Highway and Railroad Engineering – Midterm Notes

Geometric Design for Highways and Railways: I n c l u d i n g Cross Sections

Horizontal and Vertical Alignments, Super Elevation, and Earthworks
 Geometric design deals with the dimensioningoftheelements of highways, such as vertical
andhorizontalcurves, cross sections. The fundamental objective of
geometricdesignistoproduce a smooth-flowing and safe highwayfacility,anobjective that
only can be achievedbyprovidingaconsistent design standard that satisfies
thecharacteristicsof the driver and the vehicles that use theroad
 The American Association of State HighwayandTransportationOfficials(AASHTO) serves a
critical function in developingguidelinesand standards used in highway geometric design.
ThemembershipofAASHTO includes representatives fromevery
statehighwayandtransportation department in the U.S. as well as theFederal
HighwayAdministration (FHWA). The association has several technicalcommittees that
consider suggested standards fromindividual states.When a standard is approved, it is
adopted and usedbythememberstates. The AASHTO publication A Policy on
GeometricDesignofHighways and Streets provides the standards for
geometricdesignofhighways
Factors Influencing Highway Design
 Functional Classification - Principal and Minor Arterials, Major andMinorCollectors, Local
Roads and Streets
 Design hourly traffic volume and vehicle mix
 Design speed
 Design vehicle
 Cross section of the highway, such as lanes, shoulders, andmedians6 Presence of heavy
vehicles on steep grades
 Topography of the area that the highway traverses
 Level of service
 Available funds
 Safety
 Social and environmental factors
Functional Classification
 Functional System of Urban Roads
- Urban Principal Arterial System
- Urban Minor Arterial System
- Urban Collector Street System
- Urban Local Street System
 Urban Principal Arterial System
- This system of highways serves the major activity centers of the urban area and
consists mainly of the highest-traffic-volume corridors.
- Highways within this system are further divided into three subclasses based mainly on
the type of access to the facility:
o interstate, with fully-controlled access and grade-separated interchanges
o expressways, which have controlled access but may also include at-grade
intersections
o other principal arterials (with partial or no controlled access).
 Urban Minor Arterial System
 - Streets and highways that interconnect with and augment the urban primary arterials
are classified as urban minor arterials.
- This system serves trips of moderate length and places more emphasis on land access
than the primary arterial system.
- All arterials not classified as primary are included in this class.
- Although highways within this system may serve as local bus routes and may connect
communities within the urban areas, they do not normally go through identifiable
neighborhoods.
- The spacing of minor arterial streets in fully developed areas is usually not less than 1
mile, but the spacing can be 2 to 3 miles in suburban fringes.
 Urban Collector Street System
- The main purpose of streets within this system is to collect traffic from local streets in
residential areas or in central business districts (CBDs) and convey it to the arterial
system.
- Thus, collector streets usually go through residential areas and facilitate traffic
circulation within residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
 Urban Local Street System
- This system consists of all other streets within the urban area that are not included in
the three systems described earlier.
- The primary purposes of these streets are to provide access to abutting land and to the
collector streets. Through traffic is discouraged on these streets.
 Functional System of Rural Roads
- RURAL PRINCIPAL ARTERIAL SYSTEM
o This system consists of a network of highways that serves most of the interstate
trips and a substantial amount of intrastate trips.
o Virtually all highway trips between urbanized areas and a high percentage of
trips between small urban areas with populations of 25,000 or more are made on
this system.
o The system is further divided into freeways (which are divided highways with
fully controlled access and no at-grade intersections) and other principal
arterials not classified as freeways.
- RURAL MINOR ARTERIAL SYSTEM
o This system of roads augments the principal arterial system in the formation of a
network of roads that connects cities, large towns, and other traffic generators,
such as large resorts.
o Travel speeds on these roads are relatively high with minimum interference to
through movement.
- RURAL COLLECTOR SYSTEM
o Highways within this system carry traffic primarily within individual counties, and
trip distances are usually shorter than those on the arterial roads.
o This system of roads is subdivided into major collector roads and minor collector
roads.
- RURAL MAJOR COLLECTOR SYSTEM
o Routes under this system carry traffic primarily to and from county seats and
large cities that are not directly served by the arterial system.
o The system also carries the main intracounty traffic.
- RURAL MINOR COLLECTOR SYSTEM
o This system consists of routes that collect traffic from local roads and convey it
to other facilities.
 o One important function of minor collector roads is that they provide linkage
between rural hinterland and locally important traffic generators such as small
communities.
- RURAL LOCAL ROAD SYSTEM
o This system consists of all roads within the rural area not classified within the
other systems.
o These roads serve trips of relatively short distances and connect adjacent lands
with the collector roads.

