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Definition And Scope Of Geometric Design

• It is the stage of highway design which deals with the
dimensions of the road and layout of visible features
of the highway.
• It is majorly concerned with the design of the road
Chapter 3 Geometric Design of Highway elements and does not include pavement design,
structural and drainage components.
• The geometrics of highway should be designed to
provide optimum efficiency in traffic with maximum
Er. Sarita Prajapati safety at the reasonable cost.
Khwopa Engineering College • The design of such features is highly influenced by
traffic, driver behavior and psychology and vehicle
characteristics..

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• Scope Of Geometric Design • Basic Design Controls And Criteria For Design
– To maximize the comfort, safety & economy of facilities. a. Design speed
– To optimize efficiency while minimizing their b. Design vehicle
environmental impacts.
c. Topography
• Geometric design of highway deal with following
elements d. Traffic volume and composition
─ Elements of cross section e. Traffic capacity
─ Elements of horizontal alignment f. Road user behavior
─ Elements of vertical alignment g. Environmental and other factors
─ Sight distance consideration
─ Intersection

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a. Design speed Design speeds, km/h

• The highest continuous speed at which individual vehicles
can travel safely on the highway when weather conditions are
conducive, traffic volumes are low and the design features of
the highway are the factors governing safety.
• Influences sight distance, extra widening, superelevation, the
length of vertical curves and horizontal curves.
• Is different from the legal speed limit or the desired speed. Terrain Classification
• Desired speed is the maximum speed at which driver would
travel when unconstrained by either traffic or local geometry.
• Main factors that affect the choice of design speed are the type
of highway, topography, traffic conditions and its volume, the
cost of land, vehicle characteristics, individual psychology
aesthetic features, economy, etc.
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b. Design vehicle c. Topography

• Design vehicle characteristics like its dimensions, shape and • Topography is an important factor and influences the
size, weight, etc. physical location of the highway.
• Influence the different aspects of design like the width of • Geometric design standards are different for different terrain
pavement, extra widening, clearances, the radius of curves, conditions.
etc. • The hilly and mountainous regions are affected by valleys,
• The different road may consider different design vehicles hills, steep slope which increase the cost of construction and
because not every vehicle is the same i.e. different vehicles time of construction too.
have different weight, length, width, height, etc. • The slope should be considered in the plain areas too
• As per NRS 2070, considering the drainage conditions.
– Maximum width=2.5m
– Maximum height=4.5m
– Maximum length=18m
– Maximum single axle load=100KN
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d. Traffic volume and composition e. Traffic capacity

• The roadway facility under design should be able to accommodate • Traffic capacity is defined as the maximum number of vehicles
different vehicles with different speed and its different passing through a particular section of road in a unit period of time
characteristics. per lane in given traffic conditions.
• Traffic volume is defined as the number of vehicles passing • It is the ability of a roadway to accommodate traffic volume. It is
through a particular section of road at a specific period of time. useful in calculating a number of lanes in a road and the width of
Flow (q) = n/t the road.
• Where, • It is classified into 3 type’s namely basic capacity, possible
– n = Number of vehicles counted manually or by use of detector/sensor capacity and practical (design) capacity.
– t = Period of time • The theoretical maximum capacity is given as:
• Traffic volume may be of average daily traffic, peak hour traffic, C= (1000v)/s
average annual daily traffic, average weekday traffic, average • Where,
annual weekday traffic, etc. For design, we consider 30th hourly – v = speed in kmph
traffic volume. – S = average center to center spacing of vehicles in meter

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f. Road user behavior • Criteria for geometric design

• It has been well established that the design of roads cannot be – Speed
done only with the rules laid out by mathematical models.
• Users road behavior plays an important role because of people
– Safety
having the different level of education, awareness, knowledge and – Passenger comfort
civic/traffic sense. – Economy
• Cannot be quantified but cannot be ignored either.
g. Environmental and other factors
• Air pollution, noise pollution, aesthetic conditions, landscaping,
etc. also influence the geometric design of roads

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• Introduction to Basic Road Terms • Types of Traffic volume

1. Traffic volume 1. Average annual daily traffic(AADT)
– Nos. of vehicle that pass a given point on the – It is average 24 hr traffic volume at a given location over a
full 365 days of a year.
roadway in a specified period of time. For example:
15 min, 1 day, 1 month etc. 2. Average annual week day traffic(AAWT)
– It is average 24 hr traffic volume occurring on weekdays over
2. Traffic flow a full year.
– Rate at which vehicle pass a given point on the
3. Average daily traffic(ADT)
roadway. Its unit is vehicle/hr.
– It is average 24 hr traffic volume at a given location for some
period of the time less than a year.
4. Average week day traffic(AWT)
– It is average 24 hr traffic volume occurring on weekdays for
some period of time less than a year.
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• ELEMENTS OF CROSS SECTION • Number and width of a traffic lane

