CHAPTER

CHAPTER
Material 2
2
DESIGNING
THE HIGHWAY
F ree PP T
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 CONSISTENCY VERTICAL CURVE OVER
Table of Contents 2-1
2-2 DEFINITION OF TERMS
2-11
2-12
CREST 2-
20
TYPES OF INTERCHANGE

RIGHT OF WAY
2- THE DESIGN SPEED 2- STOPPING SIGHT DISTANCE
3 13 2- HIGHWAY INTERSECTION AT
2- CROSS SECTION OF TYPICAL 2- 21 GRADE
THE PASSING SIGHT
4 HIGHWAY
14 DISTANCE
2- 2-
ROAD SHOULDER ROAD ALIGNMENT
5 15 2- FREEWAY ENTRANCE
2- 2- 22 AND EXIT
THE CROSS SLOPE CIRCULAR CURVES
6 16
2- SUPER ELEVATION-RUNOFF
CUT OR FILL SLOPE
7 2-17 2- RAILROAD-HIGHWAY
2- 2-18 23 SEPARATION
NUMBER OF LANES WIDENING OF CURVES
8
2-9 HIGHWAY MEDIAN
2- ISLAND
2- BICYCLE LANE
2-
THE GRADE LINE 19 24
10
CONSISTENCY DEFINITION OF TERMS
In 1914, The American Association of State Highway Official
Consistency in the most important single rule in highway (AASHO) was established as an association of State Territorial
and District of Columbia Highway Department, and the Federal
design. That is, by making every element of the roadway
Highway Administration.
conforms to the expectation of every driver.
In 1973, when the Department of transportation wan integrated
into the association renaming AASHO to AASHTO, giving the
Drivers expect the highway agency to officials of these agency the power to govern its operation.
provide them with:
1 Clear information and guidance through a AASHTO PUBLICATION INCLUDES:
variety of road signs.
Transportation Geometric design
1 Materials Specifications
and Tests.
3 standards.
Drivers expect the highway agency to
2 provide them with:
2
Specifications for
highway bridges 4
Numerous policy
statements and guides.
Avoiding abrupt changes in the traffic as well
as the road standards.
AASHTO publications are authoritative. The association also
publishes the AASHTO quarterly reports on current Highway and
transportations subjects including trend in forecast and legislation.
ROAD AND HIGHWAYS
ROAD AND HIGHWAYS is
defined as strips of land that have
been cleared and further improved
for the movement of people and
goods.
ROAD
ROAD has somewhat broader
application in usage while generally
used to describe a public
thoroughfare. It can also refer to
railways.
HIGHWAY
The term was first used in England to describe
a public road built by digging ditches on both
sides and heaping up the earth in the middle
creating a way higher that the adjacent land.
Highways now connotes, a higher state of
development than road, but the words are
almost interchangeable.

Expressway is a divided arterial
highway for through traffic with full
or partial control or access and
generally provided with grade
separation at major intersections.
EXPRESSWAY
CONTROL OF ACCESS
Control of access is a condition where the Freeway is an expressway
rights of owners or occupants of adjoining
land or other persons access to light, air or with full control of access.
view in connection with a highway is fully
or partially controlled by public authority.
FULL CONTROL OF
ACCESS FREEWAY
Full Control of Access- The authority to
control access is exercised to give
preference to through traffic by providing
access. Connections to selected public roads
only. Crossing at grade or direct private
driveway connections is not permitted.
PARTIAL CONTROL OF
ACCESS
Partial control of access- The authority to
control access is exercised to give preference
to through traffic. Although in addition to
access connections with selected public roads,
there may be some crossing at grade and
some private driveway connections allowed.
Through Street or Through Highway-
Every highway or portion thereof on which
vehicular traffic is given preferential right
of way, and at the entrance to which
vehicular traffic from intersecting
highways is required by law to yield right
of way to vehicles on such through
highway in obedience to either stop sign or
yield signs erected thereon.
THROUGH HIGHWAY
Parkway is an arterial highway for
non-commercial traffic, with full or
partial control of access usually
located within a park or ribbon park-
like development.
PARKWAY
Arterial Street is an arterial route that carries traffic to the
nearest access point or through traffic. It often serves as
the most advantageous routes for relatively long-distance
travel. Most arterial streets are existing highways of
considerable length along which cross traffic is regulated
by signals or stop signs. In addition, arterials. Provide
access to adjacent property but often with restrictions on
entry and exit points. Arterial street is considered as a
“make do” substitute for controlled access facilities when
traffic volume exceeds about 20,000 vehicles per day.
ARTERIAL STREET
 Basic Considerations in Planning Arterial To increase the arterial capacity, the following
Roadways: solutions are enforced:

