MODULE 5: HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
This is located immediately above the roadbed
• The methods presented are based on American
Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) for highway pavements and
American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-
Way Association (AREMA) for railroad tracks.
Structural Components of Travelways
The travelway of highway or rail mode
consists of two or more structural
components, through which the load applied
by the traveling vehicle is transferred to the
ground.
The performance of the travelway depends
on the satisfactory performance of each
component.
This requires that each of these be properly
designed to ensure that the load applied by
the traveling vehicle does not over-stress any
of these structural components.
The structural components of highway
pavement consist of the subgrade or
prepared roadway, the subbase, the base,
and the wearing surface, while those for the
rail track are the subgrade, the subballast, the
ballast, the cross ties, and the rail.
Subgrade
It is usually the natural material located along
the horizontal alignment of the pavement or
track and serves as the foundation of the
pavement or track structure.
• The subgrade may also consist of a layer of
selected material that is obtained from
somewhere else and properly compacted to
meet certain specifications.
• The load imposed by the vehicle using the
travelway is eventually transmitted to the
subgrade through the different structural
components of the travelway, such that the
load is spread over a greater area than that of
the vehicle’s contact area.
• Therefore, the lower the strength of the
subgrade, the greater the required area of load
distribution and therefore the greater the
required depth.
Subbase Course
This is located immediately above the subgrade
of the highway pavement, and consist of a higher-quality
soil material than that for the subgrade.
• Materials used for subbase construction should meet
certain particle size distributions (gradation), strength,
and plasticity requirements.
• When the subbase material satisfies these
requirements, the subbase course is usually omitted.
• Materials not meeting these requirements can be
treated with other materials (stabilization) to achieve the
necessary properties.
Subballast Course
(subgrade) of the rail track.
• It occupies a similar location within the track
structure as the subbase of the highway pavement.
• The subballast is a graded aggregate material
that must also meet specified requirements for
gradation, plasticity, and strength.
• Its purpose is to augment the ballast course in
the provision of adequate drainage, stability, flexibility,
and uniform support for the rail and ties.
Base Course
This lies immediately above the subballast course.
• It occupies a similar location within the track
structure as the base course of the highway pavement.
• It provides drainage, stability, flexibility,
uniform support for the rail ties, and distribution of the
track loadings to the subgrade through the subballast.
• Common materials used in constructing ballast
courses include granites, traprocks, quartzites,
limestones, dolomites, and slags.
Surface Course
This is the upper course of highway pavement
and is constructed immediately above the base course.
• While the base and subbase courses of the
highway pavement are comparable to the subballast and
ballast courses of the rail track, the surface course has no
comparable course on the rail track.
• It can be either of Portland Cement Concrete
or Asphalt Concrete.
• Portland cement surfaces are known as rigid
pavements, and asphalt concrete pavements are known
as flexible pavements.
Cross Ties
These are used only on rail tracks and are made
of treated timber, concrete, or steel.
• They are transversely placed at regular
intervals along the length of the rail track, immediately
above the ballast course.
• Their main purpose is to evenly distribute the
load from the rails to the ballast.
• There is no structural component of the
highway pavement that is directly comparable to the
ties, as the loads from an automobile are transmitted
directly from the wheels of the vehicle to the pavement.
Rails
These are usually constructed of high-quality
steel and are sometimes referred to as the guideway.
• Their main purpose is to guide the train and ensure that
it travels along the required path.
• They also transfer the loads from the train wheels to
the ties.
• There is also no structural component of the highway
pavement that is directly related to the rails, as the travel
paths of automobile are not restricted as that of the rail.