Geometric Design of

Highways

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 Objectives of Highway Planning
• To plan a road network for efficient and safe traffic operation, but at
minimum cost
• To arrive at a road system and lengths of different categories of
roads which could provide maximum utility and could be constructed
within the available resources during the plan period under
construction.
• To fix up date-wise priorities for the development of each road link
• To plan for future requirements and improvements of roads in view
of anticipated developments
• To work out financing system

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Highway Alignment

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 Highway Alignments
• Layout of the centreline of a highway on the ground
• Improper alignment leads to
• Increase in construction, operation and maintenance costs
• Increase in number of accidents

• Ideal Requirements
• Short – straight alignment is the shortest (challenge from topography
and obstruction)
• Safe – for construction and maintenance (stability of hill slope, cut slope,
embankment); Traffic operations
• Easy – to construct and maintain; for vehicle operation
• Economical – initial construction cost, maintenance cost, vehicle
operation cost (VOC)

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 Factors controlling alignment
• Obligatory Points
• Traffic
• Geometric Design
• Economics
• Other considerations

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 1. Obligatory Points
• Control points that governs the alignment of highways
• Two Types
• Points through which alignment should pass
• Bridge sites
• Intermediate town
• Mountain pass
• Points through which alignment should not pass
• Religious places
• Costly structures
• Unsuitable land
• Lake, pond etc

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 2. Traffic
• Alignment should suit the needs of traffic
• Origin and Destination survey is carried out
• Output of survey is represented in the form of desire line diagrams,
which shows the trend of traffic flow
• Alignment of new roads should be based on desire lines, traffic flow
pattern and future trends

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 3. Geometric Design
• Gradient, Radius of curve and Sight Distance govern the final
alignment of highways
• Often straight alignment is not feasible steeper gradient
• Design of curves should also take into account the speed of traffic
• Sight distance – distance ahead that is visible to a driver. Absolutely
necessary to provide safe stopping distance (SSD) along the entire
alignement

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 4. Economics
• Initial cost of construction
• Could be reduced by avoiding high embankment and deep
cuttings
• Also by balancing cutting and filling
• Maintenance cost
• Vehicle operation cost

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 5. Other considerations
• Drainage considerations (number of cross-drainage structures)
• Hydrological Factors (ground water table, high flood levels)
• Political considerations (strategic consideration, foreign territory)
• Social considerations (dislocation, resettlement and rehabilitation)
• Environmental considerations (pollution, vibration)
• Monotony (desirable to have curves after few kilometres of straight
reach, so as to break the monotony and keep the driver alert)

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 Engineering Surveys for Highway Alignment
• Map Study
• Identify probable and possible alignments by studying maps and remote
sensing data of the area at the office
• Reconnaissance
• To shortlist from the alignments identified in the previous step by
observing situations on the ground. An alignment identified from the
Map Study may be modified, altered, deleted or totally a new alignment
may be included
• Preliminary Survey
• To compare the alternate alignments finalized in reconnaissance survey
and choose the best by comparing economical, engineering, social and
environmental considerations.
• Final location and detailed survey
• Transfer the chosen alignment on to the ground
• Collect data on geometric design element, hydrological status, soil
characteristics and geological features 11
Highway Geometric Design

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 Geometric Design of Highways
• Deals with the dimension and layout of visible features of the
highway such as alignment, sight distance and intersections.
• Objective is to provide
• Optimum efficiency in traffic operation
• With maximum safety
• At reasonable cost
• Deals with the following elements
• Cross sectional elements
• Sight distance considerations
• Horizontal alignment details
• Vertical alignment details
• Intersection Elements 13
 Factors influencing geometric design of highways
• Design Speed
• Topography
• Traffic Factors
• Design Hourly Volume and Capacity
• Environmental and other considerations

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Cross Sectional Elements of a Highway

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 Pavement surface characteristics
• For safe and comfortable driving four aspects of the pavement
surface are important
• Friction between the wheels and the pavement surface,
• Smoothness of the road surface or Unevenness,
• Light reflection characteristics of the top of pavement surface, and
• Drainage of water

