University of Hargeisa

College of Engineering

Highway II

Problem 1

A consultant has carried out traffic and axle load survey and the site investigation

required designing a main access road flexible pavement structure. The result of the

traffic and axle load survey indicated that the gravel road serves an AADT of 1000 with

60/40 percent directional split. Of which only 40% are commercial vehicle in the

category of buses, single unit trucks, heavy single unit trucks and heavy truck trailers

with 40%, 25% and 20% composition comprising the 15% categories. The corresponding

mean equivalency factors are 0.011,0.875,3.756 and 10.255 respectively as stated above.

The consultant has also forecasted an additional travel demand due to diverted and

generated traffic approximately equivalent to 25% of the opening AADT with similar

composition of each category. The sub-grade soil at the design depths has CBR values

of 9%. The consultant has been found dependable quarry sites of quality granular

materials for base and sub-base layer. The construction of the road is expected to

commence three years after the traffic survey and will take two years to open for traffic.

If the traffic has a growth rate of 4% per year, design the flexible structure with asphalt

concrete or surface dressing using the ORN 31 manual catalogue.

Problem 2

A rural principal arterial is expected to carry an ESAL of 0.188 * 106 during the first year

of operation with an expected annual growth of 6% over the 20-year design life. If the

subgrade has a resilient modulus of 15,000 lb/in2, design a suitable pavement consisting

of a granular subbase with a layer coefficient of 0.13, a granular base layer with a layer

coefficient of 0.14, and an asphalt concrete surface with an elastic modulus

of 400,000 lb/in2. Assume all mi values = 1 and the percent of traffic on the design lane is

47%. Assume the design serviceability loss is 2.0. use standard deviation of 0.45.