TR 321

HIGHWAY ROUTE AND

GEOMETRIC DESIGN
(HRGD) (3.0 UNITS)

INTRODUCTORY
LECTURE
 COURSE
INTRODUCTION
COURSE OBJECTIVES

To introduce students to the

principles and the criteria that
form the basis of
Route selection and
Highway geometric design
And to familiarize students with
the highway design process
Learning outcomes

On successfully completing this course,

students will:
 Understand the principles underlying

highway location and geometric

design
 Be able to design a highway allowing

for differing terrains and other

constraints
Course Administration

Course administration issues &

Course Outline are provided

separately.
Please help yourself to a copy
INTRODUCTI
ON
 Outline
1) Highway components
2) An Overview of the route location process
3) Objectives of highway geometric design
(HGD)
4) How does HGD compare with other civil
engineering designs?
5) Highway design process
6) Functional classification of roadways
1) Components of a Highway
 The Right of Way (RoW) – Road reserve
 Highway cross section
 Horizontal alignment
 Vertical alignment
 The pavement
The Right of Way (RoW) – Road Reserve

 The land reserved for construction of a given

road and related infrastructure
 The width of the RoW depends on the road

function
 For major arterial roads a width of 60 m to

100 m or more can be provided

 No permanent structures belonging to third

parties may be constructed within the road

reserve
Highway cross section

 Includes the roadway and the road side

 The roadway includes the carriageway and the
shoulders
 The carriageway has one or more lanes used by traffic
travelling in one or more directions
 Two-lane two-way carriageways are the commonest
 The shoulders support the carriageway and may be used
temporarily by stopped vehicles
 The roadside includes side slopes and side ditches for
drainage, road furniture like guardrails and signs
Typical Cross section (see assignment no. 1)

 The designer must provide a typical cross section

which includes:
 Full highway geometric design details: number of lanes,
lane width, shoulder width, side slopes, and normal
camber
 Full pavement details: Pavement layers, thickness of each
layer, the materials for each layer, compaction
requirements
 The information together with the specifications
should enable the contractor to construct the roadway
to the required standard
Horizontal alignment: The Plan
 The plan of a highway includes a demarcation
of the RoW, the center-line, edge-lines, ditches
etc
 Coordinates of the tangent intersection points

and beginning of cures are shown and are

located on the ground during the route
location process
 Details of curve radii, super-elevation, sight

distances etc are provided on the drawing

Vertical alignment : The Profile
 The profile provides the elevation (Final Road
Level) of each point on the centre line
 Usually the elevations are provided at the interval
of 20 m on tangents and generous curves. On tight
curves elevations should be provided at 10 m
intervals
 Includes details on the vertical tangent slopes, the
intersection points of the tangents, beginning and
end of parabolic vertical curves, their lengths etc
The highway pavement
 Highways have paved carriageways and shoulders
 The pavement consists of one or more layers of
selected materials
 Typically the layers include the surface course, the
base course, the sub-base course and the sub-grade
which constitutes the foundation of the highway.
 The final road level for each point on the center-
line refers to the elevation of the top surface course
 The contractor must work out the levels of the sub-
grade, sub-base, base course from the thicknesses
of the layers as specified on the typical cross
section.
2) An Overview of the
Route Location Process
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.

 At the completion of this phase of the study, the

engineer will be able to select general areas
through which the highway can traverse.
 Existing sources must be consulted to obtain data
on each of 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.
 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.
 Directness of route.
 Control points between the two terminals are
determined for each feasible route.
 For example, a unique bridge site with no
alternative may be taken as a primary control point.
 The feasible routes identified are then plotted on
photographic base maps.
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.
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.
3) Objectives of highway
geometric design (HGD)

 Highway geometric design aims at producing a

roadway that allows for smooth and safe flow of
traffic and is guided by six objectives:
 Safety – sight distances for given design speed, skid
resistance, adequate radius for given super-elevation
 Economy: Value for money
 Comfort – gentle cross section slope, transition
curves, vertical curves
• Accommodate projected traffic (Traffic capacity) –
number of lanes, lane width, design speed
 Aesthetics: generous curve lengths, appropriate
tangent length for the design speed (tangents
should not be too long or too short), scenic views
 Environmental compatibility: EIA,
Environmental traffic capacity – especially for
LRN
4) How does HGD compare with other civil engineering designs