Parking is prohibited
During peak hours, parking
1 Selection of the routes.
2 Studies of the traffic
volume
1 is prohibited on one or both 2
several meters away from
each side of the road
sides of the street intersections or corners.

3 Origin and destination. 4 Accident experienced. 3 Right turn is allowed on red

signals any time with care.
4 Left turn are eliminated on
congested intersections

Must carry at least one

Width should not be less The direction of traffic is reversed in the center lane to provide
5 than 15 meters 6 lane of traffic in each
direction.
5 more lanes in the direction of heavier traffic flow.

Should skirt
COLLECTOR STREET
7
Should be at least one
kilometer in length. 8 neighborhood
rather than
areas
penetrate Collector street from smaller mess grid pattern where passengers are
them pick up from services streets and carried to the arterials. Large
commercial enterprises or amusement facilities like drive in theaters
9 On grid design system streets, arterials are spaced at about 600 to
900 meters apart.
are mostly fronting arterial roads.

Where accident hazard is not a factor, the minimum volume to
10 justify arterial road is 300 vehicles per average hour during the day,
and 450 vehicles hourly during peak periods.
LOCAL ROAD
Local Road is defined as street or road primarily for access to
residence. Business, or other adjoining properties. It is also defined
as road constructed and maintained by the local government.
 Highway Capacity is defined as the maximum number of
vehicles that are reasonably expected to pass a given point
over a given period of time usually expressed as vehicles per
hour.
There is an obvious relationship between vehicle speed and
highway capacity. As the volume of traffic approaches
capacity, the average speed is markedly reduced.
HIGHWAY CAPACITY
1 Under ideal conditions, one freeway lane can accommodate
about 2,000 passenger cars per hour.
2 Two-lane Road can carry up to 1,000 passenger cars per
hour in each direction.
AADT or ADT
AADT or ADT refers to traffic volume or flow on a highway as
measured by the number of vehicles passing a partial station during a
given interval of time. It is called “Average Annual Daily Traffic” if the
period is less than one year. Volume may be stated on hourly “Observed
Traffic Volume” or estimated 30th hour volume commonly used for
design purposes. Some highway agencies use traffic volume for 5
minutes interval to distinguish short peak movements of vehicles.
THE DESIGN SPEED
AASHTO defined Design Speed as:
“ The speed determined for design and correlation of the physical
feature of a highway that influence vehicles operation”
AASHTO recommended that:
“The design speed be set to the greatest degree possible, to
satisfy the needs of nearly all drivers both today and throughout
the road anticipated life.”
For economic reasons
The Geometric Features of Certain Road sections are designed
for speed from 30 to 50 kilometers per hour.
Highway design adopted control by reducing the super elevation
combined with easement curves, delineators, stripping signs ad
rumble strips to alert motorists and inform them that, they are
approaching sharp curves or blind curves.
Section for the proper road design speed is one of the most
important decisions to make, because it sets the limit to
curvature, sight distance, and other geometric figures.
 AASHTO practice

1 to classify first the highway as rural or urban, then as freeways,

arterials, collectors and local.

2 Rural collectors and local facilities are classified as flat, rolling, or

mountainous.

3 Design speed presently used is 80 km.

Per hour, highway designers projected design speed up to 120

4 kilometers per hour to guarantee against future obsolescence as well
as the increased margin of operating safety.

