urban
sprawl which tends to increase the dependency of commuters on the
private car, are all viable land use control mechanisms.
The demand management
approach
The demand management approach entails planning for the future by
managing demand more effectively on the existing road network rather
than constructing new road links. Demand management measures
include the tolling of heavily trafficked sections
of highway, possibly at peak times only, and car pooling, where high
occupancy rates within the cars of commuters is achieved voluntarily
either by the commuters themselves, in order to save money, or by
employers in order to meet some target stipulated by the planning
authority. Use of car pooling can be promoted by allowing private cars
with multiple occupants to use bus-lanes during peak hour travel or by
allowing them reduced parking charges at their destination.
The car-centred approach
The car-centred approach has been favoured by a number of large
cities within the US, most notably Los Angeles. It seeks to cater for
future increases in traffic demand through the construction of bigger
and better roads, be they inter-urban or intra-urban links. Such an
approach usually involves prioritising the development of road
linkages both within and between the major urban centres. Measures
such as in-car information for drivers regarding points of congestion
along their intended route and the installation of state-of-the-art
traffic control technology at all junctions, help maximise usage along
the available road space.
The public transport-centred
approach
In the public transport-centred approach the strategy will emphasise the
importance of bus and rail-based improvements as the preferred way of
coping with increased transport demand. Supporters of this approach point
to the environmental and social advantages of such a strategy, reducing noise
and air pollution and increasing efficiency in the use of fossil fuels while also
making transport available to those who cannot afford to run a car. However,
the success of such a strategy depends on the ability of transport planners to
induce increasing numbers of private car users to change their mode of travel
during peak hours to public transport. This will minimise highway congestion
as the number of peak hour journeys increase over the years. Such a result
will only be achieved if the public transport service provided is clean,
comfortable, regular and affordable.