 Consider the design of a RC or Steel column: the

cross section and/or the amount of reinforcement
and the strength of the materials determines the
maximum safe load the section can carry
 On the other hand the traffic volume that can be
accommodated by a given cross section depends on
the traffic mix, driver behaviour, desirable level of
service, the maximum safe speed based on the
geometric configuration, the weather and time of
day – there is no unique solution!
5) The highway design process
1) After the location of the highway
2) Determine the basic design parameters for each
homogeneous road section: terrain type, traffic
volume, road function and land use
3) Determine the appropriate design vehicle and
design speed and other design standards
4) Develop a preliminary trial alignments: horizontal
and vertical and check that the combination
provides smooth and safe traffic flow
5. For the best alignment develop a detailed
design

Detailed design of the vertical and horizontal

alignments is carried out to obtain both the
deflection angles for horizontal curves and the
cuts or fills for vertical curves and straight
sections of the highway.
6) Consider sections that need relaxation of
standards/departure from standards for economic
reasons
7) Check that the design is consistent and carry out
final computations
8) Produce drawings and report and submit for Road
Safety Audit
9) Carry out (Independent) road safety audit and
implement the recommendations of the audit
10) Prepare tender documents
6. Functional Classification
 Classification of highways into different functional
classes and geometric design types is necessary for
communication among professionals and the public
 A complete functional design system provides for a
series of distinct travel movements: main
movement, transition, distribution/collection,
access and termination
 Typically the main movement occurs on one or more
main roads where the movement is uninterrupted
high speed flow
 From the highway the highways vehicles transitions
to lower speed collectors/distributors which carry
them near their destination
 Next the vehicle enters collector roads that penetrates
neighbourhoods
 Next the vehicle enters access roads to reach their
destination – individual residences
 Functional classification is used to group roadways
according to the type of service they are
INTENDED to provide:
 Mobility – ARTERIALS
 Distribution/Collection – COLLECTORS
 Access – Local / street
 Social Interaction – NMT facilities – Cycle and
pedestrian paths
 Two major considerations in classifying roadways
into functional classes is mobility and access
 To enable arterials to function their basic mobility
function it is necessary to limit access to adjacent
property directly from the arterial road
 To enhance the access function of the local street
network it is necessary to limit their use for
mobility function!
Design types
 For arterial roads design types include:
 Freeways / motorways: Complete access control, all
junctions are grade separated, no stopping on the
roadway
 Expressways: Some junctions are signalized while
others are grade separated, partial access control
 Dual carriageways: some access control, all junctions
are at grade may be signalized or un-signalized
depending on demand
 Two-lane two-way roadways: junctions are at
grade, sometimes signalized, limited access control
 For access roads: Two-lane two way streets or one-
way streets
Road network design
 Traffic planning determines the extent of traffic demands
and their modes and create a decision criteria for the
design, construction, and operation of individual
transportation modes
 The road network includes roadways exclusively for
motor vehicle traffic and roads for both motorized traffic
(MT) and non motorized traffic (NMT)
 Must be fine-attuned to regional and urban planning
needs and it may necessary to design the network to
restrict avoidable traffic and design only for the essential
traffic
Assignment No. 1:
Submit by Thursday Week 2 Before 1:00 pm

1) Draw a typical cross sections of a two-lane two-

way roadway with 3.6 m wide lanes and 2 m
shoulders and appropriate slopes on a:
 Cut
 Fill (embankment on a ridge)
 Cut on the LHS and a fill on the RHS
2) Draw a typical cross section of a mobility road
with a 10 m median and three lanes each direction
on a fill section.
3) Draw a typical cross section of a two-lane two-way
road (independent of the existing terrain) and show
pavement construction details:
 Surface course: 50 mm thick Asphalt concrete

layer
 Base course 200 mm thick Hot Asphalt Mix layer
 Sub-base 150 mm G60 layer (gravel layer)
 Sub-grade S15 compacted to 95% of Maximum

dry density
Thank you for your
attention and
participation