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 1. Friction
• Crucial factor in the design of horizontal curves and thus the safe operating
speed
• Also affect the acceleration and deceleration ability of vehicles
• Lack of adequate friction can cause skidding or slipping of vehicles
• Skidding happens when the path traveled along the road surface is more
than the circumferential movement of the wheels due to friction
• Slip occurs when the wheel revolves more than the corresponding
longitudinal movement along the road.
• Various factors that affect friction are: •
• Type of the pavement (like bituminous, concrete, or gravel)
• Condition of the pavement (dry or wet, etc),
• Condition of the tyre (new or old), and
• Speed and load of the vehicle.
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 1. Friction
Coefficient of Friction (f)
• The choice of the value of f is a very complicated issue since it
depends on many variables
• IRC suggests the coefficient of longitudinal friction as 0.35-0.4
depending on the speed and coefficient of lateral friction as 0.15
• The former is useful in sight distance calculation and the latter in
horizontal curve design

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 2. Unevenness
• Even if a road is constructed with high quality pavers, it is possible
to develop unevenness due to pavement failures.
• Unevenness affect the vehicle operating cost, speed, riding comfort,
safety, fuel consumption and wear and tear of tyres
• Unevenness index is a measure of unevenness which is the
cumulative measure of vertical undulations of the pavement surface
recorded per unit horizontal length of the road.
• An unevenness index value less than 1500 mm/km is considered as
good, a value less than 2500 mm/km is satisfactory up to speed of
100 kmph and values greater than 3200 mm/km is considered as
uncomfortable even for 55 kmph.

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 3. Light reflection
• It is necessary that the road surface should be visible at night and
reflection of light is the factor that answers it.

• White roads have good visibility at night, but caused glare during
day time.
• Black roads has no glare during day, but has poor visibility at
night

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 4. Drainage
• The pavement surface should be absolutely impermeable to prevent
seepage of water into the pavement layers.
• Further, both the geometry and texture of pavement surface should
help in draining out the water from the surface in less time.

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CROSS‐SECTIONAL ELEMENTS

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 Camber or Cross‐slope
• Slope provided on the road surface in the transverse direction to
drain off rain water from top of the road

• Drainage and quick disposal of water is needed for the following

reasons
• To prevent the entry of water into subgrade soil through the
pavement as the stability, surface condition and life of the
pavement gets adversely affected if water enters the subgrade
• To prevent the entry of water into the bituminous pavement layers
as continued contact with water causes stripping of bitumen from
aggregate
• To remove the rain water quickly from the surface of the
pavement and to allow it to dry soon so that skid resistance of
the pavement is not compromised
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Camber or Cross‐slope

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 Camber or Cross‐slope

• The cross-slope of the shoulders should be 0.5% steeper than the

cross-slope of the adjoining pavement, subject to a maximum of 3%

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 Width of Carriageway
• Depends on width of traffic lane and number of lanes
• Lane width is determined based on the width of vehicle (maximum
width of vehicle as per IRC - 2.44 m) and minimum side clearance
that may be provided for safety

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 Traffic Separators
• Functions
• Prevent head-on collision
• Channelized traffic streams at intersections
• Refuge for crossing turning traffic
• Segregate slow traffic and pedestrians

• Types
• Pavement Markings
• Area Separators – median, channelizing islands

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Traffic Separators

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Traffic Separators

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 Median
• To reduce glare
• Glare can be further reduced by planting trees and shrubs
• IRC recommends a minimum desirable width of 5 m on rural
highways
• May be reduced to 3 m where land is restricted
• Further reduced to 1.2 to 1.5 m for long bridges

• Should be of uniform width

• If to be varied, a transition of 1 in 15 to 1 in 20 must be provided

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 Kerb or Curb
• Boundary between the pavement and the shoulder; or sometimes
islands or footpaths or kerb parking spaces

