Highway Engineering & Railroad

Engineering
CE - 312 - MIDTERM
DESIGNING OF HIGHWAY
Consistency

Consistency is the most

important single rule in highway
design. That is, by making every
element of the roadway
conforms to the expectation of
every driver.
Drivers expect the highway
agency to provide them with:

1. Clear information and

guidance tlrough a variety of
road signs.

2. Avoiding abrupt changes in

the traffic as well as the road
standards.
If these guides and directions
could be planned properly to
convey one single message at a
time, and if these directions will
be followed smoothly and easily
without undue haste, or changes
in speed, then, the roadway
facilities are considered
satisfactory. Experienced
highway Engineers
recommended that highway
Definition of Terms

AASTHO is the American

Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials. In 1914,
the American Association of State
Highway Officials (ASSHO) was
established as an
association of State Territorial and
District of Columbia Highway
Department, and the Federal
The name was expanded in
1973, when the Departrnent of
Transportation was integrated
into the association renaming
AASHO to
AASHTO, giving the officials of
these agency the power to
govern its operation.
Engineering activities, were
implemented by the standing
committees with the task of
AASHTO publications
includes:

1. Transportation Materials
Specifications and Tests.

2. Specifications for highway bridges

3. Geometric design standards.

4. Numerous policy statements and

guides.
AASHTO publications are
authoritative References are
made in these books and
periodic manuals. The
association also publishes the
AASHTO quarterly reports on
current Highway and
Transportations subject
including trends in forecast and
legislation.
Roads and Highways is defined
as strips of land that have been
cleared and further improved for
the movement of people and
goods.

Road - Road has somewhat

broader application in usage
while generally used to describe
a public thoroughfare. It can also
refer to railways.
Highway. The term was first
used in England to describe a
public road built by digging
ditches on both sides and
heaping up the earth in the
middle creating a way higher
than the adjacent land. Highway
now connotes, a higher state of
development than road. but the
words are almost
interchangeable.
Expressway is a divided arterial
highway for through traffic with
full or partial control or access
and generally provided with
grade separation at major
intersections.

Freeway is an expressway with

full control of access.
Control of Access is a conditron
where the rights of owners or
occupants of adjoining land or
other persons access to light, air
or view in connection with a
highway is fully or partially
controlled by public authority.
Full Control of Access

The authority to control access

is
exercised to give preference to
through traffic by providing
access connections to selected
public roads only. Crossing at
grade or direct private driveway
connections is not permitted.
Partial Control of Access

The authority to control access is

exercised to give preference to
through traffic. Although in
addition to access connections
with selected public roads, there
may be some crossings at grade
and some private driveway
connections allowed.
Through Street or Through
Highway

Every Highway or portion thereof

on which vehicular traffic is given
preferential right of way, and at the
entrance to which vehicular traffic
from intersecting highways is
required by law to yield right of way
to vehicles on such through highway
in obedience to either stop sign or
Parkway is an arterial
highway for non-commercial
traffic, with full or partial
control of access usually
located within a park or
ribbon park-like
development.
Arterial Street is an arterial
route that carries traffic to the
nearest access point or through
traffic. It often serves as the
most advantageous routes for
relatively long distance travel.
Most arterial streets are existing
highways of considerable length
along which cross traffic is
regulated by signals or stop
signs. In addition, arterials
Basic Considerations in Planning
Arterial Roadways

1. Selection of the routes.

2. Studies of the traffic volume.
3. Origin and destination.
4. Accident experienced.
5. Width should not be less than 15
meters.
6. Must carry at least one lane of traffic
in each direction.
7. Should be at least one kilomster in
length.

8. Should skirt neighborhood areas rather

than penetrate them.

9. On grid design system streets, arterials

are spaced at about 600 to 900 meters
apart.