The high-speed road design must anticipate future generation high

5 speed vehicles and advanced transportation systems that may operate
on many of these road alignments.

Although the design speed of most highways is governed by construction costs,

the concept of the relatively high-speed design for freeways is Regardless of Cost.
They are planned for a nationwide high-volume traffic and high-speed network.
 The total surface width of the roadway was only 4.50 meters
CROSS SECTION OF TYPICAL
Due to the increased number of vehicles using the roadway, the
HIGHWAY width was adjusted to 4.80 to 5.40 meters.

The cross section of a typical highway has The width of the road was standardized to 3.00 m, for first class
latitude of variables to consider such as: paved one lane highway and now 3.60 meters wide surface was
adopted standard for freeways and other major traffic roadways,
although there are strong demand to increase it further from 3.60 to
1 The volume of traffic 2 Character of the traffic
4.20 meters.

Two Lane Rural Highways

3 Speed of the traffic 4 Characteristics of motor

vehicles and of the driver
A 7.20 meters wide surface is required for safe clearance between
commercial vehicles and is recommended for main highways.

Highway design usually adopted cross section that is uniform in thickness from end to end
of the improvement. This is acceptable on high volume traffic road facilities. For a low
Collector Roadway
volume traffic facility, modification of the features like the shoulders width in rough areas are
usually employed to reduce costs. 6.00 meters wide surface is acceptable only for low volume traffic
A cross section design generally offers the expected level including few trucks travelling thereon.
of service for safety and a recent study showed that:
A 7.20 meters wide pavement has
Local Rural Roadways
A 7.20 meters wide pavement has 4%

1 18% less accident compared with

pavement narrower than 5.50 m
wide.
Accident records showed no
3
difference between the 6.60 meters
and the 7.20 meters wide
pavement.
2 fewer accidents than the 6.00 meters
wide roadway. The minimum surface width is 4.80 meters for a 30km/hr design
speed.
For the 6.00 m, and 7.20 meters wide
pavement with 2.70 to 3.00 m wide
Urban Roadway
4 shoulder, recorded accident decreases
by 30% compared to 0 to 0.60 m wide
The minimum design width is 3.60 meters although 3.00 meters
shoulder. And 20% compared with a
0.90 to 1.20 meters wide shoulder.
is allowed where space is limited.
 Road shoulder or verge is defined as that portion of the roadway between A continuous narrow white line strip at the edge of the roadway
the edge of the traffic lane and the edge of the ditch, gutter, curb or side that separates the shoulder, serves as guide to drivers during bad
slope. AASHTO requires that its usable pavement width shall be strong weather and poor visibility conditions. The white strips tend the
enough to support vehicles. driver to stay in the traffic lane and the vehicles seldom infringe
on the shoulder.
ROAD SHOULDER
POLICY ON GEOMETRIC DESIGN RECOMMENDED
THAT:
IMPORTANCE OF ROAD SHOULDER
Outside shoulder should be paved The recommended width of left
for at least 3.00 or 3.60 meters
1 2
(median) shoulder is 1.20 to 2.40
Road shoulder serves as a place for vehicles to stop when disabled or wide if truck volume is more than meters with at least 1.20 meters
1 for some other purposes. Road shoulder considerably reduces road
accidents.
250 in the design hour (ADT). paved.
If there are 6 or more lanes, the For arterials with ADT less than
median shoulder should be 3.00 400 the usable shoulder width is

2
The road capacity is decreased and accident opportunity increases if the
shoulder is too narrow or omitted in the design.
3 meters wide or 3.60 meters if
truck volume in the design hour
4 fixed at 1.20 meters minimum,
although 2.40 meters wide is
exceeds 250. much preferred.

When the design hour volume For Urban Arterial Road, similar
3
Shoulder should be continuous along the full length of the roadway. It
also adds structural strength to the road pavement. 5 ADT exceeds 400, the usable
minimum shoulder width is 2.40
6 shoulder without curb
suggested unless needed for
is

meters although 3.60 meters is proposed drainage.

recommended.