• Low or Mountable type kerbs – encourage drivers to remain in the

lane, yet allow them to enter the shoulder area with little difficulty.
Height of about 10 cm above pavement
• Semi-barrier type kerb – used when pedestrian traffic is high.
Prevent encroachment by vehicles, but possible to use in acute
emergencies. Height of about 15 cm above pavement
• Barrier type kerb – considerable pedestrian volume. Height of about
25 cm above pavement
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Kerb or Curb

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 Road Margins
• Includes shoulder , parking lane, frontage road, driveways, cycle
tracks, footpaths, guard rail and embankment slope

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 Shoulder
• Emergency lane for vehicles that are compelled to be taken out of the
pavement or roadway
• Service lane for vehicles that have broken down
• Should have sufficient load bearing capacity to support loaded trucks
in wet weather

• Can be paved or unpaved

• According to IRC, the minimum width of
• Paved shoulder = 1.5 m
• Earthen shoulder = 2.5 m

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 Shoulder
Earthen Shoulder Paved Shoulder

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 Road Margins
Parking Lanes Lay Byes

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 Road Margins
Bus Bay Frontage Roads

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 Road Margins
Drive ways Guard Rails

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 Road Margins
Footpath Cycle Tracks

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 Width of Roadway or Formation
• Sum of widths of pavement or carriageway including separators (if
any) and the shoulder
• It is the top width of the highway embankment or bottom width of
highway cutting, excluding the drains.

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 Right of Way
• Area of land acquired for the road, along its alignment
• It is desirable to acquire more width of the land as after the
construction of highways
• Cost of adjoining properties invariably increases
• Road side development would occur
• Required road width is influenced by
• Category of road, width of highway and highway margins
• Height of embankment or depth of cutting and their side slopes
• Drainage system and their size
• Sight distance required
• Reserve land for future widening
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Right of Way

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SIGHT DISTANCE

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 Sight Distance
• Sight distance available from a point is the actual distance along the
road surface, over which a driver from a specified height above the
carriage way has visibility of stationary or moving objects.
• Length of road visible ahead to the driver at any instance
• Restriction to sight distance may be caused at horizontal curves, at
vertical summit curves, at intersections and by objects obstructing
the vision at the inner side of the road
• Types:
• Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) or absolute minimum sight
distance
• Overtaking or passing Sight Distance (OSD)
• Sight Distance for entering into uncontrolled intersections
• Intermediate Sight Distance (ISD) = 2 x SSD
• Headlight Sight Distance (HSD) = SSD under headlight 45
 Factors influencing sight distance
• Reaction time of the driver
• Time taken from the instant the object is visible to the driver to
the instant when the brakes are applied
• IRC suggests a reaction time of 2.5 secs.
• Speed of the vehicle
• Higher the speed, more time will be required to stop the vehicle.
• Efficiency of brakes
• depends upon the age of the vehicle, vehicle characteristics etc
• sight distance required will be more when the efficiency of brakes
are less.
• Also for safe geometric design, we assume that the vehicles have
only 50% brake efficiency.

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 Factors influencing sight distance
• Frictional resistance between the tyre and the road
• When the frictional resistance is more, the vehicles stop immediately.
Thus sight required will be less.
• No separate provision for brake efficiency is provided while computing
the sight distance. This is taken into account along with the factor of
longitudinal friction.
• IRC has specified the value of longitudinal friction in between 0.35 to
0.4.
• Gradient of the road
• While climbing up a gradient, the vehicle can stop immediately.
Therefore sight distance required is less.
• While descending a gradient, gravity also comes into action and more
time will be required to stop the vehicle. Sight distance required will be
more in this case.