Design Hourly Traffic Volume and Vehicle Mix

 The design hourly volume (DHV) is the projected hourly volume that is used for design.
 This volume is usually taken as a percentage of the expected ADT on the highway. This
relationship was computed from the analysis of traffic count data over a wide range of
volumes and geographic conditions
Design Speed
 Design speed is defined as a selected speed to determine the various geometric features
of the roadway.
 Design speed depends on the functional classification of the highway, the topography of
the area in which the highway is located, and the land use of the adjacent area.
 For highway design, topography is generally classified into three groups:
- Level - rolling - mountainous terrain.
 The design speed selected should be consistent with the speed that motorists will expect
to drive.
 Level terrain
- is relatively flat. Horizontal and vertical sight distances are generally long or can be
achieved without much construction difficulty or major expense.
 Rolling terrain
- has natural slopes that often rise above and fall below the highway grade with
occasional steep slopes that restrict the normal vertical and horizontal alignments.
 Mountainous terrain
- has sudden changes in ground elevation in both the longitudinal and transverse
directions, thereby requiring frequent hillside excavations to achieve acceptable
horizontal and vertical alignments.
Design Vehicle
 A design vehicle is selected to represent all vehicles on the highway.
- Its weight, dimensions, and operating characteristics are used to establish the design
standards of the highway.
 The following guidelines apply when selecting a design vehicle:
- When a parking lot or a series of parking lots are the main traffic generators, the
passenger car may be used.
- For the design of intersections at local streets and park roads, a single-unit truck may
be used.
- At intersections of state highways and city streets that serve buses with relatively few
large trucks, a city transit bus may be used.
- At intersections of highways and low-volume county highways or township/local roads
with less than 400 ADT, either an 84-passenger large school bus 40 ft long or a 65-
 passenger conventional bus 36 ft long may be used. The selection of either of these
will depend on the expected usage of the facility.
- At intersections of freeway ramp terminals and arterial crossroads, and at intersections
of state highways and industrialized streets that carry high volumes of traffic, the
minimum size of the design vehicle should be WB-20.
Cross – Section Elements
 TYPICAL CROSS SECTIONFOR
TWO-LANE HIGHWAYS

 TYPICAL CROSS SECTIONFORMULTILANE

HIGHWAYS(HALFSECTION)

 TYPICAL CROSSSECTIONS

 Cross Section Elements

- Width ofTravel Lanes
o Travel lane widths usually vary from9to12ft,depending on the traffic volume
- Shoulders
o The shoulder of a pavement cross sectionisalwayscontiguous with the traveled
lane so astoprovideanarea along the highway for vehicles tostopwhennecessary.
- Medians
o A median is the section of a divided highway that separatesthelanes in opposing
directions. The width of amedianisthedistance between the edges of the inside
lanes, includingthemedian shoulders. The functions of a median include:
 Providing a recovery area for out-of-control vehicles
 Separating opposing traffic
 Providing stopping areas during emergencies
 storage areas for left-turning and U-turningvehicles
 Providing refuge for pedestrians
 Reducing the effect of headlight glare
 Providing temporary lanes and cross-oversduringmaintenance operations
- Roadside and Median Barriers
o A median barrier
 is defined as a longitudinal systemused to prevent an errant vehicle
fromcrossingtheportion of a divided highway separatingthetraveledways
for traffic in opposite directions.
 o Roadside barriers
 on the other hand, protect vehicles fromobstaclesorslopes on the
roadside. They also may beusedtoshield pedestrians and property
fromthetrafficstream.
- Curbs and Gutters
o Curbs are raised structures made of either Portland cement concrete or
bituminous concrete(rolled asphalt curbs) that are used mainly on urban
highways to delineate pavement edges and pedestrian walkways. Curbs are also
used to control drainage, improve aesthetics, and reduce right of way. Curbs can
be generally classified as either vertical or sloping.
o Gutters or drainage ditches are usually located on the pavement side of a curb
to provide the principal drainage facility for the highway.
- Guard Rails
o Guard rails are longitudinal barriers placed on the outside of sharp curves and at
sections with high fills. Their main function is to prevent vehicles from leaving
the roadway. They are installed at embankments higher than 8 ft and when
shoulder slopes are greater than 4:1. Shapes commonly used include the W
beam and the box beam. The weak post system provides for the post to collapse
on impact, with the rail deflecting and absorbing the energy due to impact.
- Side Walks
o Sidewalks should have a minimum clear width of 4 ft in residential areas and a
range of 4 to 8 ft in commercial areas.
o To encourage pedestrians to use sidewalks, they should have all-weather
surfaces since pedestrians will tend to use traffic lanes rather than unpaved
sidewalks.
- Cross Slopes
o Pavements on straight sections of two-lane and multilane highways without
medians are sloped from the middle downward to both sides of the highway,
resulting in a transverse or cross slope, with a cross section shape that can be
curved, plane or a combination of the two.
o A parabola is generally used for curved cross sections, and the highest point of
the pavement (called the crown) is slightly rounded, with the cross slope
increasing toward the pavement edge.
- Side Slopes
o Side slopes are provided on embankments and fills to provide stability for
earthworks.
o They also serve as a safety feature by providing a recovery area for out-of-
control vehicles. When being considered as a safety feature, the important
sections of the cross slope are the hinge point, the foreslope, and the toe of the
slope.
o The hinge point should be rounded since it is potentially hazardous and may
cause vehicles to become airborne while crossing it, resulting in loss of control of
the vehicle.
o The foreslope serves principally as a recovery area, where vehicle speeds can be
reduced and other recovery maneuvers taken to regain control of the vehicle.
o The gradient of the foreslope should therefore not be high. Slopes of 3:1
(horizontal:vertical) or flatter are generally used for high embankments. This can
be increased based on conditions at the site.
- Right of way
o The right of way is the total land area acquired for the construction of a highway.
 o The width should be sufficient to accommodate all the elements of the highway
cross section, any planned widening of the highway, and public-utility facilities
that will be installed along the highway.
o In some cases, the side slopes may be located outside the right of way on
easement areas. The right of way for two lane urban collector streets should be
between 40 and 60 ft, whereas the desirable minimum for two-lane arterials is
84 ft.
o Right-of-way widths for undivided four-lane arterials vary from 64 to 108 ft,
whereas for divided arterials, they range from about 120 to 300 ft, depending on
the numbers of lanes and whether frontage roads are included.
o The minimum right-of-way widths for freeways depend on the number of lanes
and the existence of a frontage road.

