UNIT -3 HIGHWAY PLANNING AND ALIGNMENI

1 Explain the various Engineering Survey carried out for Highway alignment.
2 Explain the classification of roads as per IRC. Explain each in detail.
3 Explain engineering survey for Highway location.
4 Explain following: i) Jayakar Committee and the recommendations ii) Macadam Construction
5. Write the classification of roads by Nagpur road plan.
6 What are the requirements of an ideal alignment between two stations?
7 Numerical
 Engineerina Survevs for Hiahwav locations
Before a highway alignment is finalised in highway
project,the engineering survey are to be carried out.
The various stages of engineering surveys are

> Map study (Provisional alignment ldentification)

> Reconnaissance survey

> Preliminary survey

> Final location and detailed surveys

MAP STUDY
" From the map alternative routes can be suggested
in the office, if the topographic map of that area is
available.
" The probable alignment can be located on the map
from the fallowing details available on the map.
>Avoiding valleys, ponds or lake
>Avoiding bend of river
>If road has to cross a row of hills, possibility of
crossing through mountain pass.
Map study gives a rough guidance of the routes to
be further surveyed in the field

RECONNAISSANCESURVEY
" To confirm features indicated on map.
" To examine the general character of the area in field for
deciding the most feasible routes for detailed studies.
" Asurvey party may inspect along the proposed alternative
routes of the map in the field with very simple instrument
like abney level, tangent clinometer, barometer etc... To
collect additional details.
Details to be collected from alternative routes during this
survey are,
>Valleys, ponds, lakes, marshy land, hill, permanent
structure and other obstruction.
> Value of gradient, length of gradient and radius of curve.
 RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY Cont..
> Number and type of cross drainage structures.
>High Flood Level (HFL)
> SoilCharacteristics.
> Geological features.
> source of construction materials- stone quarries, water
SOurces.

Prepare a report on merits and demerits of ifferent

alternative routs.
" As a result a fewalternate alignments may be chosen for
further study based on practical considerations observed
at the site.

Preliminary survey
Objective of preliminary survey are:
To survey the various alternative alignments prop0sed after
the reconnaissance and to collect all the necessary physical
information and detail of topography, drainage and soil.
To compare the different proposals in view of the
requirements of the good alignment.
To estimate quantity of earthwork materials and other
construction aspect and to workout the cost of the alternate
proposals.
Methods of preliminary survey:
a) Conventional approach-survey party carries out surveys
using the required field equipment, taking measurement,
collecting topographical and other data and carrying out soil
survey.

Preliminarv survev cont...

Longitudinal and crOSs sectional profile.
> Plain Terrain' : 100 -200m
> Rolling Terrain : 50m
> Hilly Terrain :30m
" Other studies
> Drainage, Hydrological survey, soil survey, Traffic and
Material survey.
b) Modern rapid approach:
By Aerial survey taking the required aerial photographs for
obtaining the necessary topographic and other maps
including details of sil and geology.

Finalise the best alignment from all considerations by

Comparative analysis of alternative routes.
 Final location and detailed survey
The alignment finalised at the design office after the
preliminary survey is to be first located on the field by
establishing the centre line.
Location survey:
Transferring the alignment on to ground.
This is done by transit theodolite.
Major and minor control points are established on the
ground and centre pegs are driven, checking the
geometric design requirements.
Centre line stacks are drivern at suitable intervals, say 50m
interval in plane and rolling terrains and 20m in hily
terrain.

Final location and detailed survey cont..