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 Total Reaction Time
• Can be divided into 2 parts
• Perception time
• Brake reaction time
• Perception Time is the time from the instant the objects comes on
the line of sight of the driver to the instant that the vehicle needs to
be stopped. Varies from driver to driver and depends on speed of
vehicle, distance of the object and other environmental conditions.
• Brake reaction time also depends on skill of the driver, type of the
problem and various other environmental factors

• Total Reaction Time is better explained by PIEV Theory

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 PIEV Theory
• Perception Time
• Time required for the sensation received by eyes or ears to be
transmitted to the brain through the nervous system and spinal chord
• Intellection Time
• Time required for understanding the situation
• Time needed for comparing different thoughts, regrouping and
registering new sensations
• Emotion Time
• Time elapsed during emotional sensations and disturbance such as fear,
anger, etc with reference to the situation.
• Volition Time
• Time taken for final action

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PIEV Theory

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 Stopping sight distance
• Minimum sight distance available on a highway at any spot having
sufficient length to enable the driver to stop a vehicle traveling at
design speed, safely without collision with any other obstruction.
• It is the distance a vehicle travels from the point at which a situation
is first perceived to the time the deceleration is complete.
• For highway design, sight distance at least equal to the safe stopping
distance should be provided.
• For the purpose of measuring SSD, IRC has suggested the eye level of
driver as 1.2 m and the height of the object as 0.15 m above the road
surface

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 Stopping sight distance
• The stopping sight distance is the sum of lag distance and the
braking distance.
• Lag distance (or Reaction distance) is the distance the vehicle
traveled during the reaction time t and is given by vt, where v is the
velocity in m/sec2.
• Braking distance is the distance traveled by the vehicle during
braking operation.

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 Stopping sight distance
• For a level road, this is obtained by equating the work done in
stopping the vehicle and the kinetic energy of the vehicle.
• If F is the maximum frictional force developed and the braking
distance is l, then work done against friction in stopping the vehicle
is Fl = fWl where W is the total weight of the vehicle.
• The kinetic energy at the design speed is

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 Stopping sight distance
• Therefore, the SSD = lag distance + braking distance and given by:

• where v is the design speed in m=sec2, t is the reaction time in sec, g

is the acceleration due to gravity and f is the coefficient of friction.
• The coefficient of friction f is given below for various design speed.

• Therefore the general equation for SSD on slopes of gradient n is

given by

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 Minimum SSD
• Minimum SSD
• = stopping distance in one-way traffic lanes
• = stopping distance in two-way traffic lanes when there are two or
more traffic lanes
• = (2 x stopping distance) on roads with restricted width or on
single lane roads when two-way movement of traffic is permitted

• If SSD is not available for the design speed, speed must be restricted
by a warning sign and a suitable speed-limit regulation sign

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 Overtaking Sight Distance
• The overtaking sight distance is the minimum distance open to the
vision of the driver of a vehicle intending to overtake the slow vehicle
ahead safely against the traffic in the opposite direction.
• The overtaking sight distance or passing sight distance is measured
along the center line of the road over which a driver with his eye level
1.2 m above the road surface can see the top of an object 1.2 m
above the road surface.

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 Factors influencing OSD
• Velocities of the overtaking vehicle, overtaken vehicle and of the
vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
• Spacing between vehicles, which in-turn depends on the speed
• Skill and reaction time of the driver
• Rate of acceleration of overtaking vehicle
• Gradient of the road

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 Overtaking Sight Distance

• d1 the distance traveled by overtaking vehicle A during the reaction

time t from A1 to A2
• d2 the distance traveled by the vehicle A from A2 to A3 during the
actual overtaking operation in time T
• d3 is the distance traveled by on-coming vehicle C during the
overtaking operation of A, in time T

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 Overtaking Sight Distance
• Vehicle A (which was travelling at design speed v) is forced to reduce
its speed to vb, the speed of the slow moving vehicle B and travels
behind it during the reaction time t of the driver.
• So d1 is given by

• Then the vehicle A starts to accelerate, shifts the lane, overtake and
shift back to the original lane. The vehicle A maintains the spacing s
before and after overtaking.
• The spacing s in m is given by

• Let T be the duration of actual overtaking. The distance traveled by B

during the overtaking operation is b = vb.T
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 Overtaking Sight Distance
• Also, during this time, vehicle A accelerated from initial velocity vb
and overtaking is completed while reaching final velocity v.
• Hence the distance traveled is given by:

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 Overtaking Sight Distance
• The distance traveled by the vehicle C moving at design speed v
m/sec during overtaking operation is given by

• The overtaking sight distance is

• where vb is the velocity of the slow moving vehicle in m/sec2, t the

reaction time of the driver in sec, s is the spacing between the two
vehicle in m and a is the overtaking vehicle’s acceleration in m/sec2.
• In case the speed of the overtaken vehicle is not given, it can be
assumed that it moves 16 km/h slower than the design speed.

