በአዲስ አበባ ሣይንስና ቴክኖሎጂ ዩኒቨርሲቲ Addis Ababa Science & Technology University

የአርክቴክቸር እና ሲቪል ምህንድስና ኮሌጅ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Highway Engineering I work out Problems

By: Haile G. April 2022

Solve the following Highway geometric design problems.

1. A road has a crest vertical curve with the following characteristics: G1 = +4.8%, VPC at
Station 4+010 with elevation 750 m, VPT at Station 4+330, G2 = -1.6%.
A. What is the elevation of the vertical curve at station 4+110?
B. What is the offset at Station 4+180?
C. What is the station and elevation of the highest point on the curve?
2. A horizontal curve is to be designed for a Federal highway in plain terrain with a design
speed of 80 km/h. The maximum superelevation is 0.07 and the lateral coefficient of
friction is 0.15. What is the ruling minimum radius of the curve?
3. PVI station and location are 14+260 and 1200 m. What are the endpoints' stations and
elevations of a 280 m long curve with incoming and outgoing grades of -4.00% and
+2.00%?
4. If a superelevation transition is applied to a curve with a runoff of 70 m, emax = 8% and
a lane width of 3 m, what is the length of the tangent runout? Assume the normal cross
slope of the pavement is -2%
5. For a horizontal curve on a two lane (3.6 m per lane) road with a radius of 500 to the
centerline, what is the distance of the line of sight when an obstruction is located 10 m
from the centerline of the road? Assume the grade of the road is level
6. What is the superelevation to be provided for a horizontal curve with a radius of 300 m
for a design speed of 85 km/h if the lateral coefficient of friction is a.) 0.1? b.) 0.15? and
c.) 0.2?
7. What is the design speed for a horizontal curve of radius 250 m, is to be provided on a
state highway in plain terrain with a superelevation of 0.08 and lateral coefficient of friction
is 0.21? the speed should be rounded into nearest multiple of 5 units.
8. A -2.5% grade is connected to a +1.0% grade by means of a 180 m vertical curve. The
P.I. station is 10+000 and the P.I. elevation is 100.0 m above sea level. What are the
station and elevation of the lowest point on the vertical curve?

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 በአዲስ አበባ ሣይንስና ቴክኖሎጂ ዩኒቨርሲቲ Addis Ababa Science & Technology University
የአርክቴክቸር እና ሲቪል ምህንድስና ኮሌጅ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering

9. What is the minimum radius of curvature allowable for a roadway with a 100 km/h design
speed, assuming that the maximum allowable superelevation rate is 0.11? Compare this
with the minimum curve radius recommended by ERA..

10. A vertical crest (summit) curve is formed at the intersection of two grades + 3/100 and -
1/20. Design the length of the crest curve to provide a stopping sight distance for a design
speed of 80 km/h. Take any assumptions.
11. A horizontal curve on a 4-lane highway (two lanes each direction with no median) has a
superelevation of 6% and a central angle of 40 degrees. The PT of the curve is at station
322 + 50 and the PI is at 320 + 08. The road has 10-ft lanes and 8-ft shoulders on both
sides with high retaining walls going up immediately next to the shoulders. What is the
highest safe speed of this curve (highest in 5 mi/h increments) and what is the station of
the PC?
12. A horizontal curve on a 4-lane highway (two lanes each direction with no median) has a
superelevation of 6% and a central angle of 40 degrees. The PT of the curve is at station
10+080 and the PI is at 10+000. The road has 3-meter lanes and 2.4-meter shoulders on
both sides with high retaining walls going up immediately next to the shoulders. What is
the highest safe speed of this curve (highest in 5 km/h increments) and what is the station
of the PC?
13. An existing tunnel needs to be connected to a newly constructed bridge with sag and
crest vertical curves. The profile view of the tunnel and bridge is shown in Figure below.
Develop a vertical alignment to connect the tunnel and bridge by determining the highest
possible common design speed for the sag and crest (equal-tangent) vertical curves
needed. Compute the stationing and elevations of PVC, PVI, and PVT curve points.

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 በአዲስ አበባ ሣይንስና ቴክኖሎጂ ዩኒቨርሲቲ Addis Ababa Science & Technology University
የአርክቴክቸር እና ሲቪል ምህንድስና ኮሌጅ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Figure Profile view (vertical alignment diagram) for Example 3.9.

14. A horizontal curve has a central angle of 45o and a Point of Intersection (PI) at Station
1+000.00 and radius of 1000.00 m. What is the station of the Point of Tangency (PT)?
15. The design speed of asphalt concrete paved highway designed for construction is 80kph
with e=8% & f=0.14. During right-of-way reservation period it was found out that the space
available for horizontal curve is only adequate for provision of maximum 200m radius.
Can this speed be safely maintained on the road? If not, what should be done?
16. A horizontal curve has a radius of 1000.00 ft. If the grade is flat and the distance between
the centerline and object is 30 ft, what is the maximum stopping distance (assume no
adjustment to center of the inside lane). Remember the arc length is proportional to the
circumference of a circle.
17. The stopping distance (rounded for design) of a two lane road (12 ft lanes) is 450 ft. What
is the required clear distance between the drivers location and the edge of the forest (level
terrain and no back slope) if the radius to the centerline is 1000 ft?
18. A highway reconstruction project is being undertaken to reduce accident rates on the
highway. The reconstruction involves a major re-alignment of the highway such that a
100kph design speed is attained. At one point on the highway, a 240m equal tangent
crest vertical curve exists. Measurements show that, at 106m from the PVC, the vertical
curve offset is 0.9m. Assess the adequacy of the existing curve in light of the
reconstruction designs peed of 100kph and, if the existing curve is inadequate, compute
a satisfactory curve length.
19. A horizontal curve is being designed through mountainous terrain for a 4-lane road with
3m lanes. The central angle is known to be 40 degrees, the tangent distance is 153m,

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 በአዲስ አበባ ሣይንስና ቴክኖሎጂ ዩኒቨርሲቲ Addis Ababa Science & Technology University
የአርክቴክቸር እና ሲቪል ምህንድስና ኮሌጅ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering

and the tangent intersection PI is located at chainage 5+650m. If the roadway has a
coefficient of side friction of 0.082 and a superelevation rate of 0.09m/m, determine
whether this is appropriate for a design speed of 80kph. If not, re-design the curve and
indicate the location of the PC and PT.
20. A descending grade of 6% and an ascending grade of 2% intersect at Sta 12 + 200 km
whose elevation is at 14.375 m. The two grades are to be connected by a parabolic curve,
160 m long. Find the elevation of the first quarter point on the curve.

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