CE 4720/5720

Highway Design Project

Spring 2013

Austin, TX
N.W. Garrick April 2008
 Introduction
Due date: Wednesday, April 24

The purpose of this assignment is to help you gain a greater

understanding of how the alignment of a highway is constructed. You
will do this through a processing of “reverse engineering” a number of
existing highways using Google Earth.

The highways chosen represent both Connecticut highways along with a

number of highways from other places.

From this exercise you will gain an appreciation of the wide variation in
approach taken in developing highways and learn about some of the
factors that distinguish these different approaches to design
 Assignment A: Horizontal Alignment
1. Determine smallest and largest radius used over the section of highway from A
to B.
2. Check for any evidence of the use of a spiral curve in the section
3. Produce an engineering oriented sketch of the horizontal alignment of the
highways showing i) station of the PC, PI, PT, ii) the radius (and degree of
curvature), and iii) deflection angle (Δ), for each curve on the section of
highway. (In the case of a spiral curve, give the length for each curve segment
and the k value of the spiral.)
4. Develop a table comparing largest and smallest radii, and, the tangent to curve
length ratio for each of the designated highways.
5. Write a short synopsis comparing the alignments in terms of appearance and
relative use of curves and tangents.

Do this assignment for all six alignments given.

You can find the alignments by searching in Google World using latitude and
longitude in the form 41 10' N 73 20' W.
 Assignment: Vertical Alignment
1. Produce a plot showing the vertical profile along the highway.
2. To the extend possible, identify the beginning and end of curves on
this section.
3. Estimate the K value for each curve.
4. Write a short description of the vertical alignment design.

Do this assignment for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Merritt Parkway
between stations 1 and 2.
Use a larger scale than that shown in the accompanying maps.
FREEWAYS
 5000 ft

I-95 East Lyme

 5000 ft

Autobahn 3 Aschaffenburg
 5000 ft

New York Thruway

 5000 ft

B
2

Merritt Parkway
SCENIC ROADS
1000 ft

Blue Ridge Parkway

A
1000 ft

Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway

A