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 Overtaking Sight Distance
• Acceleration values of the fast vehicle depends on its speed

• On divided highways, d3 need not be considered

• On divided highways with four or more lanes, IRC suggests that it is
not necessary to provide the OSD, but only SSD is sufficient.
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 Overtaking Zones
• Overtaking zones are provided when OSD cannot be provided
throughout the length of the highway.
• These are zones dedicated for overtaking operation, marked with wide
roads.
• The desirable length of overtaking zones is 5 time OSD and the
minimum is three times OSD

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 Intermediate Sight Distance
• For stretches where it is not possible to provide OSD, for limited
overtaking opportunity, ISD = (2 x SSD) can be provided

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 Sight distance at intersections
• At intersections where two or more roads meet, visibility should be
provided for the drivers approaching the intersection from either
sides.
• SSD for each road can be computed from the design speed.
• The sight distance should be provided such that the drivers on either
side should be able to see each other.

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 Sight distance at intersections
• Design of sight distance at intersections may be used on three
possible conditions:
• Enabling approaching vehicle to change the speed
• Enabling approaching vehicle to stop
• Enabling stopped vehicle to cross a main road

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Horizontal Alignment

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 Design Speed
• Depends on the type of the road. For e.g, the design speed expected
from a National highway will be much higher than a village road, and
hence the curve geometry will vary significantly
• Depends on the type of terrain. A plain terrain can afford to have any
geometry, but for the same standard in a hilly terrain requires
substantial cutting and filling implying exorbitant costs as well as
safety concern due to unstable slopes. Therefore, the design speed is
normally reduced for terrains with steep slopes.

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Design Speed

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 Horizontal curve
• On a curved road, this force tends to cause the vehicle to overrun or
to slide outward from the centre of road curvature
• Forces include centrifugal force (P) acting outward, weight of the
vehicle (W) acting downward, and the reaction of the ground on the
wheels (RA and RB). The centrifugal force and the weight is assumed
to be from the centre of gravity which is at h units above the ground.
Let the wheel base be assumed as b units.

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 Horizontal curve
• The centrifugal force P in kg/m2 is given by

• where W is the weight of the vehicle in kg, v is the speed of the

vehicle in m/sec, g is the acceleration due to gravity in m/sec2 and R
is the radius of the curve in m.
• The centrifugal ratio or the impact factor P/W is given by:

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 Horizontal curve
• The centrifugal force has two effects: A tendency to overturn the
vehicle about the outer wheels and a tendency for transverse
skidding.
• Taking moments of the forces with respect to the outer wheel when
the vehicle is just about to override,

• At the equilibrium over turning is possible when

• and for safety the following condition must satisfy:

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 Horizontal curve
• The second tendency of the vehicle is for transverse skidding. i.e.
When the centrifugal force P is greater than the maximum possible
transverse skid resistance due to friction between the pavement
surface and tyre.
• The transverse skid resistance (F) is given by:

• where FA and FB is the fractional force at tyre A and B, RA and RB is

the reaction at tyre A and B, f is the lateral coefficient of friction and
W is the weight of the vehicle.

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 Horizontal curve
• Thus, this developed frictional force counteracts the centrifugal force
and by equating

• At equilibrium, when skidding takes place

• and for safety the following condition must satisfy:

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 Horizontal curve – Super‐elevation
• Super-elevation or cant or banking is the transverse slope provided at
horizontal curve to counteract the centrifugal force, by raising the
outer edge of the pavement with respect to the inner edge,
throughout the length of the horizontal curve.
• When the outer edge is raised, a component of the curve weight will
be complimented in counteracting the effect of centrifugal force.

