LECTURE NO 3

•Transportation Engineering An Introduction

3rd Edition by C. Jotin Khisty and B. Kent
Lall (Pages 211 – 219)

•Highway Engineering 6th Edition by Paul H.

Wright (Pages 166 – 176)

•A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways

and Streets 2004 (GREEN BOOK)
 DESIGN OF HIGHWAYS
•Geometric Design of Highways
•Structural Design of Highways
 Geometric Design of Highways
Design of geometric cross section
Horizontal alignment
Vertical alignment
Intersections
 Classification of Highways
•The classification of highway into different
operational systems, functional classes, or
geometric type is necessary for communication
among engineers, administrators, and the
general public.
•Different classification schemes have been
applied for different purposes in different
rural and urban regions.
 Classification Examples

Functional Classification – The grouping of

highways by the character of service they
provide. Developed for transportation
planning purposes.
 Movements and Components
Freeway – main movement is unintrupted
Freeway Ramps – acts as transition roadways
Arterials – Moderate speed distributor facility
Collector Roads – to penetrate neighborhood.
Local Access Road – to individual
residence.`````````````````````
 Functional Categories
Access Roads

•Single lane – provided where there is a small

probability of vehicles meeting (AADT < 20).
Very few passing maneuvers can be undertaken
at very reduced speed using shoulders. Vehicle
flow from access roads will be aggregated in the
collector road network.
•Two lanes – Provided for higher traffic flows
(AADT 20 – 100). Safe overtaking insured.
Provide access to rural agriculture and cities.
 Collector Roads
For medium volume of traffic (100 to 1000
vehicles/day)
Width may be 5 to 5.5 m (when heavy
vehicles are less)
Width may be 5.5 to 6.0 m (when heavy
vehicles are >40%)
Collectors link access roads to Arteries.
Principal arteries (for main movement)
•For high traffic flows (> 1000
vehicles/day). Minimum width
required is 6.5 m
•Width of vehicle is 2.5 m
•Heavy vehicles can pass safely without
moving laterally or slowing down.
 Express ways
Divided Arterial highways for through traffic
with full or partial control of access and
generally with grade separator at major
intersections.
(Full control of access means that authority to control access is
exercised to give preference to through traffic by providing
access connections with selected public roads only and by
prohibiting cross section at grade or direct private driving
connection.
Partial control of access means that authority to control access
is exercised to give preference to through traffic to a degree
that is added to access connections with selected public roads,
there may be some crossing at at grade and some private
driving connection.
Free ways – Express way with full control of
access.
Motorway – High volume, high speed highways.
•At least 4 lanes (3.5 m) divided
•Physical separators between confronting
streams of traffic (median, concrete walls)
•Access control (complete/partial)
•Grade separated intersections (interchange/fly
over)
•Fencing , underpasses for pedestrians/ cattle
passes
•Administrative Classification is used to denote the
level of government responsible for, and the method of
financing, highway facilities. (for allocation of funds
and to define authority for planning, design,
construction and maintenance).

Administrative Authorities
NHA (National Highway Authority)
PWD (Public Works Department)
Local Government
•Street – Road in built up area
•By pass road – a road built to by pass
congested area
•Ring road – Circumferential road built around an
urban area to enable free flow of traffic.
•Boulevard – City road with landscape.
•Ribbon development – Unauthorized development
around roads / highways
Frontage Roads – Serve numerous functions,
depending on the type of arterial they serve
and the character of the surrounding area.
They may be used to control access to the
arterial, function as a street facility serving
adjoining properties, and maintain
circulation of traffic on each side of the
arterial. Frontage roads segregate local
traffic from the high speed through traffic
and intercept driveways of residences and
commercial establishments along the
highway. Thus the through character of the
Civil
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A frontage road is a local road running paralelto a high speed, limited access road.