Maximum Highway Grade

 The effect of grade on the performance of heavy vehicles is that the speed of a heavy
vehicle can be significantly reduced if the grade is steep and/or long.
- Note, that steep grades affect not only the performance of heavy vehicles but also the
performance of passenger cars.
- In order to limit the effect of grades on vehicular operation, the maximum grade on any
highway should be selected judiciously.
 The selection of maximum grades for a highway depends on the design speed and the
design vehicle.
 Minimum grades depend on the drainage conditions of the highway.
- Zero percent grades may be used on uncurbed pavements with adequate cross slopes
to laterally drain the surface water.
- When pavements are curbed, however, a longitudinal grade should be provided to
facilitate the longitudinal flow of the surface water.
- It is customary to use a minimum of 0.5 percent in such cases, although this may be
reduced to 0.3 percent on high-type pavement constructed on suitably crowned, firm
ground.
Design of the Alignment
 The alignment of a highway is composed of vertical and horizontal elements.
 The vertical alignment includes straight (tangent) highway grades and the parabolic
curves that connect these grades.
 The horizontal alignment includes the straight (tangent) sections of the roadway and the
circular curves that connect their change in direction.
 The design of the alignment depends primarily on the design speed selected for the
highway.
- The least costly alignment is one that takes the form of the natural topography.
- It is not always possible to select the lowest cost alternative because the designer must
adhere to certain standards that may not exist on the natural topography.
 It is important that the alignment of a given section has consistent standards to avoid
sudden changes in the vertical and horizontal layout of the highway.
- It is also important that both horizontal and vertical alignments be designed to
complement each other, since this will result in a safer and more attractive highway.
 - One factor that should be considered to achieve compatibility is the proper balancing
of the grades of tangents with curvatures of horizontal curves and the location of
horizontal and vertical curves with respect to each other.
Horizontal Alignment
 The horizontal alignment consists of straight sections of the road (known as tangents)
connected by curves, this tangents are called the forward and back tangent.
 The curves are usually segments of circles, which have radii that will provide for a smooth
flow of traffic.
 The design of the horizontal alignment entails the determination of the minimum radius,
determination of the length of the curve, and the computation of the horizontal offsets
from the tangents to the curve to facilitate locating the curve in the field.
 In some cases, to avoid a sudden change from a tangent with infinite radius to a curve of
finite radius, a curve with radii varying from infinite to the radius of the circular curve is
placed between the circular curve and the tangent.
- Such a curve is known as a spiral or transition curve.
 There are four types of horizontal curves:
- Simple Curves - Reversed Curves
- Spiral Curves - Spiral of Transition Curves