CIVL340

Transportation Engineering I

Problem 3 Geometric Design of Highways

1. Determine the radius of a horizontal curve needed to join two straight sections of a 2-lane
highway with a design speed of 110 km/hr (use e=6%, fy = 0.11). Draw a schematic
showing how the superelevation is attained by rotating the road section around its
centerline. Draw a cross section of the road at a distance 45m from "TS". Assume that the
straight section of the road has a crown cross section with a slope 1.5% and the road width
is 7.60.

2. A horizontal curve with 500 m radius is to join two straight sections of a 2-lane highway
with a design speed of 100 km/hr. Determine the superelevation needed and draw a
schematic showing how the superelevation is attained by rotating about the O.E. of the
road. If the elevation of the O.E. is 180.00m, draw a cross section of the road at a distance
17 m from "TS" showing the elevations of the I.E. and the centerline of the road. (assume
the road width and crown slope the same as in problem 1 and fy = 0.12)

3. A +2.8 percent grade intersects a -5.0 percent grade at station 2+ 800 and an elevation of
200.0 m. Design a parabolic curve to join the two grades. Calculate the centerline elevation
every 40.0 m starting from "VPC" to "VPT", and the station and elevation of the highest
point on curve. The speed limit on the road is 100 km/hr.

4. A horizontal curve of a two-lane rural highway has a

radius of 47.0 m. If the cross section of the road is as
shown in the opposing figure, determine what speed
limit should be imposed on this section of the
highway. The road has 3.0 m shoulders and 2:1 side
slopes (take the height of the driver eye and the object
as 1.0 m and 0.15 m respectively).

5. From left to right in the figure below, a sag vertical curve (with subscripts) and a crest
vertical curve (with subscript c) are needed to connect the tunnel and the bridge. It is known
that the initial grade of the sag vertical curve (G 1s) and the final grade of the crest vertical
curve (G2c) are equal to zero. Devise a vertical alignment to connect the tunnel and bridge
by determining the highest possible common design speed (for desirable Stopping Sight
Distance) for the sag and crest vertical curves needed. (assume height of driver eye =1.0 m
and height of object = 0.15 m, and perception reaction time= 2.5 sec).
6. A vertical curve is to be constructed between grades of -2% (initial) and 1.5% (final). The
VPI is at station 11+000 and an elevation of 420.0 m. Due to street crossing the roadway,
the elevation of the roadway at station 11+071 must be at 421.5 m. Determine the station
and elevation of VPC and VPT.

Due 11:00 AM February 28th (Late Assignments will not be accepted)