Highway Geometric Design

CE 313

Department of Civil Engineering

Maulana Azad National Institute of
Technology Bhopal
1
 Study Contents
Introduction
Importance of Highway Geom. Design

Design Factors
Geometric Elements
Cross Sectional Elements (Camber, median, kerb etc.)

Sight Distance
Horizontal alignment
Vertical Alignment (Summit Curve & Valley Curve)
Intersection elements
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3
 List of References

Highway Engineering S.K.Khanna & C.E.G. Justo., Khanna Publishers

IRC:73-2018 Geometric design standards for rural (non- urban)

highways
IRC:86-2018 Geometric design standards for urban roads in plains.
Highway Engineering ( including airport pavements) - S.Chand
Highway Engineering - S.P Bindra
Highway Engineering - R Srinivasa Kumar

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 Introduction
The geometric design of highways deals with the dimensions and layout of
visible features of the highway.
The emphasis of the geometric design is to address the requirement of the
driver and the vehicle such as safety, comfort, efficiency, etc.
The features normally considered are the cross section elements, sight distance
consideration, horizontal curvature, gradients, and intersection.
The design of these features is to a great extend influenced by driver behavior
and psychology, vehicle characteristics, traffic characteristics such as speed and
volume.
Proper geometric design will help in the reduction of accidents and their
severity. Therefore, the objective of geometric design is to provide optimum
efficiency in traffic operation and maximum safety at reasonable cost.

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Factors affecting Geometric Design
• Design Speed
• Topography
• Vehicle
• Human
• Traffic
• Environment
• Economy
• Others

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Geometric design of highways deals
with following elements
a. Cross section elements

b. Sight distance consideration

c. Horizontal alignment details

d. Vertical alignment details

e. Intersection elements

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 Cross sectional elements

The features of the cross-section of the

pavement influences the life of the pavement as
well as the riding comfort and safety.

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a. Cross section elements
i. Pavement surface characteristics
ii. Width of Pavement or Carriageway
iii. Cross Slope or Camber
iv. Median or Traffic Separator
v. Kerbs
vi. Road Margins
vii. Width of Formation
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10
Building and Control lines:
In order to prevent overcrowding and preserve
sufficient space for future road development, it
is advisable to lay down restrictions on
building activity along the rural roads. Figure
in previous slide shows road land boundary,
building line, control line, roadway and
carriageway for rural roads. Recommended
standards for building lines and control lines
are given in table below.

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 Recommended Standards for Buildings and Control
Lines
Mountainous and Steep
Plain and Rolling Terrain
Terrain
Open Area Built-up Area
Open Area Built-up Area

Road Distance
Distance
Classification Between
Overall Overall Between
Bldg. Line
Width Width Bldg. Line
and Road
Between Between and Road
Boundary(Set
Bldg. Lines Control Lines Boundary(Set
-Back)
-Back)

Rural Roads
(ODR and 25/30 35 3-5 3-5 3-5
VR), (m) 12
Pavement surface characteristics

For safe and comfortable driving four aspects

of the pavement surface are important; the
friction between the wheels and the pavement
surface, smoothness of the road surface, the
light reflection characteristics of the top of
pavement surface, and drainage to water.

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 Pavement surface characteristics

Pavement surface depend on the type of

pavement which is decided based on the,
• Availability of material
• Volume and composition of traffic
• Soil subgrade
• Climatic condition
• Construction facility
• Cost consideration
i. Pavement surface characteristic
The important surface characteristics of
the pavement are:
 Friction

 Unevenness

 Light reflecting characteristics

 Drainage of surface water

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 Friction
Friction between the wheel and the pavement surface is a
crucial factor in the design of horizontal curves and thus the safe
operating speed. Further, it also affect the acceleration and
deceleration ability of vehicles. Lack of adequate friction can
cause skidding or slipping of vehicles.
• Skidding happens when the path traveled along the road
surface is more than the circumferential movement of the
wheels due to friction
• Slip occurs when the wheel revolves more than the
corresponding longitudinal movement along the road.