– The strip of the carriageway occupied by vehicles
moving in a single stream along the road is termed as
the traffic lane.
– Width of a traffic lane depends on the width of the
vehicle and the side clearances.
– For a single lane road the minimum required width of
a traffic lane is taken as 3.75m and for multiple lanes,
it is taken as 3.5m.
– The maximum permissible width of the vehicle is
2.5m. So we can see side clearance of 0.625m and
0.5m on both sides of the single lane and multiple
lane roads.
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• Carriageway
– A carriageway may be defined as that strip of road
which is constructed for the vehicular movement of
3.75 m
traffic.
– It is made of either hard bituminous treated materials
or cement concrete.
– The width of carriageway depends upon the width of
the traffic lane and the number of lanes.
– The width of pavement or carriageway is the sum
total of the width of the traffic lane.
Cw = Tw * n
Figure : Lane width for single and two lane roads – Where Tw = width of a lane
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n = number of lanes
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• Shoulder
As per NRS 2070 Width of Carriageways, m – The strips provided on either side of the carriageway
which is intended as emergency lanes for vehicles
during breakdown and is used for crossing, overtaking
or parking.
– As per NRS2070 shoulder at both side of road should
be

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Advantages of shoulder • Formation width or roadway width

• Provide space for parking vehicles under repair during breakdown
• Increases capacity of road by providing frequent opportunities for
– It is the total sum of the widths of the carriageway
overtaking including separators and shoulders on both sides of
• Helps to reduce the chances of accidents the road and central strip if any.
• Provides space for fixing up traffic signs and signals away from the – It is measured at the finished subgrade level which
pavement
does not include the extra land in cutting and filling.
• Increases the effective width of the carriageway
• Improves sight distance with increased lateral clearance – If cutting and filling is considered it is termed as
• Adequate cross slope drains away water from pavement edge thus bottom width.
increases life of pavement
• Improves general appearance of highway and improves psychology of
drivers
• Trees grown away from the pavement prevent bleeding of bitumen and
provide shade to pedestrians.

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• Side slope of fill and cut Cutting Side Slopes

– The slope is an important factor considering the
safety, stability of road and economic point of view.
– Side slope depends upon nature of soil and depth of
cutting and filling.
Embankment Side Slopes

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• Lay-byes • Road margins

– It is intermittent shoulders sufficiently wide and long – The portion of the road beyond the edge of the
– Provided to meet the important function of the roadway up to the road boundary is generally called
shoulder where the continuous shoulder on either side road margin.
cannot be provided from economic considerations. – It includes footpath, embankment slope, etc.
– Provided for parking or bus stop without disturbing • Right of way(ROW) or land width
passing traffic. – Right of way or land width is the width of land to be
acquired for the road along its alignment during road
development for future road requirement.
– It should accommodate the entire cross sectional
elements and should provide for future development.

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• It is governed by: • Use of ROW

– Width of formation – To accommodate drainage facilities
– Height of embankment or depth of cutting – To provide frontage roads/driveways in roads with
– Side slopes of embankment or cutting controlled access
– Drainage system – To develop road side arboriculture
– Sight distance considerations – To open side borrow pit
– Reserve land for future widening – To improve visibility in curves
– To accommodate various road ancillaries
– To widen the road where required in future with no
compensation for property

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• As per NRS2070 ROW • Sidewalk (Footpath)

– It is the portion of the urban road which is provided
for the movement of pedestrian traffic where their
intensity is high.
– For safety against fast moving traffic sidewalks are
raised to about 15-30 cm high from the carriageway
– The minimum width of the footpath is 1.5m and
should be designed based on pedestrian traffic
volume.

Figure: A typical Right of way (ROW)

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• Building line • Kerbs (Curb)

– It represents a line on either side of the road between – It is the cross sectional element which separates the
which no building activity is permitted at all to vehicular traffic in the carriageway from the
reserve sufficient space for future improvement of pedestrians by providing physical barriers around
roads. them.
• Control line – Also provided to separate carriageway from traffic
– It represents the nearest limits of future uncontrolled islands or parking space.
building activity in relation to a road to exercise The functions of kerbs are:
control of the nature of building up to set back – To facilitate and control drainage
distance up to the control lines.
– To segregate the traffic lane
– At the location like bank, hospital, factory, theatre etc.
– To provide aesthetic appearance
on the road where more people gather disturbance to
the traffic will be more. The distance from the centre – To assist in the orderly development of the road side
line to such building is called control line. – To strengthen and protect the pavement edge
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Figure: Different types of kerbs

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• Different types of kerbs are: • Barrier type kerbs:

