1.

1 History of Road Development in Nepal

•The first motorable road was constructed in the Kathmandu valley in 1924.
•In 1950, the road length of the country was only 376km.
•Currently, there is 74,756 roads including district and urban roads.
•The Government of Nepal (GON) has been giving high priority to the development of roads since the beginning of
planned development program in 1596.
•Linking of Kathmandu with the southern border as taken up in 1953 with mdin assistance and was opened for traffic
in 1956.

1.2 Necessity of Highway Planning

Planning is the basic requirement for any new project or expansion programme. Highway planning involves the
estimation of current and future traffic volumes on road network.
 Necessities
• For safe, economical, efficient and fast movement of people and goods.
• Keeping the overall cost of construction and maintenance of the roads in the network to a minimum.
• Planning for future development.
• Planning helps best utilization of available lands.
1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ROAD IN NEPAL
Road in Nepal are classification as follows :
A. Administrative classification
Administrative classification of roads is intended for assigning national importance and level of government responsible
for overall management and methods of financing .

According to this classification roads are classified in to :

a. National highways
National highways are main roads connecting east to west and north to south of the nation . They are designated by
letter “H” followed by a two-digit number . Number of national highways in Nepal are 21 .

b. Feeder roads
Feeder roads are important roads of localized nature . These serve the community’s wide interest and connect district
headquarters , major economic centers ,tourism centers to national highways or other feeder roads . They are designated
by letter “F” followed by 3-digit number. Number of feeder roads in Nepal are 209.

c. District roads
District roads are important roads within a district serving areas of production and markets and connecting with each
other or with the main highways.

d. Urban roads
Urban roads are the roads serving within the urban municipalities.
B. Technical classification
For assigning for various geometric and technical parameters for design roads are categorized in to class as
follow :
Class-1 : class -1 roads are those with ADT of 20,000 pcu or more in 20 years perspective period . Design speed
adapted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 120 Km/hr .

Class-2 : class -2 roads are those with ADT of 5,000-20,000 pcu in 20 years perspective period . Design speed
adapted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 100 Km/hr .

Class-3 : class -3 roads are those with ADT of 2,000-5,000 pcu in 20 years perspective period . Design speed
adapted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 80 Km/hr .

Class-1 : class -1 roads are those with ADT of less than 2000 pcu or more in 20 years perspective period . Design
speed adapted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 60 Km/hr .
1.4 HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT
The position of the center line of the highway is the ground is called highway alignment.
The alignment are two types :
a. Horizontal alignment
The projection of highway alignment in horizontal plane is called horizontal alignment.
b. Vertical alignment
The projection in vertical plane is known as vertical alignment .

1.5 FACTORS AFFECTING OF HIGHWAY ALINMENT

A. Obligatory points
The control points governing highway alignment are called obligatory points. These points decide where the alignment
should pass and where the alignment should not pass.
B. Horizontal Curve and gradient
The horizontal curve must be as flat as possible. The gradient should be kept as flat as possible to avoid the excessive
rise and fall of the highway alignment.
C. Volume of traffic
The volume traffic and an increase in the traffic volume per year and peak traffic is analyzed and alignment as finalized
by considering all previous data of traffic respectively.
D. Types of traffic
If the traffic is of vehicular type and for fast moving vehicles, it is advised to keep the alignment as straight as possible
with fewer curves. Separate lanes for fast-moving vehicles are recommended.
E. Earthwork and backfilling
Earthwork and backfilling to level the land constitutes huge costs after the land acquisition. The alignment has
deviated wherever required to avoid the excessive cutting of earthwork and backfilling.

F. Radius of the Horizontal Curve

Large curves on highways are not desirable. To maintain the comfortable and constant speed on highways, the
radius of the horizontal curve should be less than 230m. To achieve this, the alignment can be changed.

G.Sight Distance
To avoid accidents, minimum sight distance should always be available for the drivers. The alignment should not
obstruct the visibility of drivers, especially during nights.

H. Stability of slopes
Special care is to be taken for road alignment in hilly areas the problem with the hilly areas is landslides. The road
should be aligned to the side of the hill which is stable. Excessive earthwork cutting and backfilling affect stability.