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Various factors that affect friction are:
• Type of the pavement (like bituminous, concrete,
or gravel),
• Roughness of pavement
• Condition of the pavement (dry or wet, hot or
cold, etc),
• Condition of the tyre (new or old), and
• Speed and load of the vehicle.
• Brake efficiency
• Load and tyre pressure
• Temperature of tyre and pavement

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The frictional force that develops between the wheel and
the pavement is the load acting multiplied by a factor called
the coefficient of friction and denoted as f. The choice of
the value of f is a very complicated issue since it depends on
many variables. IRC suggests the coefficient of longitudinal
friction as 0.35-0.4 depending on the speed and coefficient
of lateral friction as 0.15. The former is useful in sight
distance calculation and the latter in horizontal curve
design.

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 Unevenness
It is always desirable to have an even surface, but it
is seldom possible to have such a one. Even if a
road is constructed with high quality pavers, it is
possible to develop unevenness due to pavement
failures. Unevenness affect the vehicle operating
cost, speed, riding comfort, safety, fuel consumption
and wear and tear of tyres.

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 Unevenness index
It is a measure of unevenness which is the cumulative
measure of vertical undulations of the pavement surface
recorded per unit horizontal length of the road. An
unevenness index value less than 1500 mm/km is
considered as good, a value less than 2500 mm.km is
satisfactory up to speed of 100 kmph and values greater
than 3200 mm/km is considered as uncomfortable even
for 55 kmph.

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 Light reflection
• White roads have good visibility at night, but caused
glare during day time.
• Black roads has no glare during day, but has poor
visibility at night
• Concrete roads has better visibility and less glare
• It is necessary that the road surface should be visible
at night and reflection of light is the factor that answers
it.

Drainage
The pavement surface should be absolutely
impermeable to prevent seepage of water into the
pavement layers. Further, both the geometry and texture
of pavement surface should help in draining out the
water from the surface in less time.

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 ii. Width of Pavement or Carriageway:

It is total width of road on which vehicles are

allowed to move.

Width of the carriage way or the width of the

pavement depends on the width of the traffic
lane and number of lanes. Width of a traffic
lane depends on the width of the vehicle and
the clearance. Side clearance improves
operating speed and safety.

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 The maximum permissible width of a
vehicle is 2.44 and the desirable side clearance for
single lane traffic is 0.68 m. This require minimum of
lane width of 3.75 m for a single lane road

Width of lane is decided based on

maximum width of heavy commercial vehicle (HCV)
which is legally permitted to use the roadway.

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24
SINGLE LANE PAVEMENT
TWO LANE PAVEMENT

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10
The width of carriageway for various classes of
roads standardised by Indian Roads Congress (IRC)
are given below:
Width of
Class of Road
Carriageway (m)
Single lane road 3.75
Two lanes, without raised
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kerbs
Two lanes, with raised kerbs 7.5
Intermediate Carriageway 5.5
Multi-lane pavements 3.5 per lane

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• Carriageway width: The standard width of carriage
way for both plain and rolling as well as mountainous
and steep terrain is given in table below.

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Cross Slope or Camber:

Cross slope or camber is the slope provided to the

road surface in the transverse direction to drain off
the rain water from the road surface
.
Drainage and disposal of water from pavement is
considered important because of the following
reason:
a. To maintain stability, surface condition and
increase life of pavement.
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b. To prevent stripping of bitumen from aggregates.

c. To prevent slipping of vehicles running at high

speed.

•The rate of camber or cross slope is usually

designated by 1 in n or may also be expressed as a
percentage.

•The required camber of a pavement depends on type of

pavement surface and amount of rainfall.
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• The values of camber recommended by IRC for
different types of road surfaces are given below:

Sr.No Type Of Road Surface Range of camber in areas of

Heavy rainfall Low rainfall
1 Cement concrete and 1 in 50 or 2 % 1 in 60 or 1.7 %
thick bituminous
surface
2 Thin bituminous 1 in 40 or 2.5% 1 in 50 or 2 %
surface
3 Water bound macadam 1 in 33 or 3% 1 in 40 or 2.5 %
and gravel pavement

4 Earth road 1 in 25 or 4% 1 in 33 or 3 %
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• At super-elevated road sections, the shoulder should
normally have the slope of same magnitude and
direction as the pavement slope subject to the
minimum cross fall allowable for the shoulder.