highway is preserved. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drive ways shops,
houses, industries or farms where parallel high speed road are provided as
apart of major high way. These are also know as local express lands.
 Commercial Vehicles
Rigid Chases – SU Trucks (2 to 4 axle cargo
and power unit mounted on same frame)
Articulated – Two or more sections of a vehicle
joined together in such a way that it makes it
easy to turn corners e.g tractor and trailer
combination. Combinate trucks (18 wheeler is most
common, it has three axles on tractor and two on semi trailer.
It consists of power unit or tractor and one or more trailers.
The trailers are either semi trailers ( i.e having one or more
axle near its rear but no front axle.) or full trailers i.e having
one or more axles at front and rear.
 Design Vehicle Dimensions
Design Vehicle Type Symbol Height Width Length
(m) (m) (m)
Passenger car P 1.3 2.1 5.8
Single unit truck Su 4.1 2.6 9.1
Single unit bus BUS 4.1 2.6 12.1
Recreation Vehicles
Motor home MH 2.4 9.1
Car & camper trailer P/T 2.4 14.9
Car & boat trailer P/B 2.4 12.8
Pedestrian – A pedestrian is any person on
foot. Involvement of pedestrian is a major
consideration in highway planning and design.
Pedestrian Crossing
•Level with road – Zebra Crossing
•Above level of road – foot over bridge (not
preferred, 15 to 18 ft. height)
•Below level of road – subway (convenient 7 to
8 ft. height)
Speed change lanes / Auxiliary lanes
Mass Transit – Movement of large number of
people between small no of locations
Terrain / Topography – Causes speed of heavy
vehicles to reduce below cars.
•Level – heavy vehicles can maintain same
speed as a car.
•Rolling – speed of heavy vehicles reduces
considerably than cars.
•Mountaneous - heavy vehicles operate at
crawling speed
 CROSS SECTION ELEMENTS
•Number of travel lanes to be provided
•Width and location of shoulders
•Medians
•Slopes
•Embankments and Ditches
Components of a flexible pavement
Cross section of a road: main road situated outside
towns and cities.
Platform: horizontal surface raised above the
surrounding ground.
Shoulder: space between the roadway and the ditch.
Median strip: separation between two roadway.
Carriageway: central part reserved for vehicle
traffic.
Ditch: channel that carries away water.
Subgrade: upper surface of prepared ground.
Base course: middle surface of a road.
Subbase: lower surface of a road.
 Highway Travel Lanes
The width of the surfaced road and number
of lanes should be adequate to accommodate
the type and volume of anticipated traffic
and assumed design speed of vehicles. Roads
presently in use have traditionally been
separated into generalized categories that
include two-lanes, three-lanes, multilane
undivided, multilane divided, and limited
access highways.
 Two Lane Highways
•Two lane roads vary from low type roads, which
follow the natural ground surface, to high speed
primary highways with paved surface and stabilized
shoulders.
•As traffic density, vehicle speeds, and truck widths
have increased, two lane highways have also
increased in width from 4.8 m to the current
recommended value of 7.2 m with 3 m stabilized or
paved shoulders on either side along primary routs.
AASHTO recommends a range of minimum surface
widths, based on combination of the design speed
and traffic volume magnitude.
 Three Lane Highways
Three lane roads were built in previous years.
Their great advantage seemed to stem from an
operational improvement over the two lane
road, with only a moderate increase in
construction and right of way costs. The center
lane is either used as two way center left turn
lane or alternate in the uphill direction as
directional passing lane. The three lane road
does appear to have a high accident rate, and
construction of these types of roads is no
longer recommended except in special cases
 Four Lane Highways
•On four lane highways traffic flows in opposite directions
on each pair of lanes, and passing is accomplished within
the lanes of forward movement and not in the lanes of
opposing traffic.
•Four lane highways provide at least four times the
capacity of a two lane highway for the same assumed
design speed. Sometimes up to eight lane highways are
also used. The undivided multilane highway does,
however, appear to have an accident rate higher than that
of the two lane highway.
•It is preferable that when traffic volumes are sufficient to
require multilane construction, traffic separation is
desirable.
 Divided Highways
•In order to provide positive protection against conflict
of opposing traffic, highways are frequently divided by
a median strip. On such highways, lane widths should
be minimum of 3.6 m, with 4 m lanes provided where
many large trucks combinations are anticipated.
•It is highly desirable that all multilane highways
should be divided. The width of these median strips
vary from 1.2 m to 18 m or more.
•A median strip less than 1.2 m to 1.8 m in width is
considered to be little more than the center line strip
and its use except for special conditions should be
discouraged.
•Where narrow medians must be used, many
agencies install median barriers to physically
separate opposing flows of traffic and minimize the
potential for head on collisions. Medians of 4.2 m to
4.8 m have been used and are sufficient to provide
most of the separate advantages for opposing traffic
while permitting the inclusion of a median lane at
crossroads for right turn movements, however ,
medians 4.8 m to 18 m wide and greater are now
recommended when surrounding conditions permit
•The median should also be of sufficient width to
maintain vegetation and support low growing shurbs
that reduce the headlight glare of opposing traffic
•Median strips at intersections should receive
careful consideration and should be designed to
permit necessary turning movements, which
may require single or even dual right turn
lanes.
•Many agencies design the width of medians so
that additional travel lanes can be added in the
future, if required, within the limit of the
median.
•For rural divided highways a median width of
13.4 m is considered desirable to provide one
3.6 m travel lane in each direction,while leaving
a 6 m wide strip.
•Divided highways need not be of a constant
cross section. The median strip may vary in
width; the road may be at different elevations;
and super elevation may be applied separately on
each set of lanes. In rolling terrain, substantial
saving may be effected in construction and
maintenance costs by this variation in design.
This type of design also tends to eliminate the
monotony of a constant width and equal grade
alignment.
•Where it is necessary to narrow the median
strip, or where intersections make it desirable
to widen the median strip, or where
intersections make it desirable to widen the
median strip in tangent alignment, the change
may be effected by reverse curve of 1750 m
radius (1º curvature), which can be provided
without super elevation or transitions. Where
such changes in width on curves are desirable,
they should be accomplished if possible by
changing the curvature of one or both sides of
roadway alignment.
 Limited Access Highways
•A very important feature of the design of a
multilane highway is the control of access from
adjacent property.
•A limited access highway may be defined as a
highway or street especially designed for through
traffic, to which motorists and owners of abutting
properties have only restricted right of access.
•Limited or controlled access highways may
consist of freeways that are open to all types of
traffic or parkways from which all commercial
traffic is excluded.
•In urban areas, the design of a limited access
facility is usually accompanied by the design of
frontage roads, parallel to the facility, which
serve local traffic and provide access to adjacent
land. Such roads may be designed for either one
way or two way operation. Reasonably
convenient connection should be provided
between through traffic lanes and frontages. In
general desirable spacing of access points or
interchanges along limited access facilities is
1500 m (1 mile) or greater in urban areas and 4
to 7 km (3 to 5 miles) in rural areas.
 Pavement Crowns
•Another element of the highway cross section
is the pavement crown, which is the raising of
the centerline of the roadway above the
elevation of the pavement edges.

