Transportation Engineering

GEOMETRIC DESIGN OF HIGHWAY

Lecture # 02

Engr. Hassan Akhtar

 Outline

1) Geometric Design: Elements of geometric design.

2) Road user & road vehicle characteristics.

3) Stopping & overtaking sight distance.

2
Geometric Design of Highway :
The physical features of road are known as road geometrics.

Geometric design of highway deals with the dimension, layout & visible features or
elements of the highway such as horizontal, vertical alignment, sight distance, etc.

Geometric design of highway deals with following elements:

1) Cross Section Elements: carriage way, road way, road margin, shoulder, side slope, kerb,
formation level & width.
2) Sight Distance: SSD, OSD, Intermediate & Lateral sight dist.
3) Horizontal Alignment
4) Vertical Alignment
5) Super-elevation
6) Intersection Elements

 It is possible to design & construct the pavement of road in stages, but it is very expensive
& difficult to improve the geometric elements of a road in stages at later date. Therefore
design of geometric features at earlier stage is very important & crucial.
Design Control & Criteria :
The important factors which control the geometric elements are:

1) Design Speed: Different speed for different road NH, SH, MDR, ODR & VR.

2) Topography or Terrain: Plain, steep, mountainous, rolling, etc.

3) Traffic Factors: Vehicular & human characteristics

4) Design Hourly Volume & Capacity: traffic flow & volume

5) Environmental & Others Factors: aesthetics, landscaping, air pollution, noise

pollution, etc.

Objective of Geometric Design:

To promote & achieve the more speed, safety & comfort to road user.
Economy
Highway Cross Section Elements:
1)Pavement Surface Characteristics: Friction, unevenness, light reflecting characteristics,
drainage of surface water.
2)Cross Slope or Camber:
3)Width of Pavement or Carriageway:
4)Width of Formation or Roadway:
5)Traffic Separators or Medians:
6)Kerbs:
7)Road Margins or Boundary:
8)Shoulder:
9)Side Slopes:
10)Gradient:
11)Right of Way or Land Width or Permanent Land: The area of land acquired &
reserved for construction & development of a road along its alignment is known as Right of
Way.
Pavement Surface Characteristics: Friction, unevenness, light reflecting characteristics,
drainage of surface water.

Cross Slope or Camber: Slope provided to the road surface in the traverse direction to drain
off the rain water from the road surface.

Width of Pavement or Carriageway: The portion of roadway constructed for movement of

vehicular traffic is called carriage way, pavement or crust. width of carriageway depends on no.
of lanes required.

Width of Formation or Roadway: Sum of widths of pavement or carriageway including

separators, if any and shoulders.

Traffic Separators or Medians: Provided between two sets of traffic lanes intended to divide
the traffic moving in opposite directions.
Kerbs: Indicates the boundary between the pavement & footpath or median or shoulder. Used
in urban areas.

Road Margins: The portions of land width on either side of the roadway of a road are known
as road margins.

Shoulders: The portions of roadway between outer edges of pavement & inner edges of side
drains in cutting or edges of surface of embankment are known as shoulder. To provide extra
space for pedestrian in emergency & lateral stability to road.

Side Slopes: slope given to the sides of earthwork of road in embankment or in cutting for its
stability are called side slope.

Gradient: the rate of rise or fall provided to the formation of road along its alignment is
called grade or gradient.
 Traffic Characteristics:
Road Users Characteristics:
The physical, mental & emotional characteristics of human affect their ability to operate motor
vehicle safely or as a pedestrian.

1)Physical Characteristics: Permanent & Temporary Characteristics. Permanent

characteristics are vision, hearing, strength & general reaction. Temporary Characteristics are
fatigue, alcohol or drugs & illness.

2)Mental Characteristics: Knowledge, skill, experience, intelligence & literacy. Knowledge

of traffic, vehicle, rules, regulation, road condition, etc.

3)Psychological Characteristics: Emotional factors such as attentiveness, fear, anger,

superstition, impatience, general attitude, etc.

4)Environmental Characteristics: Traffic stream characteristics, roadside features,

atmospheric condition, locality, etc.
 Traffic Characteristics:
Vehicle Characteristics:
Standards for dimensions, weights, turning angle, height of driver seats of vehicle should be
consistent with road & facility available. Power, speed, acceleration, deceleration & braking
characteristics.

1)Vehicle Dimension: Width, length & height of vehicle.

2)Weight of Loaded Vehicle: Max. weight of loaded vehicle & the wheels & axles affect the
design of pavements thickness & gradients.

3)Power of Vehicle: The power of heavies vehicle & their loaded weights govern the
permissible & limiting values of gradient on roads.

4)Speed of Vehicle: Speed affects sight distance, super-elevation, length of transition curve,
radius of curve, design gradient, capacity of traffic lane, design & control measure at
intersection.

5)Braking Characteristics: types of braking system (Mechanical, air brake, fluid Brake, etc.)
Sight Distance:
Sight distance is the length of a road visible ahead to the driver at any instances.

Sight distance required by drivers applies to both geometric design of highway & for traffic
control.

Types of sight distance:

1) Stopping Sight Distance
2) Overtaking Sight Distance
3) Sight Distance for Entering into Uncontrolled Intersections.
Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) :
The minimum clear distance ahead required by the driver of vehicle, travelling at a given
speed, to bring his vehicle to a stop, after an object on the carriage way become visible is called
stopping sight distance. (without collision with any other obstruction)

Sight distance available to a driver travelling on a road at any instance depends on the
following factors:

1) Feature of road ahead

2) Height of the driver’s eye above the road surface
3) Height of the object above the road surface.

