Historical Background

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 History
o Oldest mode of travel was footpath or footways
o With invention of wheel, vehicles were developed, drawn by
animal power
o Vehicles required some kind of hard surface and roads
came into existence
o Oldest road in Mesopotamia, 3500 B.C., but no record
available
o First road on record, in the Assyrian period @1900 B.C.,
o The Romans constructed an extensive system of roads
radiating in many directions from Rome through the empire
mainly for military operations.
o Romans are considered to be the pioneers in road
construction.
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 Roman Road Construction:
o The main features of the Romans roads are:
o They were built straight regardless of gradients.
o They were built after the soft soil was removed and a
hard stratum was reached.
o The total thickness of the construction was as high as
0.75 to 1.2 metres at some places, even though the
magnitude of wheel loads of animal drawn vehicles
was very low.

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 Roman Road Construction:

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 Tresaguet Construction
o Pierre Tresaguet (1716-1796) developed an improved
method of construction in France by the year 1964 A.D.
o Tresaguet was the Inspector General of Roads in France
from 1775 to 1785
o The main feature of his proposal was that the thickness
of construction need be only in the order of 30 cm.
o Further due consideration was given by him to subgrade
moisture condition and drainage of surface water.

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 Tresaguet Construction

Shoulder 30 cm

FoundationStone 17cm Broken

drain stone 8 cm

o Depth reduced to 30 cm
o Camber or slope provided for drainage
o Shoulder provided to support the structure
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 Tresaguet Construction
o The subgrade was prepared and layer of large
foundation stones were laid on edge by hand. At the two
edges of the pavement large stones were embedded
edgewise to serve as submerged kerb stones.
o The corners of these heavy foundation stones were
hammered and then the interstices filled with smaller
stones. Broken stones were packed to a thickness of
about 8cm and compacted.
o The top wearing course was made of smaller stones and
compacted to a thickness of about 5cm at the edges and
gradually increased towards the centre giving a cross
slope 1in 45 to surface to provide surface drainage.
o Shoulder with cross slope.
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 Telford Construction
o Thomas Telford (1757-1834) began his work in early
19th century.
o He also believed in using heavy foundation stones
above the soil subgrade in order to keep the road
foundation firm.
o He insisted on providing a definite cross slope for top
surface of the pavement by varying the thickness of
foundation stones.

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Telford Construction
slope1:45
Broken
stone in LM

Level sub grade Varying foundation

stones 17-22 cm
o A level subgrade -width of about 9 meters
o Big foundation stones from 17-22 cm
o Interstices filled with 7 cm stone chips
o Intermediate layer with 5 and 10 cm thickness
o Wearing course 4 cm with c/s slope 1:45
o Cross drainage at every 90 m interval below
17 Januaryfoundation
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 Macadam Construction
o John Macadam (1756-1836) put forward an entirely
new method of road construction as compared to all
the previous methods.
o The first attempt to improve the road condition was
made by him in 1815.
o Macadam was the Surveyor General of Roads in
England and his new concept of road construction
became known by the year 1827.

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 Macadam Construction
Slope 1:36
Surface Course 2 cm
size, stone chips, 5
cm thick

Broken Stone 3.75 cm

size, metal, 10 cm
thick
Compacted sub grade
with slope1:36 Broken Stone 5 cm
o Compacted and sloped sub grade size, aggregate, 10
cm thick
o Use of compacted layer of broken stone instead of
foundation stones of large size
o Overall thickness reduced, become popular as based
on scientific thinking
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 Macadam Construction
o It was realised that the stresses due to wheel load of
traffic gets decreased at the lower layers of the
pavement and therefore it is not necessary to provide
large and strong boulder stones as foundation or
soling course at the lowest layer of the pavement.
o Macadam's construction - water bound macadam,
penetration macadam and bituminous macadam
constructions.

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 Further Developments
o Major drawback of Water Bound Macadam road was
dust nuisance, Oils and bituminous materials were
tried and Bituminous Macadam Roads came into
existence
o Cement concrete was also tried for road construction
and Concrete Roads developed
o Due to cost restrictions Soil Stabilized Roads were
developed to cover maximum length with limited funds

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 Highway Development in India
o Roads existed in ancient India i.e. 25 to 35 centuries
B. C.
o Rules were laid in 4th century BC (Aryans) to regulate
traffic.
o 5th century Emperor Ashoka improved the roads for
travelers.
o Roads greatly improved in Pathan and Moghul period
o In the beginning of British rule, roads were poor. Many
roads and bridges were constructed by British Military
Engineers
o Lord Dalhousie formulated PWD in 1865 to look after
the construction and maintenance of roads
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 Highway Development in India
Jaykar committee:
o After the First World War the number of motor vehicles
increased and need for better road arised.
o The government formulated the Indian road
development committee in 1927 with M. R. Jaykar as
Chairman.
Recommendation made by committee:
o Roads should be given national importance & priority
o Extra Tax be levied on petrol from road users as
Central Road Fund to be utilized for development of
roads
o A technical body be formed to look after various
Highway Engineering
aspects of roads, research and development.
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 Highway Development in India
Jaykar committee:
Recommendation made by committee:
o A semi-official technical body be formed to pool the
technical know how from various part of country and
act as advisory body on various aspects of roads.
o A research organization instituted to carry out
research and development work.