On the early low-type roads, high

crowns were necessary for good drainage and
were commonly constructed at a 4 percent
slope rate or more (1/2 in. or more per foot).
•Present-day high-type pavements with good
control of drainage now have crowns as low as 1
percent slope rate (1/8 in. per foot). Low crowns
are satisfactory when little or no settlement of the
pavement is expected and when the drainage
system is of sufficient capacity to quickly remove
the water from a traffic lane to prevent a motor
vehicle from hydroplaning. When four or more
traffic lanes are used, it is desirable to provide a
higher rate of crown on the outer lanes in order to
expedite the flow of water from the pavement into
the gutter or onto adjacent unpaved shoulder.
•Crowns may be formed by intersecting
tangent lines or by curved lines that emanate
from the road centerline. In the latter case,
circular arcs of long radii are used, as well as
parabolic arcs. It makes little difference which
is employed. but the parabolic arc lends itself
better to making computations for the initial
offsets or coordinates in constructing
templates or in setting grades.
 Shoulders

• Closely related to the lane width is the width of

the shoulders. It is necessary to provide
shoulders for safe operation and to allow the
development of full traffic capacity. Well-
maintained, smooth, firm shoulders increase the
effective width of the traffic lane as much as 0.6
m (2 ft), as most vehicle operators drive closer
to the edge of the pavement in the presence of
adequate shoulders.
•To accomplish their purpose, shoulders
should be wide enough to permit and
encourage vehicles to leave the
pavement when stopping. The greater
the traffic volume, the greater is the
likelihood of the shoulders being put to
emergency use.
•A usable outside shoulder width of at least 3
m (10 ft) and preferably 3.6 m (12 ft) clear of
all obstructions is desirable for all heavily
traveled and high-speed highways. Inside
shoulders often are not as wide. In
mountainous areas, where the extra cost of
providing shoulders of this width may be
prohibitive, or on low type highways, a of
minimum width 1.2 m (4 ft) may be
provided; a width of 1.8 to 2.4 m (6 to 8 ft) is
preferable.
•Under these conditions, however,
emergency parking pull-outs should be
provided at proper intervals. For areas
of terrain where guardrails or other
vertical elements (such as retaining
walls) are required, an additional 0.6 m
(2 ft) of shoulder widening should be
provided.
•The slope of the shoulder should be
greater than that of the pavement. A
shoulder with a high-type surfacing should
have a slope of at least 3 percent (3/8 in.
per foot). Sodded shoulders may have a
slope as high as 8 percent (1 in. per foot) in
order to efficiently carry water away from
the pavement.
 Guardrail
•Guardrail should be provided where fills are
over 2.4 m (8 ft) in height, when shoulder slopes
are greater than 4:1, in locations where there is
sudden change in alignment, and where a
greater reduction in speed is necessary. In
locations with deep roadside ditches, steep
banks, or other right-of-way limitations, it is
often necessary to steepen the side slopes and to
require the use of guardrail.
•Where guardrail is used, the width of the
shoulders is increased approximately 0.6 m (2
ft) to allow space for placing the posts.
•Various types of guardrail are in use at the
present time. The most important of these are
the W-beam guardrail, the cable guardrail,
and the box beam guardrail.
•These may be installed on wood, steel, or
concrete posts. Some agencies have
successfully used the so-called weak post
system. In this system, the posts collapse when
struck, and the rail deflects and absorbs the
energy of the impact.
•When strong posts are used, the rail should
be blocked out or supported away from the
post to minimize pocketing of the vehicle.
 Crash Cushion
Crash Cushion" is another useful safety feature
on our roads. It is an energy absorbing crash
attenuator with yellow and black chevron sign
placed in front of the hard gore areas along
expressways and major arterial roads. Gore
area refers to location where the road is
diverged into more directions, whereas hard
gore refers to area with concrete platform.
•A s the term "Crash Cushion" suggests, it is
designed to help "soften" the impact of
crashes. By redirecting the vehicles in the
event of a collision, crash cushion helps to