• The camber for each shoulder should be at least 0.5

percent more than that for the pavement subject to the
minimum of 4 percent. However, 1 percent more
slope than the camber for pavement is desirable.

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Shape of Cross Slope:

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iv. Median or Traffic Separator:
Median is provided between two sets of
traffic lanes intended to divide the traffic moving in
opposite directions.
• The main function of the median is to prevent
head-on collision between vehicles moving in
opposite directions on adjacent lanes.
• The traffic separators used may be in form of
pavement markings, physical dividers or area
separators.
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KERB AND TRAFFIC SEPARATOR

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The width of medians for roads standardised by
Indian Roads Congress (IRC) are given below:
Sr.No Type of Road Width of Medians (m)
Desirable Minimum
1 Expressway 15 10

2 Other Highways 5 3

3 At intersection of 5 1.2
urban roads

4 On Long Bridges 1.5 1.2

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v. Kerbs:
Kerb indicates the boundary between the
pavement and median or foot path.

•Kerbs may be mainly divided into three groups

based on their functions:
a. Low kerb

b. Semi-barrier type kerb

c. Barrier type kerb

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• Barrier type kerbs : They are designed to
discourage vehicles from leaving the pavement.
They are provided when there is considerable
amount of pedestrian traffic. They are placed at
a height of 20 cm above the pavement edge with
a steep batter.
• Submerged kerbs : They are used in rural
roads. The kerbs are provided at pavement
edges between the pavement edge and
shoulders. They provide lateral confinement and
stability to the pavement.

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Low or mountable kerbs : This type of kerbs are
provided such that they encourage the traffic to
remain in the through traffic lanes and also allow the
driver to enter the shoulder area with little difficulty.
The height of this kerb is about 10 cm above the
pavement edge with a slope which allows the vehicle
to climb easily. This is usually provided at medians
and channelization schemes and also helps in
longitudinal drainage.
Semi-barrier type kerbs : When the pedestrian
traffic is high, these kerbs are provided. Their height
is 15 cm above the pavement edge. This type of
kerb prevents encroachment of parking vehicles, but
at acute emergency it is possible to drive over this
kerb with some difficulty.
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41
Kerb

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vi. Road Margins:
The various elements included in the road
margins are:
a. Shoulder
b. Guard rail
c. Foot path
d. Drive way
e. Cycle track
f. Parking lane
g. Embankment slope
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 Shoulder
These are the portion provided along the carriageway to provide
lateral support to the pavement and for space for stopped
vehicle.
Minimum width of shoulder recommended by IRC is 2.5m.

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 Guard rail
These are provided at the edge of shoulder when road is
constructed on fill to prevent vehicles from running off the
embankment.

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 Footpath
These are provided in urban roads having heavy vehicular as well
as pedestrian traffic to provide the protection to pedestrian.
Minimum width of footpath should be 1.5m.

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 Cycle track
These are provided in urban areas where volume of cycle traffic
on the road is very high.
Minimum width of cycle track is 2m and it may be increased by
1m for each additional cycle lane.

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 Parking lane
These are generally provided on urban roads to allow kerb
parking.
For parallel parking 3m width is required

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 Drive way:
These are used to connect the highways with commercial
establishment like fuel station and service station etc.

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vii. Width of Formation or Roadway:
Width of formation or roadway is the
sum of widths of pavement or carriageway
including separators, if any and the shoulders.

• Width of roadway are standardised by the Indian

Roads Congress.

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 Right of way (ROW) or land width
It is the width of land acquired for the road, along its
alignment. It should be adequate to accommodate all the
cross-sectional elements of the highway and may
reasonably provide for future development.
To prevent ribbon development along highways, control
lines and building lines may be provided. Building activity
should not be allowed within a prescribed distance from
the road, which is defined by a hypothetical line set back
from the road boundary and called the ''Building Line". In
addition, it will be desirable to exercise control on the
nature of building activity for a further distance beyond
the building line upto what are known as the ''Control
Lines".
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52
The right of way width is governed by:
• Width of formation: It depends on the category of the
highway and width of roadway and road margins.
• Height of embankment or depth of cutting: It is governed
by the topography and the vertical alignment.
• Side slopes of embankment or cutting: It depends on the
height of the slope, soil type etc.
• Drainage system and their size which depends on rainfall,
topography etc.
• Sight distance considerations : On curves etc. there is
restriction to the visibility on the inner side of the curve
due to the presence of some obstructions like building
structures etc.
• Reserve land for future widening: Some land has to be
acquired in advance anticipating future developments like
widening of the road.