4 Shoulder increases the horizontal sight distance on curves. It reduces

accident potential when vehicle stop during emergencies. 7
The width of median shoulder on
four lanes divided arterials is
fixed at 90 cm as minimum.
8
For six or more lanes, 2.40 to
3.00 meters shoulder width is
recommended.

The Uniform Traffic Control Device Manual provides that:

For Rural Collectors Roadway, 60 For ADT’s over 2000, 2.40
“ All inter-town or city highways shall be provided with edge line and may be used 9 cm wide graded shoulder is
required for ADT’s less than 400.
10 meters wide shoulder is
recommended.
on other classes of roads”

THE CROSS SLOPE
The cross slope is provided in all tangent sections of the
roadway. Slope usually falls in both directions from the center
line of the two-lane highway except where super elevation of
curves directs all water towards the inside.
For high type pavement, the crown or slope is often 1% to 2%.
However, steeper slopes are strongly recommended because rain
water, flow away more rapidly reducing the water thickness on
the road pavement.
A cross slope in one direction of multi lane highways makes
driving comfortable, but with heavy rainfall, the water depth
increases on the roadway.
The paved shoulder cross slope ranges from 3% to 6% although
4% is the common. For the gravel shoulder, 4% to 6% slope is
satisfactory and 7% slope is effective drainage for turf (grass)
surfaces.
These types of cross sections allow the inner lane to
accommodate high speed traffic because it is flatter than the outer
lanes.
On a very wide street, A combination of uniform slope with
parabolic curve is used instead of the parabolic sections.
Earth fill of normal height is safe on a slope of 1:2 ratios.
ADVANTAGES OF FLAT SIDE OR BACK SLOPE
Meaning, the first number represents the horizontal distance
while the second number is the vertical distance.
With back slope of 3:1 or even flatter, cars could be directed to back into

CUT OR FILL SLOPE 1 the road and will come to stop or continue down the slope with no risk of
overturning.

2 Flat fill slopes are visible from the vehicles at full extent giving the
roadway safer appearance.

With visible slope for being low and flat, vehicles could be positioned or
3 parked closer to the edge, and on two lane roadway facilities parking
would be farther from the opposing traffic.

RECCOMENDED POLICY ON GEOMETRIC DESIGN

1 The 6:1 slope ratio could be adopted on embankment less than 1.20 meters
high, and 4:1 ratio on a higher fill.
CUT OR FILL SLOPE

Slope of cuts through an ordinary undisturbed earthfill remain in 2 The 2:1 slope is allowed to heights greater than 6.00 m.
place with a ratio of 1:1 slope. On the other hand, rock cuts could
be as steep as 1:2 and sometimes 1:4 proven to be stable. Recently,
3
Cut slope should not be steeper than 2:1 ratio except on solid rock or
slopes had been generally lowered for safer operations and to
special kind of soil.
facilitate plant growth. Plants reduced erosion and decreases
maintenance costs.
 MATERIALS:

1 Hand placed stones 6 Cribs assembled from timber

2 Cement rubbles masonry 7 Precast concrete

3 Concrete blocks 8 Metal elements

4 Conventional reinforced
concrete 9 Tied back piling

5
Earth reinforced with metal or
T or counter forted designs
10 plastic bands
 NUMBER OF LANES 4 It makes turning of vehicles smooth and safe operation.

The number of lanes in a segment of the highways is determined from the
estimated traffic volume for the design year (AADT) and highway lane
capacity at expected level of service. AASHTO policies accept a dually
divided 16 lanes roadway with four lanes in each direction for an inner
freeway and four more lanes in each direction on the outside. There are some
instances where a reversible lane is located at the center of freeways with
unbalanced heavy traffic flow.
Where space and cost permit, wide median is highly recommended. For
5 rural sections of freeway, the 18 to 27 meters wide median is being
adopted.
The Policy on Geometric Design states that; 3.00 to 9.00 meters median
6 width is appropriate in suburban or mountainous situations.