absorb the impact and minimize the damage
caused to the impacting vehicle and thereby
reduce the severity of injuries.
Curbs, Curb and Gutter, and Drainage Ditches
•The use of curbs is generally confined to urban
and suburban roadways. The design of curbs
varies from a low, flat, angle-type to a nearly
vertical barrier-type curb. In areas where
sidewalks are not provided, curbs adjacent to
traffic lanes should be low in height and
constructed with a flatter vertical angle so as not
to create an obstruction.
•The face of the curb should be no steeper than
45° so that vehicles may drive over the curb
w ithout difficulty. This type of curb design is
generally referred to as a mountable curb.
• Curbs at parking areas and adjacent to
si dewalks should be 150 to 200 mm (6 to 8 in.)
in height, with a curb face that is nearly
v ertical. Clearance should be sufficient to clear
p assenger ar fenders and bumpers and to
permit the opening of car doors without
c
scraping.
•Storm water drainage and the ability to
accommodate curb inlets will also affect the
shape and height of the curb. From a
pedestrian's viewpoint, curbs should be
limited to one step in height. When a
barrier curb is used, it should be offset a
minimum of 3 m (10 ft) from the edge of the
traffic lane. Figure shows some commonly
utilized typical curb sections.
Drainage ditches should be located and
shaped to avoid creating a hazard to traffic
safety. Under normal conditions, ditches
should be low enough to drain the water
from under the pavement. A broad, flat,
rounded ditch section has been found to be
safer than a V-type ditch, which also may be
subject to undesirable erosive hydraulic
action. The longitudinal gradient or slope of
the ditch may vary greatly from that of the
adjacent roadway pavement profile grade
line.
 Slopes
•Side slopes and back slopes may vary
considerably depending on soil characteristics
and the geographic location of the highway.
Well-rounded flat slopes present a pleasing
appearance and are most economical to build
and maintain. Side slopes of 4:1 are used a
great deal in both cut and fill sections up to
about 3 m (10 ft) in depth or height, but where
the height of cut or fill does not exceed 1.8 m (6
ft), a maximum side slope of 6:1 is
recommended.
•Extremely flat slopes are sometimes used in
low-lying areas, where guardrail is used.
•Slopes may be as high as 1.5:1. Slopes as high
as 1:1 are generally not satisfactory and
typically exhibit an expensive long-term
maintenance problem.
•In certain fill sections, special slopes may be
built with riprap, mechanically stabilized fabric
applications, reinforced concrete cribbing, and
various types of retaining walls.
•The back slopes in cut areas may vary from
6:1 to vertical in rock sections and to 1.5:1 in
normal soil conditions. In general, 2:1 is most
commonly used for a back slope in order to
remain within the right-of-way width and to
reduce the impact on adjacent properties.
•It is sometimes advisable to have back slopes
as flat as 4:1 when side borrow is needed. Slope
transitions from cuts to fills should be gradual
and should extend over a considerable length
of the roadway.
 Right-of-Way
•The right-of-way width for a two-lane highway
on secondary roads with an annual average daily
traffic volume of 400 to 1000 vehicles, as
recommended by the American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials, is 20
m (66 ft) minimum and 25 m (80 ft) desirable.
•Along the Interstate Highway system minimum
widths vary, depending on local conditions, from
46 m (150 ft) without frontage roads and 76 m
(250 ft) with frontage roads, to 60 to 90 m (200 to
300 ft) for an eight-lane divided highway without
frontage roads.
•On high-type two- lane highways in rural areas
a minimum width of 30 m (100 ft), with 37 m
(120 ft) desirable, is recommended. A minimum
width of 45 m (150 ft) and a desirable width of
76 m (250 ft) are recommended for divided
highways.
•Sufficient right-of-way should be acquired
in order to avoid the expense of purchasing
developed property or the removal of other
physical encroachments from the highway
right-of-way. A wide section of right-of-way
must be given careful consideration for a
balanced design. The selection of a width
based on minimum or desirable dimensions
is typically established with respect to
facility type and surrounding conditions. A
typical design is illustrated in Figure 7-5.