CIVE461: Highway Engineering

Unit B: Highway Location and

Geometric Design

L6 - Vertical Alignment (cont.)

Required Reading: MW 3.3

Supplemental Reading: W 7.4, 7.5

Updated January 2019

 Outline of Unit B
• Highway alignment:
– Horizontal
– Vertical
• Other design controls and elements
• Highway surveys, location, and plans
• Cross-section elements
• Volumes of earthwork / mass diagrams
• Intersections, interchanges
Today’s lecture
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 Outline of Today’s Lecture
• Stopping sight distance and vertical curve
design
– Crest vertical curves
– Sag vertical curves
• Passing sight distance for crest vertical curves
• Underpass sight distance for sag vertical
curves

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 Stopping Sight Distance
and Vertical Curve Design
• Crest vertical curves
• Sag vertical curves

4
 Sag Vertical Curves
• Determine minimum length of sag vertical
curve to provide:
– Necessary sight distance

• Check drainage

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Sight Distance
• In daylight, the sight distance is not restricted
on sag vertical curves
• Critical concern here is with the headlight
sight distance at night, or length of road
illuminated by vehicle’s headlights
– i.e. sight distance is controlled by:
• Position of headlight
• Direction of headlight beam

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Sight Distance (cont.)

H: height of headlight above roadway

β: angle of inclination of headlight beam w.r.t.
longitudinal axis of vehicle 7
 Sag Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length
• Minimum curve length Lmin for a required sight
distance S (using the properties of a parabola
for an equal-tangent curve):

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length (cont.)
• For sight distance needed to provide adequate SSD,
AASHTO 2011 uses H = 0.6 m; β = 1˚
• Minimum curve length to provide adequate SSD:

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length (cont.)
• As was the case for crest vc’s, can compute K
by assuming that SSD < L:

SSD 2
K=
120 + 3.5 × SSD

• Then use:
Lmin = KA

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Design Controls Based on SSD
(AASHTO 2011, Exhibit 3-36)

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Smallest Allowable Length
• Same as for crest curves

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Drainage Considerations
• Need to set a maximum length for sag vertical
curve or K-value
• AASHTO requirements: provide a minimum
grade of 0.3% within 15 m of level point
(lowest point) i.e. Kmax = 51 or else the curve
will be too flat

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 Sag Vertical Curves
Drainage Considerations (cont.)
• Drainage criterion for sag vertical curves (in the case where
the initial grade and the final grade are opposite in sign)
where curbed sections are used:
– For K > 51 ⇒ drainage may be of concern since the curve is rather flat

Source: Iowa Department of Transportation, “Effects of Roadway

Geometrics on Urban Pavement Drainage”, Design Manual.
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 Example 10
• Tunnel needs to be connected to a bridge with (equal-
tangent) sag and crest vertical curves.

• Determine the highest possible common design speed for

curves.
• Compute the stationing and elevations of the PVC, PVI, and
PVT of both curves. 15
 Solution
• Let s denote sag and let c denote crest
• We have: G1s = 0%; G2c = 0%
• Highest possible design speed ⇒ use all
horizontal distance available
– i.e. connect the curves such that PVTs = PVCc
– Therefore:

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 Solution (cont.)
• Horizontal distance between tunnel and bridge:

• Summation of end-of-curve offset for sag and

beginning-of-curve offset (relative to final
gradient) for crest:

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 Solution (cont.)
• Now find the K values that satisfy:

• Find the highest possible design speed which

satisfies above equation by referring to Exhibits 3-72
and 3-75
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 Solution (cont.)
Design Controls for Crest Vertical Curves Design Controls for Sag Vertical Curves
Based on SSD Based on SSD
(AASHTO 2011 – Table 3-34) (AASHTO 2011 – Table 3-36)

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 Solution (cont.)
• From tables, V = 70 km/h

• Stationing:
– PVCs : 0 + 000 (given)
– PVIs : 0 + 089
– PVTs = PVCc : 0 + 178
– PVIc : 0 + 244
– PVTc : 0 + 310 20
 Solution (cont.)
• Elevation:
– PVCs = PVIs : 30 m (given)

– PVTs = PVCc :

– PVTc = PVIc : 42 m (given)

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Passing Sight Distance for
Crest Vertical Curves

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 Passing Sight Distance on VC’s
• May be desirable sometimes to provide an
adequate PSD, especially on two-lane
highways
• PSD only relevant for crest vc’s:
– For sag vc’s, there is no need to design for PSD
since opposing vehicle can be seen:
• During day: no restriction on sight distance
• At night: headlights will appear from a distance

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 Crest Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length
• Using properties of a parabola for an equal-tangent
curve:

Lmin = minimum vertical curve length required for a sight distance S (in m)
A = absolute value of difference in grades ( |G1 - G2| ) expressed in %

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 Crest Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length (cont.)
• For sight distance needed to provide adequate PSD,
AASHTO 2004 uses H1 = 1.08 m; H2 = 1.08 m (related
to opposing vehicle’s height)
• Minimum curve length to provide adequate PSD:

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 Crest Vertical Curves
Minimum Curve Length (cont.)
• As was the case for SSD, can compute K by
assuming that PSD < L:

• Then use:

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 Crest Vertical Curves
Design Controls Based on PSD
(AASHTO 2004, Exhibit 3-73) (AASHTO 2011, Table 3-35)

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 Crest Vertical Curves
SSD Versus PSD
Design Speed K / Table 3-34 K / Table 3-35
(km/h) SSD PSD
30 2 17
40 4 23
60 11 38

• The lengths of crest vc’s required to provide

for minimum PSD are substantially longer than
those for SSD
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 Example 11
• An equal-tangent crest vertical curve is 1200
m long.
• It connects a +2.5% and a -1.5% grade.
• The design speed of the roadway is 90 km/h.
• Does this curve have adequate passing sight
distance?