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 Horizontal curve – Super‐elevation
• P = centrifugal force acting horizontally out-wards through the center
of gravity,
• W = weight of the vehicle acting down-wards through the center of
gravity
• F = friction force between the wheels and the pavement, along the
surface inward.

• At equilibrium, by resolving the forces parallel to the surface of the

pavement we get,

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 Horizontal curve – Super‐elevation
• Dividing by W cosθ, we get

• We know

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 Horizontal curve – Super‐elevation
• So, we have

• This is an exact expression for super-elevation. But normally, f =

0:15 and θ < 4o, 1-f tan θ ≈ 1 and for small θ, tan θ ≈ sin θ = E/B = e,
then

• where, e is the rate of super elevation, f the coefficient of lateral

friction 0.15, v the speed of the vehicle in m/sec, R the radius of the
curve in m and g = 9:8 m/sec2.

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 Horizontal curve – Super‐elevation
• While designing the various elements of the road like super-elevation,
we design it for a particular vehicle called design vehicle which has
some standard weight and dimensions.
• But in the actual case, the road has to cater for mixed traffic.
Different vehicles with different dimensions and varying speeds ply
on the road. For example, in the case of a heavily loaded truck with
high centre of gravity and low speed, super-elevation should be less,
otherwise chances of toppling are more.
• Taking into practical considerations of all such situations, IRC has
given some guidelines about the maximum and minimum super-
elevation etc.

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 Design of super‐elevation
• Step 1 Find e for 75 % of design speed and neglecting f,

• Step 2 If e1 ≤ 0:07, then e = e1 = , ,else if e1 > 0:07 go to step 3.

• Step 3 Find f1 for the design speed and max e,

• If f1 < 0:15, then the maximum e = 0:07 is safe for the design speed, else
go to step 4.
• Step 4 Find the allowable speed va for the maximum e = 0:07 and f =
0.15,

• If va ≥ v then the design is adequate, otherwise use speed adopt control

measures or look for speed control measures.
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 Maximum and minimum super‐elevation
• Depends on (a) slow moving vehicle and (b) heavy loaded trucks with
high CG.
• IRC specifies a maximum super-elevation of 7 percent for plain and
rolling terrain, while that of hilly terrain is 10 percent and urban
road is 4 percent.

• The minimum super elevation is 2-4 percent for drainage purpose,

especially for large radius of the horizontal curve.

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 Attainment of super‐elevation
• Elimination of the crown of the cambered section by:
• (a) rotating the outer edge about the crown : The outer half of the cross
slope is rotated about the crown at a desired rate such that this surface
falls on the same plane as the inner half.
• (b) shifting the position of the crown: Here the position of the crown is
progressively shifted outwards, thus increasing the width of the inner
half of cross section progressively.
• Rotation of the pavement cross section to attain full super elevation by:
• (a) rotation about the center line : The pavement is rotated such that the
inner edge is depressed and the outer edge is raised both by half the
total amount of super-elevation, i.e., by E/2 with respect to the centre.
• (b) rotation about the inner edge: Here the pavement is rotated raising
the outer edge as well as the centre such that the outer edge is raised by
the full amount of super-elevation with respect to the inner edge.
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 Extra widening on horizontal curves
• Extra widening refers to the additional width of carriageway that is
required on a curved section of a road over and above that required
on a straight alignment.
• This widening is done due to two reasons: the first and most
important is the additional width required for a vehicle taking a
horizontal curve and the second is due to the tendency of the drivers
to ply away from the edge of the carriageway as they drive on a curve.
• The first is referred as the mechanical widening and the second is
called the psychological widening.

