Lecture: 13

Pavement Structure and Design

CE-526

Presented by:

Dr. Bakht Zamin

Associate Professor
CED, CECOS University, Peshawar

Correspondence:
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Dimensional Design Values

• The dimensional design values are features that directly affect the
size and shape of the highway. The dimensional design values
include:
1. Lane width 7. Vertical clearance
2. Shoulder Width 8. Stopping sight distance
3. Bridge Width 9. Cross slope
4. Horizontal Alignment 10. Grade
5. Super Elevation 11. Lateral offset to obstruction
6. Vertical Alignment 12. Structural capacity

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Dimensional Design Values

1. Lane Width
Travel lanes provide the primary capacity for a roadway.
Typical lane widths are between 9 and 12 ft.
Twelve-feet-wide lanes are common on high speed roadways, while 9-
ft-wide lanes are used for low-volume, rural roads.
Lane widths directly affect the required right of way necessary to
construct the road, the cost of paving and repaving, crossing distances
for pedestrians, and operating speeds etc.

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Dimensional Design Values
2. Shoulder Width
Adequate shoulder widths can provide space for collision
avoidance or errant vehicle recovery, disabled vehicle storage,
maintenance activities, additional space for bicyclists or oversized
vehicles, and support for travel lane pavement.
Shoulders can be constructed with a variety of materials including
pavement, gravel, turf, or earth.
Shoulders are typically 2--12 ft wide.

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Dimensional Design Values

4. Bridge Width
Insufficient bridge width has similar effects as reduced lane and
shoulder widths.
The reduced cross-section width decreases the amount of space
available for motorists to correct any driving mistakes and increases
the occurrence of collisions with other vehicles or the bridge
railings.

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Dimensional Design Values

4. Horizontal Alignment
Horizontal curves are a significant source of collisions on roadways
due to the required cognitive and physical requirements of drivers.
Adverse weather and roadway conditions can contribute to safety
concerns at horizontal curves.
A minimum radius, dictating the amount of curvature, can be
determined by a maximum super elevation rate and design speed.

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Dimensional Design Values

4. Horizontal Alignment

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Dimensional Design Values

4. Horizontal Alignment

MINIMUM RADIUS Open-roadway Conditions For e = 0.08

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Dimensional Design Values

4. Horizontal Alignment (Min. Radius)

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Dimensional Design Values

5. Super elevation
Horizontal curves can be super elevated, with an elevated cross
slope along the width of the pavement, to allow vehicles to travel
through the curve at higher speeds.
 The cross section of the pavement must be rotated to create the
super elevation.
The super elevation rate must be selected so that equilibrium is
maintained for the vehicles based on the design speed and radius of
the curve.

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Dimensional Design Values

5. Super elevation

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Dimensional Design Values

6. Vertical Alignment

Vertical alignment considerations as a design control include

vertical curves (sag and crest) and grades.
The descriptions of grade and vertical curve stopping sight
distance provide additional details about considerations for
vertical alignment.

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Dimensional Design Values

6. Vertical Alignment

– H1 (driver’s eye height) = 3.5 ft (1080 mm)

– H2 (object height) = 2.0 ft (600 mm)

AS 2
Lm  2
Eq 3.13 for S  L
200( H 1  H2 )
200( H 1  H 2 )2
Lm  2 S  Eq 3.14 for S  L
A

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Dimensional Design Values

6. Vertical

Alignment

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Dimensional Design Values
6. Grade
Grade, the longitudinal slope of a roadway, has significant operational
and safety impacts on vehicles.
heavy vehicle will lose speed on sustained upgrades of significant
length and may need to descend at reduced speeds to alleviate braking
issues.
Reduced speeds of the vehicles can create a safety concern for other
vehicles who may be traveling faster.
if heavy vehicles are unable to control their speed on steep slope, lane
departure collisions may result.
For flat or nearly flat grades, hydroplaning can be a serious concern.
Table presents the recommended maximum grades.

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Dimensional Design Values
6. Grade

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Dimensional Design Values
6. Grade

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 Dimensional Design Values

• Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)

• SSD is a fundamental consideration for horizontal and vertical

alignment.
• The ability of a driver to perceive and react to changes in the direction
of the highway or the presence of potential hazards.
• The minimum sight distance for every point along a highway is the
SSD, which is affected by operating speed of the roadway, the time to
perceive and react to the need to stop. For horizontal alignment,
available SSD can be limited by vegetation, back slopes, walls, signs,
fences, or buildings.

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Dimensional Design Values

• Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)

• Vertical curves affect due to illumination of headlights at nighttime

for sag curves and from physical restrictions caused by grade
changes for crest curves.
• Inadequate SSD can result in collisions with hazards.
A  SSD 2
Lm  for SSD  L
404
404
Lm  2  SSD  for SSD  L
A

• A is the absolute value of the difference in grades (generally

expressed in percent) A = |G2 – G1|
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Dimensional Design Values
• Cross Slope

• A straight highway segment is designed with a normal crown for

the purpose of providing sufficient drainage of water off the surface
of the highway.
• Insufficient cross slope can create drainage and hydroplaning
concerns on the roadway.
• Excessive cross slope can result in unexpected lateral forces on
vehicles that can destabilize the vehicle during braking or when
crossing the peak of the cross slope.
• the difference in cross slopes between adjacent roadway features,
should not exceed 4% between lanes or 8% at the edge of the
shoulder.

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 Dimensional Design Values

• Vertical Clearance

• The amount of vertical clearance between the surface of the

roadway and any obstructions crossing the roadway is dictated
to allow for safe and efficient movement of vehicles.
• The basis for the minimum value is to provide for a buffer of 1 ft

• between the bottom of the vertical structure and roadway surface

when accounting for the height of the tallest legal vehicle.
• The recommended minimum vertical clearance is 14.5 ft.

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 Dimensional Design Values
• Lateral Offset to Obstruction

• Lateral offset to obstruction is the distance from the edge of the travel
lane to a roadside obstruction and its influence on roadway operations.
• Obstructions are elements that have a vertical dimension and influence
vehicle operations.
• Common obstructions include barriers, curbs, retaining walls, signs,
trees, and utility poles.
• If an inadequate lateral offset is applied, the obstruction may influence
speed and lane position of vehicles.
• The minimum offset to diminish the impact of the obstruction on
vehicles operations is 18 in, while 4-6 ft is recommended.

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Dimensional Design Values

• Structural Capacity

• The structural capacity of a bridge must be considered when

determining the volume and types of vehicles that will use the
roadway.
• This load carrying capacity should be designed using
appropriate structural engineering resources.

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PLAIN TERRAIN
 The plain terrain is generally defined as area where the natural
ground maintains, cross slopes (i.e. perpendicular to natural
ground contours) below 3 %

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ROLLING TERRAIN
Rolling, hilly or Foothill area, where the slope is generally rise and fall
moderately and where occasional steep slopes are encountered,
resulting in some restrictions in alignment. in other words, the natural
ground cross slopes in rolling terrain is generally between 3 – 25 %.

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 MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN
 Hilly and mountainous county and river gorges this class of terrain
imposes definite restrictions on the alignment and often involves long
steep grades and limited sight distance.
 The naturals ground cross slopes in mountainous terrain are generally
above 25 %

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 Thank You

Department of Civil Engineering

CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences,
Peshawar, Pakistan

February 28, 2023 27