I. Formation bed
The alignment should go through the good soil having enough strength, to achieve this slight change in alignment
is acceptable.
1.6 ENGINEERING SURVEY FOR HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT
Before any highway alignment is prelimlinary, various engineering survey are required to be done .These
engineering surveys may be completed in following four stages
a. Map study
b. Reconnaissance
c. Preliminary surveys
d. Detailed surveys

Here, With the help of map study and reconnaissance survey various possible routes of road alignment are Selected
preliminary survey are done along all possible routes and approximate cost of construction along each routes
determined .
a. Map study
From the map alternative routes can be suggested in the office , it the topographic map of the area is available .
The probable alignment can be located on the map from the following details available on the map .
i. Alignment avoiding valley ponds or lake .
ii. Avoiding bend of river.
iii. If road has to cross a row of hills possibility of crossing though mountain pass.

b. Reconnaissance
During the reconnaissance the engineer visits the site and examines the general characteristic of the of the area
before deating the lnst feasible routes for detailed studies .
Following are information obtained from the reconnaissance survey :
i. Valley pond ,lakes and other features that were not present in the topographic map.
ii. Source of construction materials .
iii. Type and soil along all the routes is also studies.
iv. Approximate amount of earthworks should also be estimated roughly.

c. Preliminary survey
The main objectives of preliminary survey are :
i. To finalize the best alignment from all considerations .
ii. To estimate quantity of earthwork materials an other construction aspects and to workout the cost of alternative
proposals .
iii. To compare different proposals in view of the requirements of a good alignment .
The preliminary survey is carried out to collect all physical information .Which are necessary in connection with
proposed highway alignment.

d. Final location and detailed survey

The alignment finalized at the design office preliminary survey is to be first located on the field by establishing the
center line . Next detailed survey should be carried out for collecting the information necessary for the preparation of
plans and construction details project location.

e. Detailed survey
Temporary bench mark (TBM) are fixed at all under pass structure and drainage structures .
Levels along the center line should be taken with great importance as there data are required for vertical alignment
earthwork calculation and drainage details.
A detailed survey is carried out to enable drawing the soil profile up the depth 1.5-3 below the ground line and twice
the height of the finished embankment in case of the high embankment.
 1.7 cross section element of highway

1. Carriageway
It is the travel way which is used for movement of vehicle it takes the vehicular loading .

width of carriageway
Class of road Width of carriageway in (m)
Single lane 3.75
Intermediate lane 5.5
Double lane 7.0
Multilane pavement 3.5 (each lane )

2. Shoulder
It is provided along the road edge to serve as an emergency lane for vehicle . The shoulder are strips provided
on the both sides of the carriageway.
Width of shoulder
Road class Class- Class-2 Class-3 Class-4
1
Minimum shoulder width (m) 3.75 2.5 1+1=2 0.75+0.75=1.5
 3. Width of the roadway
It is the sum of the width of the carriageway of pavement or pavement including separators if any and the
shoulder .
Road width = carriageway + 2 shoulder width

4. Right of way
It the total area of land acquired for the road along its alignment .

Road types Total right of way (m)

1. High ways 50m (25m on either side )

2. Feeder roads 30m (15m on either side )
3. District roads 20m (10m on either side )

5. Camber
Cross –slope or camber is the slope provided to the road surface in the transverse direction to drain off the rain
water from the road surface .
According to NRS 2070 following camber is recommended .

Pavement types Cement concrete Bituminous Gravel Earthen

Camber % 1.5 to 2.0 2.5 4.0 5.0

 TYPES OF CAMBER
• Straight line camber
• Parabolic camber
• Composite camber

6. Side slope of fill or cut

The minimum safe side slope must be provided for cutting and filling portion of road to maintain traffic safety and
required stability of soil .
Normally side slope provide for cut 1.5:1 and for fill 2:1 .

7. Building lane
In order to reserve sufficient space for future development of road it is desirable to control the building activities
on either side of the road boundary beyond the land width acquired for the land .

8. Traffic separators or median

The main function is to prevent head on collision between the vehicle in opposite direction .
2. CONTOUR MAP
2.1 CONTOUS
The imaginary line an the ground joining the points of equal of elevation above the arrumed datum is know as
contour .

2.2 CONTOUS INTERVAL

The vertical distance between any two consecutive contours is know as a contour interval .

2.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTOUS

i. Uniformly spaced contour line indicates uniform slope .
ii. Contour line closer near the top of hill and flatter on the foot of hill . This indicates very steep towards the peak and
flatter slope towards the foot.
iii. Contour line are closer near the bank of pond and flatter ( wide) on the center of the pond . This indicates very
steep slope towards the bank and flatter slope towards center of the pond.
iv. Contour line always form a closed circuit but this lines may be inside or outside the limit of map.
v. Contour line con not cross each other except in the case of overhanging cliff.
vi. Contour lines meeting at a point indicates vertical cliff.
vii. When the higher value is inside the loop it indicates ridge line.
viii. When the lower value is inside the loop it indicates valley.
ix. Depression between the summit are saddles.
 2.4 USES OF CONTOUR MAP
Following are the uses of contour map :
i. To draw longitudinal section and plan of given map.
ii. To determine nature of ground in proposed area.
iii. To calculate reservoir capacity.
iv. To measurement of drainage area.
v. To determine inter visibility between two points.
vi. To find intersection of surface and measurement of earth work.