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 Extra widening on horizontal curves
• Mechanical widening (Wm)
• When a vehicle negotiates a horizontal curve, the rear wheels follow a
path of shorter radius than the front wheels. This phenomenon is
called off-tracking, and has the effect of increasing the effective width
of a road space required by the vehicle.
• Therefore, to provide the same clearance between vehicles traveling in
opposite direction on curved roads as is provided on straight
sections, there must be extra width of carriageway available

• l = distance between the front and rear wheel,

• n = number of lanes
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 Extra widening on horizontal curves
• Psychological Widening (Wp)
• Widening of pavements has to be done for some psychological
reasons also.
• There is a tendency for the drivers to drive close to the edges of the
pavement on curves. Some extra space is to be provided for more
clearance for the crossing and overtaking operations on curves.

• .
• V – design speed in km/h

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 Extra widening on horizontal curves
• The total widening needed at a horizontal curve We is

𝑊 𝑊 𝑊

𝑛𝑙 𝑉
𝑊
2𝑅 9.5 𝑅

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 Horizontal Transition Curves
• Transition curve is provided to change the horizontal alignment from
straight to circular curve gradually and has a radius which decreases
from infinity at the straight end (tangent point) to the desired radius
of the circular curve at the other end (curve point)
• Objectives for providing transition curve and are given below:
• to introduce gradually the centrifugal force between the tangent
point and the beginning of the circular curve, avoiding sudden
jerk on the vehicle. This increases the comfort of passengers.
• to enable the driver turn the steering gradually for his own
comfort and security,
• to provide gradual introduction of super elevation, and
• to provide gradual introduction of extra widening.
• to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the road.

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 Horizontal Transition Curves
• Different types of transition curves are spiral or clothoid, cubic
parabola, and Lemniscate.
• IRC recommends spiral as the transition curve because it fulfills the
requirement of an ideal transition curve, that is;
• (a) rate of change or centrifugal acceleration is consistent (smooth)
and
• (b) radius of the transition curve is ∞ at the straight edge and
changes to R at the curve point and calculation and field
implementation is very easy.

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 Length of Horizontal Transition Curves
• The length of the transition curve should be determined as the
maximum of the following three criteria:
• Rate of change of centrifugal acceleration,
• rate of change of super-elevation, and
• an empirical formula given by IRC.

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 Length of Horizontal Transition Curves
1. Rate of change of centrifugal acceleration
• At the tangent point, radius is infinity and hence centrifugal
acceleration is zero. At the end of the transition, the radius R has
minimum value R.
• The rate of change of centrifugal acceleration should be adopted such
that the design should not cause discomfort to the drivers.
• Length of the transition curve Ls1 in m is

• where c is the rate of change of centrifugal acceleration given by an

empirical formula suggested by IRC as below
• Subject to 0.5 ≤ c ≤ 0.8

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 Length of Horizontal Transition Curves
2. Rate of introduction of super-elevation
• Raise (E) of the outer edge with respect to inner edge is given by E =
eB = e(W +We).
• The rate of change of this raise from 0 to E is achieved gradually with
a gradient of 1 in N over the length of the transition curve (typical
range of N is 60-150).
• Therefore, the length of the transition curve Ls2 is:

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 Length of Horizontal Transition Curves
3. By empirical formula
• IRC suggest the length of the transition curve is minimum for a plain
and rolling terrain:

• and for steep and hilly terrain is:

• and the shift s as:

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 Length of Horizontal Transition Curves
• The length of the transition curve Ls is the maximum of the three
aforementioned criteria

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Vertical Alignment

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 Introduction
• The vertical alignment of a road consists of gradients (straight lines
in a vertical plane) and vertical curves.
• The vertical alignment is usually drawn as a profile, which is a graph
with elevation as vertical axis and the horizontal distance along the
centre line of the road as the horizontal axis.
• Just as a circular curve is used to connect horizontal straight
stretches of road, vertical curves connect two gradients.
• When these two curves meet, they form either convex or concave.
• The former is called a summit curve, while the latter is called a
valley curve. This section covers a discussion on gradient and
summit curves.