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Sr. Road Classification Roadway Width (m)
No Plain and Mountainous
rolling terrain and steep terrain
1 National & State Highways 12 6.25
a) Single Lane 12 8.80
b) Two lane
2 Major District Roads 9 4.75
a) Single Lane 9 -
b) Two lane
3 Other District Roads 7.5 4.75
a) Single Lane 9 -
b) Two lane
4 Village Roads ,Single Lane 7.5 4

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 Roadway width for rural area

• Roadway width: Roadway width inclusive of parapet,

side drains for rural roads for different terrain shall be
given as in table shown below.

Table showing Recommended Roadway width

Terrain Classification Roadway Width(m)
Plain and Rolling 7.5
Mountainous and Steep 6.0

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• Carriageway width: The standard width of carriageway for
both plain and as well as mountainous and steep terrain shall
be given as shown in table.

Recommended Carriageway Width

Road Classification Carriageway Width(m)

Rural Roads(ODR and VR) 3.75

Note: For rural roads, the carriageway width may be restricted to

3.0m, where the traffic intensity is less than 100 motorised
vehicles per day, and where the traffic is not likely to increase
due to situation, like, dead end, low habitation & difficult
terrain conditions.

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• Shoulder width: The width of shoulder for rural roads
in different terrain can be directly obtained using
recommended road widths and carriageway widths
from IRC 73. The shoulder width will be equal to
one-half the difference between the roadway width
and carriageway width.

• Side slopes: Side slopes for rural embankment height

less than 3.0m is given in table.

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 Sight distance

The safe and efficient operation of vehicles on the road depends

very much on the visibility of the road ahead of the driver. Thus the
geometric design of the road should be done such that any
obstruction on the road length could be visible to the driver from
some distance ahead . This distance is said to be the sight distance.

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 Types of sight distance

1. Stopping sight distance (SSD) or the absolute

minimum sight distance
2. Intermediate sight distance (ISD) is defined as twice
SSD
3. Overtaking sight distance (OSD) for safe overtaking
operation
4. Head light sight distance is the distance visible to a
driver during night driving under the illumination of
head lights
5. Safe sight distance to enter into an intersection.

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Computation of sight distance

1. Reaction time of the driver

2. Speed of the vehicle
3. Efficiency of brakes
4. Frictional resistance between the tyre and the road
5. Gradient of the road

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 Stopping Sight Distance
Stopping sight distance (SSD) is the minimum sight
distance available on a highway at any spot having
sufficient length to enable the driver to stop a vehicle
traveling at design speed, safely without collision with
any other obstruction.
Stopping Sight Distance =Lag distance + Braking
distance
•Lag distance- Lag distance is the distance the vehicle
traveled during the reaction time t .
Lag distance = vt

where v is the velocity in m/sec2

. 62
Braking distance - Braking distance is the distance traveled
by the vehicle during braking operation.

Work done against friction in stopping the vehicle is

𝐹𝑙 = 𝑓𝑊𝑙
where W is the total weight of the vehicle.

The kinetic energy at the design speed is

2
1 1 𝑊𝑣
𝑚𝑣 2 =
2 2 𝑔
𝑊𝑣 2
𝑓𝑤𝑙 =
2𝑔
𝒗𝟐
𝒍=
𝟐𝒈𝒇
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SSD = lag distance + braking distance
𝑣2
SS𝐷 = 𝑣𝑡 +
2𝑔𝑓
where
v - the design speed in m/sec
t - the reaction time in sec,
g - the acceleration due to gravity
f - the coefficient of friction

𝑣2
SS𝐷 = 0.278𝑣𝑡 +
254𝑓
where
v - the design speed in Km/hr
t - the reaction time in sec,
f - the coefficient of friction
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 Overtaking Sight Distance

The minimum distance open to the vision of

the driver of a vehicle intending to overtake slow
vehicle ahead with safety against traffic of opposite
direction is known as minimum overtaking sight
distance or safe passing sight distance available.