10. Where accident hazard is not a factor,

the minimum volume to justify arterial
road is 300 vehicles per average hour
Sometimes, peak hour traffic
volume on designated arterial
road exceeds the capacity of
two-way streets, and to increase
the arterial capacity, the
following solutions are enforced:
1. During peak hours, parking is
prohibited on one or both sides ofthe
street.
2. Parking is prohibited several meters
away from each side of the road
intersections or corners.
3. Right turn is allowed on red signals
anytime with care.
4. Left turns are eliminated on
congested intersections.
5. The direction of traffic is reversed in
the center lane to provide more lanes in
the direction of heavier traffic flow.
Collector Street form smaller
mesh grid pattem where
passengers are pick up from
service streets and carried to
the arterials. Large commercial
enterprises or amusement
facilities like drive in theaters
are mostly fronting arterial
roads.
Local Road is defined as
street or road primarily for
access mode to residence,
business, or other adjoining
properties. It is also defined
as a road constructed and
maintained by the local
government.
Highway Capacity is defined
as the manimum number of
vehicles that are reasonably
expected to pass a given
point over a given period of
time usually expressed as
vehicles per hour.
Under ideal conditions, one
freeway lane can
accommodate about 2,000
passenger cars per hour.

2. Two-lane road can carry

up to 1,000 passenger cars
per hour in each direction.
There is an obvious
relationship between vehicle
speed and highway capacity.
As the volume of traffrc
approaches capacity,
the average speed is
markedly reduced.
AADT or ADT refers to traffic volume or
flow on a high_x0002_way as measured
by the number of vehicles passing a
partial station during a given interval of
time. It is called ‘'Average Annual Daily
Traffic" if the period is less than one
year. Volume may be stated on houry
"Observed Traffic Volume" or estimated
30th hour volume commonly used for
design purposes. Some highway
agencies use traffic volume for 5 minutes
interval to distinguish short peak
movements of vehicles.
The Design Speed

There is no single sst of

Geometric Standards that will
apply to all highways. For every
highway segment, decisions
regarding appropriate control
for each of the many details or
requirements must be addressed
individually or separately.
AASHTO defined Design
Speed as:

"The speed determined for design and

correlation of the physical feature of a
highway that influence vehicles
operation. It is the maximum speed that
can be maintaned over a specified
section of the highway when weather
and traffc conditions are so favorable
that the design features af the highway
govern.
Basic Design Features refers to the
tightness and super elevation of curves,
the sight distance, and grade. The
design speed is basically higher than the
anticipated average speed.

AASHTO recommend that:

"The design speed be set to the greatest

degree possible, to satisfy the needs of
nearly all drivers bath today and
throughout
the road anticipated life”
For economic reasons, the Geometric
Features of certain road sections are
designed for speed from 30 to 50
kilometers per hour. And yet, some
motorists drive faster on straight road
alignment or less sharply curved
sections. Under this situations,highway
design adopted control by reducing the
super elevation
combined with easement curves,
delineators, stripping signs and rumble
strips, to alert motorists and inform them
that they are approaching sharp curves
Cross Section of Typical
Highway

The cross section of a typical

highway has latitude of variables to
consider such as:
1. The volume of traffic.
2. Character of the traffic.
3. Speed of the traffic.
4. Characteristics of motor vehicles
and of the driver.
Highway design usually adopted
cross section that is uniform in
thickness from end to end of the
improvement. This is acceptable on
high volume traffic road facilities.
For a low volume traffic facilities,
modification of the features like the
shoulders width in rough areas are
usually employed to reduce costs. A
cross section design generally offers
the expected level
of service for safety and a recent
1. A 7.20 meters wide pavement
has l8% less accidenl compared
with pavement narrower than
5.50 m. wide.

2. A 7.2o meters wide pavement

has 4% fewer accidents than the
6.00 meters wide roadway.
3. Accident records showed no
difference between the 6.60 meters
and the 7.20 meters wide pavement.

4. For the 6.00 m., 6.60 m. and,7.20

meters wide pavement with 2.70 to
3.00 m. wide shoulder, recorded
accident decreases by 30%
compared to 0 to .60 m. wide
shoulder. And 20%o compared with
a .90 to 1.20 meters wide shoulder.
For Two Lane Rural
Highways,
a 7.20 meters wide surface is
required for safe clearance
between commercial vehicles
and is recornmended for
main highways.
For Collector Roadway, 6.00 meters
wide surface is acceptable only for low
volume trafFrc including few trucks
traveling thereon.

For Local Rural Roadway, the minimum

surface width is 4.80 meters for a 30 km
/ hr. design speed.

For Urban Roadway, the minimum

design width is 3.60 meters although
3.00 meters is allowed where space is
limited.