HIGHWAY MEDIAN For rural and urban arterials, 18.00 meters median or wider is preferred
7 because it allows the use of independent profiles and at the same time
minimizes cross over accident.
Recently, median in various forms, becomes absolute requirement for
highways because, it offers the following advantages: Medians with 6 to 18 meters wide
allow drivers to cross each roadway The 15 to 24 meters distance
It is an effective means of reducing headlights glares, conflicts, and 8 separately. A 4.20 to 6.60 meters
11 between landed edges is favored,

1 accident between opposing streams of traffic.

median width provides protection
for turning vehicles.
but specific value is not stipulated.

Curved median with 1.20 to 1.80

12
Cross slope of the median should
The Median offers refuge between opposing traffic stream of cross 9 meters width serves as partition- not be greater than 6:1 but
2 traffic, and pedestrian could traverse each stream at separate
separation of opposite traffic control
devices.
preferably 10:1.
maneuvers.
The width of a traversable median
13
Dense planting of rose hedges

3 Median provides available space for left turn lanes. 10 should be wide enough to prevent
vehicles running out of control from
serves as safety crash barriers.

reaching the opposite traffic.

For Narrow Median, there are four means of reducing cross
median accidents:

1 Provide deterring devices. 3 Provide non-traversable

rigid barriers.

2 Provide non-traversable energy

absorbing barriers. 4 Provide G.M. barriers.

Deterring Devices
Two sets of double strips painted on the existing pavement,
raised diagonal bars, low curbing, and shallow ditches.

Non-traversable Energy Absorbing

Devices
The line chain link fence 1 meter high supported by steel post
augmented by cables at the bottom and midpoint. Non-
traversable rigid barriers are metal guard rail.

G.M. Barriers
A high non-mountain sloped face concrete barriers called New
Jersey. It is cast or extruded in place or pre-cast in section and set
in position by crane.
 In laying the grade line, the designer must consider the
THE GRADE LINE following:

Where earthwork is minimal and

Undesirable native soil should be
1 4
consistently meeting sight distances
Grade line is defined as the longitudinal profile of the highway as in relation to grade line, economy is provided with sufficient covering.
a measure how the centerline of the highway rises and fall. one main consideration.

In mountainous areas, the grade line

The grade line appears on a profile taken along the road
2
Grade line elevations along the river
5
must be considered balanced
centerline. It is a series of straight lines connected by parabolic excavation against embankments to or stream, is governed by the
vertical curves to which straight grades are tangent. get the minimum overall cost. expected level of water flood.

In flat area, the grade line is set

3 almost parallel to the ground surface
but sufficiently above the ground
for drainage purposes.
 All vertical curves should not be shorter than the established minimum over
crests. This is governed by the sight distance requirements but sometimes a
case of riding, may demand longer curves than the sight distance.
Some designers prefer no vertical curve to be shorter than 300 meters.
AASHTO suggested that the minimum curve length varies with the design
speed in meters distance equals to 8 times the velocity in kilometers per
hour.
“The vertical distance from the intersection of the straight grade line to the
curve is equal to one eight of the product of the algebraic difference in
grades and the length of the curve in stations. This is called the maximum
correction.”
Acquisition of land for the right of way is very costly. Based on
experience from the past, highway agency now consider it a good
practice to acquire right of way wide enough to sufficiently
provide for the ultimate expected development.
A successful freeway and expressway operations, closes the
roadway from direct access to adjoining property and some local
roads or streets. If local traffic and land use are to be opened, it
must be served by service roads originally planned as part of the
main freeway. Frontage road shall be permitted to enter
connecting cross streets only at a distance of at least 100 meters
for rural road and 50 meters for urban conditions.

VERTICAL CURVE OVER CREST RIGHT OF WAY

The rate at which the curve departs vertically from both tangent grade line is
proportional to the square of the horizontal distance from the end of the curve. The
correction at any intermediate point is obtained by:

1 Multiplying the maximum correction by the square of the horizontal

distance between the near end of the curve and the point.

2 Divide this product by the square of one half the length of the curve.