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 Solution
• Method 1
– For V = 90 km/h, K = 91 (Table 3-36)
– Curve length required to provide adequate PSD:

– Since the curve length is 1200 m > 364 m, it does

have adequate PSD.

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 Solution (cont.)
• Method 2
– K value of existing design:

– K value needed to provide adequate PSD is K = 91.

– Since 300 > 91, the curve length does provide
adequate PSD.

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Underpass Sight Distance
for Sag Vertical Curves

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 Sag VC’s and Overhead Structures
• Consider sag curves being built under an
overhead structure
– Line of sight may be restricted
– Entire curve length may not be visible

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Sag VC’s and Overhead Structures (cont.)

S = Sight distance
L = Curve length
H1 = height of driver’s eye
H2 = height of roadway object
Hc = clearance height of overpass structure above roadway
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Sag VC’s and Overhead Structures (cont.)
• Using properties of a parabola for an equal-tangent
curve:

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Sag VC’s and Overhead Structures (cont.)
• For sight distance needed to provide adequate SSD,
AASHTO 2011 uses:
– H1 = 2.4 m (for a truck driver / conservative);
– H2 = 0.6 m (for the taillights of a vehicle)

• Minimum curve length to provide adequate SSD:

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Sag VC’s and Overhead Structures (cont.)
• If sag vertical curve already exists and a new
overpass is going to be built, previous equations can
be used to solve for clearance height Hc
• Hc determined from equations should also be
checked against minimum clearance heights based
on:
– Maximum vehicle height regulations (4.1-4.4 m)
– AASHTO recommendations
• Minimum structure clearance height: 4.4 m
• Desirable clearance height: 5.0 m
• Clearance heights not less than 0.3 m greater than the maximum
allowable vehicle height 37
 Example 12
• An equal-tangent sag curve has an initial
grade of -4.0%, a final grade of +3.0%, and a
length of 385 m.
• An overhead guide sign is being placed
directly over the PVI of this curve.
• At what height above the roadway should the
bottom of this sign be placed?

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 Solution
• Find Hc from equations on slide 51
• Need to find SSD ⇒ need to find the design
speed
• K value:

• From Exhibit 3-75, this K value corresponds to

a design speed of 110 km/h.
• Required SSD is 220 m.
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 Solution (cont.)
Design Controls for Sag Vertical Curves Based on SSD (AASHTO 2011 – Exhibit 3-36)

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 Solution (cont.)
• Since SSD = 220 m < L = 385 m, find Hc from:

• Solution from Lmin Equation: Hc = 2.6 m

• But AASHTO recommends a minimum clearance
height of 4.4 m.
– Place bottom of sign at least 4.4 m above roadway
surface (at the PVI) and preferably at a height of 5 m.
Mid/Flat?

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 Example 13
• A vertical curve crosses a 1-m diameter pipe at right angles.
• The pipe is located at station 3 + 420 and its centerline is at
elevation 333 m.
• The PVI of the vertical curve is at station 3 + 400 and elevation
335 m.
• The curve is equal tangent, 180 m long, and connects an initial
grade of +1.20% and a final grade of -1.08%.
• (a) Using offsets, determine the depth, below the surface of
the curve, of the top of the pipe.
• (b) Determine the station of the highest point on the curve.
• (c) Does this curve have adequate stopping sight distance for
a design speed of 100 km/h?
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PVI 3+400
335.0

20m

333.0

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L = 180m
PVI 3+400
335.0 ?

?
B

90m 20m ?

333.5

333.0

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45
 Solution
Part a
• Elevation of the initial tangent above the pipe =
Elevation of PVI + G1 × 20 = 335 + 0.012 × 20 = 335.24 m
• Denote the point on the curve above the pipe as B
• Offset at point B:
A 1.20 − (− 1.08)
YB = xB =
2
×110 2 = 0.77 m
200 L 200 ×180
• Elevation of point B = 335.24 – 0.77 = 334.47 m
• Elevation of top of pipe = elevation of centerline +
diameter/2 = 333 + ½ = 333.5 m
• Therefore, the top of the pipe is 334.47 – 333.5 =
0.97 m below the surface of the curve. 46
PVI 3+400
335.0 335.24

0.77
B

20m 0.97

333.5

333.0

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 Solution (cont.)
Part b
• To find station of highest point on curve, find K
value first
L 180
K= = = 78.95
A 1.20 − (− 1.08)

• Horizontal distance of highest point from PVC:

xhl = K × G1 = 78.95 × 1.20 = 94.74 m
• Station of PVC = Station of PVI – L/2 = 3400 –
180/2 = 3310 m = 3 + 310
• Station of highest point = station of PVC +
94.74 = 3310 + 94.74 = 3404.74 = 3 + 404.74 48
 Solution (cont.)
Part c
• K value needed at a
speed of 100 km/h is 52
• Since the K value of the
existing design is 78.95,
the curve has adequate
stopping sight distance
for a design speed of
100 km/h

Design Controls for Crest Vertical Curves

Based on SSD (AASHTO 2011 – Exhibit 3-34)
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