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 Gradient
• Rate of rise or fall along the length of the road with respect to the
horizontal
• Before finalizing the gradients, the construction cost, vehicular
operation cost and the practical problems in the site also has to be
considered.
• Usually steep gradients are avoided as far as possible because of the
difficulty to climb and increase in the construction cost.
• The positive gradient or the ascending gradient is denoted as +n and
the negative gradient as -n.
• The deviation angle N is: when two grades meet, the angle which
measures the change of direction and is given by the algebraic
difference between the two grades (n1- (-n2)) = n1 + n2 = 𝛼 𝛼

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Gradient

97
 Types of Gradients
• Gradient up to 7% can have considerable effect on the speeds of the
passenger cars.
• Speeds of the heavy vehicles are considerably reduced when long
gradients as at as two percent is adopted
• Although, flatter gradients are desirable, it is evident that the cost of
construction will also be very high.
• May not be economically viable to adopt such gradients in certain
locations, steeper gradients are permitted for short duration.

• Ruling gradient, limiting gradient, exceptional gradient and minimum

gradient

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 Types of Gradients
• Ruling Gradient
• The ruling gradient or the design gradient is the maximum gradient
with which the designer attempts to design the vertical profile of the
road.
• Ruling gradient is adopted by the designer by considering a
particular speed as the design speed and for a design vehicle with
standard dimensions

• Limiting Gradient
• On rolling terrain and hilly terrain it may be frequently necessary to
adopt limiting gradient.
• But the length of the limiting gradient stretches should be limited
and must be sandwiched by either straight roads or easier grades.

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 Types of Gradients
• Exceptional Gradient
• Are very steeper gradients given at unavoidable situations.
• They should be limited for short stretches not exceeding about 100
metres at a stretch.
• In mountainous and steep terrain, successive exceptional gradients
must be separated by a minimum 100 metre length gentler gradient.

• Minimum gradient
• longitudinal drainage along the side drains require some slope for
smooth flow of water
• Minimum of 1 in 500 may be sufficient for concrete drain and 1 in
200 for open soil drains

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 Grade Compensation
• While a vehicle is negotiating a horizontal curve, if there is a gradient
also, then there will be increased resistance to traction due to both
curve and the gradient.
• In such cases, the total resistance should not exceed the resistance
due to gradient specified.
• Thus grade compensation can be defined as the reduction in gradient
at the horizontal curve because of the additional tractive force
required due to curve resistance which is intended to offset the extra
tractive force involved at the curve.

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 Grade Compensation
• IRC gave the following specification for the grade compensation.
• Grade compensation is not required for grades flatter than 4%
because the loss of tractive force is negligible.

• Grade compensation is %, where R is the radius of the

horizontal curve in meters.

• The maximum grade compensation is limited to %

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 Summit Curve
• Summit curves are vertical curves with gradient upwards. They are
formed when
• a positive gradient meets another positive gradient [Figure a].
• positive gradient meets a flat gradient [Figure b].
• an ascending gradient meets a descending gradient [Figure c].
• a descending gradient meets another descending gradient [Figure d].

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 Length of Summit Curve (L)
• L>S • L<S

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 Length of Summit Curve (L)
• L = length of the summit curve,
• S = SSD/ISD/OSD,
• N = deviation angle,
• h1 = driver's eye height (1.2 m), and
• h2 = height of the obstruction

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 Valley Curve
• Valley curve or sag curves are vertical curves with convexity downwards.
They are formed when
• a descending gradient meets another descending gradient [Figure a].
• a descending gradient meets a flat gradient [Figure b].
• a descending gradient meets an ascending gradient [Figure c].
• an ascending gradient meets another ascending gradient [Figure d].

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 Length of Valley Curve (L)
• 1. Comfort condition

• c = allowable rate of change of centrifugal acceleration (0.6m/sec3)

• N = deviation angle in radians

• 2. Safety Condition or Headlight Sight Distance Condition

• L>S
• L<S

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 Length of Valley Curve (L)
• L>S • L<S

108
 Length of Valley Curve (L)
• L = length of the valley curve,
• S = SSD under headlight,
• N = deviation angle in radian,
• h1 = height of headlight beam (0.75 m), and
• α = head beam inclination in degrees (1o)

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