 IRC suggested the height of eye level of driver as 1.2m & the object as 0.15m
above the road surface.
Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) :
Stopping Sight Distance depends on:
1) Total reaction time of the driver
2) Speed of vehicle
3) Efficiency of brakes
4) Gradient of road.
5) Frictional resistance between road & tyres.

Total Reaction Time of the driver:

 Reaction time of the driver is the time taken from the instant the object is visible to the
driver to the instant the brakes are effectively applied.
 Stopping distances increases with increase in reaction time of the driver.
 Total Reaction Time may be split into 1) Perception Time & 2) Brake Reaction Time
 Perception Time is the time required for driver to realize that brakes must be applied.
 Brake Reaction Time depends on skill of driver, type of problem & other
environmental conditions.
PIEV Theory :
According to PIEV theory Reaction time of driver splits into 4 types:
1)Perception: Time required for sensations received by eyes or ears of the driver to be
transmitted to the brain through the nervous system & spiral cord. Time required to perceive
an situation.
2)Intellection: Time require to understand the situation.
3)Emotion: Time elapsed during emotional sensations & other mental disturbance such as
fear, anger, superstitions, etc. Emotion time varies for different drivers but even for a
particular driver the emotion time is likely to vary considerably depending upon the situation.
4)Volition: Time taken by the driver for the final action such as brake application.
PIEV Theory :
According to PIEV theory Reaction time of driver splits into 4 types:
1)Perception:
2)Intellection:
3)Emotion:
4)Volition:
Speed of Vehicle:
Higher the speed, higher will be the stopping distance.

Efficiency of Brakes:
100 % braking efficiency will result in 100% skidding which is undesirable & dangerous. To
avoid skid, the braking forces should not exceed the frictional forces.

Frictional Resistance between Road & Tyres:

Specified design friction coefficient values in the range 0.35 to 0.40.

Gradient of Road:
More gradient downward or downgrade more stopping distance & more gradient upwards or
upgrade less stopping distance.
Stopping Sight Distance (SSD): (Analysis of Stopping Sight Distance)
Stopping distance is the sum of lag distance & braking distance.
Lag Distance:
Distance travelled by the vehicle at uniform speed during the total reaction time, t
Lag distance = 0.278 * V * t
v is the design speed, kmph
t is the total reaction time in seconds = 2.5 seconds
Lag distance = 0.7 * V

Braking Distance:
Distance travelled after the brakes till the vehicle comes to a halt.
Braking distance = ( V2 / ( 254 * f) )
f is design coefficient of friction = 0.4 to 0.35 (as per speed)

Braking distance = ( V2 / ( 254 * (f + 0.01 * G)) )

G is gradient. + ve sign for upgrades & -ve signs for downgrades
Overtaking Sight Distance (OSD) : Safe Passing Sight Distance
1)The minimum distance required for overtaking another vehicle safely & comfortably without
interfering the speed of oncoming vehicle, travelling at the design speed is called overtaking
sight distance.

2)If all the vehicle travel along a road at the design speed, then there should be no need for any
overtaking.

3)Speed, gradient of road, rate of acceleration of overtaking vehicle & skill of the driver affect
the OSD.
Overtaking Sight Distance (OSD) : Safe Passing Sight Distance
1)Fast moving vehicle ‘A’ desires to overtake another slower vehicle ‘B’ . Vehicle ‘A’ has to
accelerate, shift to adjacent right side lane, complete the overtaking manoeuvre & return to the
left lane, before the on-coming vehicle ‘C’ approaches. As shown in figure.

2) d1 is the distance (m) travelled by overtaking vehicle during the reaction time ‘t’ (sec) of the

driver, from position A1 to A2 before starting to overtake the slow vehicle ‘B’

3) d2 is the distance (m) travelled by overtaking vehicle during the actual overtaking operation

during T (sec) from position A2 to A3.

4) d3 is the distance (m) travelled by on-coming vehicle C during the actual overtaking

operation of ‘A’ during T (sec) from position C 1 to C2.

Overtaking Sight Distance (OSD) : Safe Passing Sight Distance
1) d1 is the distance (m) travelled by overtaking vehicle during the reaction time ‘t’ (sec) of the

driver, from position A1 to A2 before starting to overtake the slow vehicle ‘B’

2) d2 is the distance (m) travelled by overtaking vehicle during the actual overtaking operation

during T (sec) from position A2 to A3.

3) d3 is the distance (m) travelled by on-coming vehicle C during the actual overtaking

operation of ‘A’ during T (sec) from position C 1 to C2.

OSD = d1 + d2 + d3 (m)

OSD = (0.28 * Vb * t) + (0.28 * Vb * T) + (2 * s) + (0.28 * V * T)

Vb = initial speed of overtaking vehicle, kmph

t = reaction time of driver = 2 sec.
V = speed of overtaking vehicle or design speed, kmph.
s = spacing of vehicles = (0.2 * Vb + 6)
A = average acceleration during overtaking, kmph/sec
Assignment
Example: A motorist traveling at 105 km/h on an expressway intends
to leave the expressway using an exit ramp with a maximum speed of
55 km/h. At what point on the expressway should the motorist step on
his brakes in order to reduce his speed to the maximum allowable on
the ramp just before entering the ramp, if this section of the expressway
has a downgrade of 3%? Use deceleration rate value as 3.4 m/sec2
Example: Compute the safe passing sight distance of two
lanes two-direction highway if the speed of passing vehicle
was 85 km/ h and its acceleration was 0.65 m/s2 and the clear
distance between passing and opposing vehicles equal to
73meters and time of initial manoeuvre is 4 sec? use any
standard values if needed?
PSD= d1 + d2 + d3 + d4 d4 = 2/3(d2)