• Low or mountable kerbs: – It is raised 20 cm from the carriageway with a steeper
– They are provided to encourage traffic to remain in slope of 1:4. It is provided when the pedestrian traffic
the traffic lanes and also allow the driver to enter the is in considerable amount. It is designed to discourage
shoulder area with little difficulty. It is raised 10 cm vehicles from leaving the pavement.
from the carriageway and has a type of slope to allow • Submerged kerbs:
vehicles to climb easily. – These kerbs are provided at pavement edges between
• Semi-barrier type kerbs: the pavement edge and shoulders especially in rural
– It is raised 15 cm from the carriageway with a slope areas. They help to provide lateral confinement and
of 1:1. It is provided when the pedestrian traffic is stability to the pavement.
high and it prevents encroachment of parking
vehicles. But it is made such that vehicles can drive
over it with some difficulty during emergencies.
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• Median strip • The functions of median strip are:

– Central raised strips within the roadway to separate – To separate the traffic flow of two opposite direction
traffic flowing in one direction from opposite – To segregate the traffic lanes
direction. – To minimize the frequency and severity of head on
– For roads with 4 or more lanes, it is recommended to collision accidents between vehicles moving in opposite
provide medians or traffic separators. directions
– Medians should be as wide as possible. – To minimize or possibly eliminate headlight glare
– A minimum median width of 5m is recommended. – To include space for safe operation of crossing and
turning vehicles at intersection at grade
But a width of 3m can be adopted in areas where
land is restricted. – To provide safe, pleasing and economical design of
roadway
– Median strip with low height shrubs acts as a crash barrier
as they help to dissipate energy of out of control vehicles.

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• Camber • As per NRS2070 Camber

– Camber is defined as the cross slope provided to raise the
middle of the road surface in the transverse direction to
drain off rain water from the road surface.
– Expressed in percentage in terms of elevation difference • Types of camber
between the central crowns to the pavement edge. a. Parabolic camber
The objectives of camber are: b. Straight camber
– To drain off surface water quickly c. Composite camber
– To prevent infiltration of water into the underlying
pavement layers and soil subgrade
– To segregate traffic lanes in two directions
– To provide aesthetic appearance

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a. Straight line camber

– A camber made of two equal straight line slopes is
called straight line camber.

Let W be the width of the pavement, n be the camber and R be the

difference of level between edge and crown.
Tanθ = R / (W/2)
Or, n = Tanθ = R / (W/2)
Or, Also, Tanθ = Y/X
Hence, Or, (Y/X) = R / (W/2) = n
Therefore, Y = n*X
adopted for very flat slope like cement concrete pavement
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b. Parabolic camber
Since, n = (2*R)/W
– A camber with the shape of simple quadratic
Therefore, Y = (2*n*X2)/W
parabola may be referred as parabolic camber.

• This type of camber is generally designed in roads

where fast moving vehicles run.
• It is provided in a low cost and in single/double lane
• In a parabolic camber, ordinate Y varies as the square of roads.
abscissa X.
• Parabolic or elliptical cambers provide flatter profile at
Y/X2 = R / (W/2)2 the middle which becomes steeper near edges.
Or, Y/X2 = 4*R/W2
Or, Y = 2*(2*R/W) * (X2/W)

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• Composite camber
– It may be either composed of the partly parabola and
partly straight or two straight lines having different
slopes.
– It is designed for slow moving loaded vehicles.
– The central part of the road is made parabolic and
slopped straight near edges.
– This increases the contact area of the wheel and thus
decreases the intensity of pressure.

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• Disadvantages of steep camber Numerical

– Transverse tilt of vehicles 1. In a region of heavy rainfall a major district road of
– Uncomfortable WBM pavement is to be constructed. If the width of
the road is 3.75m, find the height of the crown with
– Unequal wear of tyres
respect to the edges. If 7.5m width bituminous
– Discomfort when crossing the crown during concrete pavement is to be constructed what would be
overtaking operation. the height of crown with respect to the road edge.
– Formation of cross ruts due to rapid flow of water (Assume 3% and 2% camber for WBM and
– Tendency of most of the vehicles to travel along the Bituminous concrete pavement)
centre line.

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Numerical Elements of horizontal alignment

2. The center line of double lane road has an elevation of
320.50m as recorded from longitudinal profile. The • Tangents
camber of the pavement is 2.5% and cross fall of • Horizontal curve
shoulder is 5%. Calculate the elevation of pavement at
• Also includes
center of lane, edge of pavement and road edge if
– Superelevation
a) Straight line camber is to be provided
– Extra widening
b) Parabolic camber is to be provided
– Transition curve
Take width of the lane 3.5m and shoulder width is
1.5m. – Set-back distance

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Types of curves

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