Central Road fund – 1929

IRC – Semi official body – 1934
CRRI - 1950
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 Central Road Fund

o The government resolved to formulate the CRF in

1929.
o Petrol consumers were charged to create this fund
o 20% was retained by govt, for administration and
balance 80% was given to as grants to various states
for construction, research and development of
important roads and bridges.

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 Indian Road Congress
o A semi official body was formulated in 1934 to look
after every aspect of roads
o Pooling of Experience, data collection, specifications,
research, administration and development policies
(Road development plans)
o Group consists of road engineers from various fields
formed into committees
o IRC publishes journals, reports, specifications and
guidelines for the standardization and specification
preparations
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 Motor Vehicle Act
o After the world war II the number of vehicles increased
rapidly but the road development was not in tune due
to economic depression
o MVA was brought into effect in 1939 to regulate the
road traffic appended first in 1977 and in 1989.
o The three phases
o Control of driver
o Vehicle ownership
o Vehicle operation of roads and traffic stream
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 Nagpur Road Conference (1943-63)
o At the initiative of IRC, a conference of all Chief
Engineers from various states was held in Nagpur in
1943 to finalize the development plan for country as a
whole
o All roads were classified into 5 categories and a
program for 1943-63 was fixed
o Responsibility of NH to Central Govt.
o Target set was 16 km road per 100 sq,km.
o Systematic plan achieved target in 1961.
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 Central Road Research Institute
o As per Jaykar Committee Recommendation CRRI was
formulated in 1950 at New Delhi.
o Mainly engaged in the applied research and offer
technical advice to state governments for problems
concerning roads.
National Highway Act was passed in 1956 giving
responsibility of NH to the central government.

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 Second Road Development Plan (61-81)

o Finalized by IRC in 1957, for the plan period 1961-81.

o Bombay road plan.
o Target set was doubled i.e. 32 km per 100 sq.km i.e.
total length of 10,57,330km.
o Construction of 1600 km expressway also included.
o The target was achieved in 1974 as 34.8km per
100km.
o However due to changes in planning policies, the
preparation of third long term plan was got delayed.
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 Highway Research Board:
o Set up in 1973 to give proper direction and guidance
to road research activities in India.
o Job is to coordinate and promote highway research
Three main technical committees of HRB
1. Identification, monitoring and research application
2. Road research evaluation and dissemination
3. Bridge research, evaluation and dissemination

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Third Twenty Year Plan (1981-2001)
o Prepared by the road wing of shipping and transport with
active cooperation from no. of organization and experts.
o Lucknow Road plan
o Includes several important aspects like growth of
industries, agriculture, rural and urban development,
energy, employment, materials, tourism, environment and
research efforts.
o Increase in Total road length from 15,02,700 km to
27,02,000km
o Road density from 46 to 82 per 100km
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 Necessity of Highway Planning
o Basic need for development. To use the available
funds more scientifically to have maximum benefits to
the society.
Objectives:
o To plan a road network for safe, efficient and
economic transport
o Road system with maximum utility
o Date wise program for development
o Plan for future requirements and arrange for finance
system

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 Steps in Planning
o Various surveys are undertaken like
Economic, Finance, Road Use, Engineering
o Based on this data a Master Plan is prepared and is
divided into different phases for implementation.
Period ranges from 5-20 years
o Choice is made for various alternatives on the basis of
cost-benefit analysis

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 Highway Classification
Classified on the basis of
o Traffic Volume
o Load Carrying Capacity
o Location and importance
For the first two basis, classified as
o Very Heavy There is no uniformity of numbers

o Heavy defining these classes say no of vehicles

or the Tonnes per day so , IRC has
o Medium accepted classification based on location
o Light Highway Engineering
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 IRC Classification
o National Highway:
Main highways running thruout India, connecting
ports, capitals of states, foreign highways and roads
of military importance
o State Highway:
Trunk or arterial roads of a state connecting district
headquarters, national highways, imp cities in the
state

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 IRC Classification
o Major District Roads:
Passing thru districts and connecting imp towns,
markets, railway stations
o Other District Roads:
connecting less imp places in the districts or links bet
MDR and SH
o Village Roads:
connecting villages or villages to DR or towns

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 Modified Classification – 3rd road plan
o Primary Systems:
Expressway
National Highway
o Secondary System:
State Highway
Major District Road
o Tertiary System:
Other district road
Village Road
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Classification of Roads

Type of Road Formatio Carriage Way

Road Width n Width 1 Lane 2 Lane
(m) (m) (m) (m)

NH 45 12 7.5
SH 45 12 7.5
MDR 30 9 3.75
ODR 24 9 3.75
VR 18 7.5 3.75

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 Classification urban road
o Arterial Road and Sub arterial Road:
Streets primarily thro traffic on a continuous route
o Collector Street:
Provides a access to arterial streets and collect
and distribute the traffic
o Local Streets
Provide access to abutting property.

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http://www.nhai.org/roadnetwork.htm

33
Other Road Classes
Some of India’s roads can be classed as International
Highways, as they are for example part of the developing
Asian Highway Network and of the planned Trilateral
Highway which will link India with Myanmar and Thailand.
Another road class might be “border roads”, which are roads that
serve the border areas of India and which are the
resonsibility of the Border Roads Organisation.
Concerning rural road classes, in 2007 the government of India
started the PMGSY scheme, a programme to provide all-
weather road access to presently un-connected rural
habitations. 34
17 January 2017 Highway Engineering 35