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Factors on which overtaking sight distance
depends
• Minimum OSD required for the safe overtaking
depends on:
a. Speed of overtaking, overtaken vehicle and
vehicle coming from opposite direction if any.
b. Skill and reaction time of the driver.
c. Distance between overtaking and overtaken
vehicles.
d. Rate of acceleration of overtaking vehicle
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e. Gradient of the road if any.
Analysis of OSD on a two lane road with
two way traffic

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• d1 the distance traveled by overtaking vehicle A during
the reaction time t = t1 − t0

• d2 the distance traveled by the vehicle during the actual

overtaking operation T = t3 − t1

• d3 is the distance traveled by on-coming vehicle C during

the overtaking operation (T).

Therefore:
OSD = d1 + d2 + d3 68
 It is assumed that the vehicle A is forced to reduce its
speed to 𝑣𝑏 , the speed of the slow moving vehicle B
and travels behind it during the reaction time t of the
driver. So d1 is given by:
d1 = 𝒗𝒃 *t

 Then the vehicle A starts to accelerate, shifts the

lane, overtake and shift back to the original lane. The
vehicle A maintains the spacing s before and after
overtaking. The spacing s in m is given by-
s = 0.7𝒗𝒃 + 6

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 Let T be the duration of actual overtaking. The distance traveled
by B during the overtaking operation is 2s+𝒗𝒃 ∗T. Also, during
this time, vehicle A accelerated from initial velocity 𝑣𝑏 and
overtaking is completed while reaching final velocity v. Hence the
distance traveled is given by:

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The distance traveled by the vehicle C moving at design
speed v m/sec during overtaking operation is given by:
d3 = v*T

The overtaking sight distance is-

OS𝐷 = 𝒗𝒃 𝒕 + 𝟐𝒔 + 𝒗𝒃 𝐓 + 𝑣𝑻
Where-

4𝑠
𝑇=
𝑎
𝒗𝒃 - is the velocity of the slow moving vehicle in m/sec
t - the reaction time of the driver in sec
s - is the spacing between the two vehicle in m
a - is the overtaking vehicles acceleration in m/sec2
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In case the speed of the overtaken vehicle is not given, it can be
assumed that it moves 16 kmph slower the design speed.

OS𝐷 = 0.28𝒗𝒃 𝒕 + 𝟐𝒔 + 𝟎. 𝟐𝟖𝒗𝒃 𝐓 + 𝟎. 𝟐𝟖𝑣𝑡

𝒗𝒃 - is the velocity of the slow moving vehicle in km/hr

t - the reaction time of the driver in sec
s - is the spacing between the two vehicle in m
a - is the overtaking vehicles acceleration in m/sec2

• On divided highways, d3 need not be considered

• On divided highways with four or more lanes, IRC suggests that it is
not necessary to provide the OSD, but only SSD is sufficient.

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 Overtaking Zones
•Overtaking opportunity for vehicles moving at
design speed should be given at frequent intervals as
possible.

•These zones which are meant for overtaking are

called overtaking zones.

•The minimum length of overtaking zone should

be three times safe overtaking sight distance i.e.
3xOSD.
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74
c) Details of over taking zone :

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 Sight distance at intersections

At intersections where two or more

roads meet, visibility should be
provided for the drivers approaching
the intersection from either sides.
They should be able to perceive a
hazard and stop the vehicle if
required. Stopping sight distance for
each road can be computed from the
design speed. The sight distance
should be provided such that the
drivers on either side should be able to
see each other.

Design of sight distance at intersections may be used on three

possible conditions:
•Enabling approaching vehicle to change the speed
•Enabling approaching vehicle to stop
•Enabling stopped vehicle to cross a main road
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Table: Criteria for measuring Sight Distance

Driver’s Eye Height of

Sight Distance
Height(m) Object(m)
Safe Stopping Sight
Distance 1.2 0.15

Intermediate Sight
1.2 1.2
Distance

Overtaking Sight
1.2 1.2
Distance

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