Detailedsurvey:
Temporary bench marks are fixed at intervals of about 250m
and at all drainage and under pass structure.
" Earthwork calculations and drainage details are to be workout
from the level books.
Cross sectional levels are taken at intervals of 50-100m in
Plane terrain, 50-75m in Rolling terrain, 50m in built-up area,
20m in Hill terrain.
Detail soil survey is to be carried out.
CBR value of the soils along the alignment may be determined
for design of pavement.
The data during detailed survey should be elaborate and
complete for preparing detailed plans, design and estimates of
project.
 Classification of Highwavs
Based on the Traffic Volume
Heavy
Medium
Light

Based on Load or Tonnage

Class 1or Class 2 etc or Class A, B etc Tonnes per
day

Based on location and function (Nagpur ror 32-33/359

A
> National highway (NH)
A State highway (SH)

Major district road (MDR)

Other district road (ODR)
> Village road (VR)

Based on modified svsten of

Hiahwavs classification -IRC
Primary
>Expressways
> National Highways

Secondary
> SH
> MDR

Tertiary
>ODR
> VR

ExpresSSWwavs
"Heavy traffic at high speed (120 km/hr)
"Land Width (90m)
Full access control
Connects major points of traffic generation
" No slow moving traffic allowed
"No loading, unloading,
parking.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway as seen

from Khandala
 National Highways
NH are the main highways running through the length and
breadth of India, connecting major parts,foreign
highways, capital of large states and large industrial and
tourist centres including roads required for strategic
movements for the defence of India.
The national highways have a total length of 70.548 kms.
Indian highways cOver 2% of the total road network of India
and carry 40% of the total traffic.
The highway connecting Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar is denoted
as NH-1, whereas a bifurcation of this highway beyond
Jalandar to Srinagar and Uri is denoted NH-1-A
" The longest highway in India is NH7 which stretches from
Varansi in Uttar Pradesh to Kanyakumari in the southern
most point of Indian mainland.

NationalHighways cont...

The shortest highway is NH47A which stretches

from Ernakulam to Kochi and covers total length of
4 Kms.

Golden Quadrilateral-(5,846 Km
Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai Delhi
JaipuAgra
>NH-2 Delhi- Kol (1453 km) Kanpur
Allahabad
Ahmedabad
> NH 4,7&46 Che-Mum (1290km )
MumbaiPune GQ "Kolkata
> NH5&6 Kol- Che (1684 m) Bhubane shwar

>NH 8 Del- Mum (1419 km) Hu1 ayawada

Bangalore Chennal
Krishnagiri

State Highways
" They are the arterial roads of a state,
connecting up with the national highways of
adjacent states, district headquarters and
important cities within the state.

Total length of allSH in the country is

1,37,119 Kms.
Speed 80 kmph

" SH 1
 Maior District Roads

" Important roads with in a district serving

areas of production and markets
connecting those with each other or with
the major highways.

" India has a total of 4,70,000 kms of MDR.

Speed 60-80kmph

Other district roads

serving rural areas of production and providing
them with outlet to market centers or other
important roads like MDR or SH.
Speed 50-60kmph
Villaae roads
They are roads connecting villages or group of
villages with each other or to the nearest road of a
higher category like ODR or MDR.
" India has 26,50,000 kms of ODR+VR out of the
total 33,15,231 kms of all type of roads.
Speed-40-50kmph
2.2.4 Jayakar Committee and the Recommendations
Afer the first World War, motor vehicles using the roads increased and this
abetter road network which can carry both bullock cart traffic and demanded
motor
existing roads when not capable to withstand the mixed traffic conditions. vehicles. The
was passed by both Chambers of the Indian A resolution
Legislature 1927 for the appointment of a
committee to examine and report on the question of road development in India, In
response to the resolution, Indian Road Development commitee was appointed by the
government with M.R. Jayakar as Chairman, in 1927.
The Jayakar Committee submitted its report by the year 1928, The
recommendations made by the committee are : most important
(i) The road development in the country should be
this has become beyond the capacity of provincialconsidered as aandnational interest as
governments local bodies.
(iü) An extra tax should be levied on petrol from the
road users to develop a road
development fund called Central Road Fund.
(iüi) Asemi-official technical body should be formed to pool
technical know how from
various parts of the country and to act as an advisory body
roads. on various aspects of
(iv) A rescarch organisation should be instituted to carry out
work and to.be available for consultations. research and development
Most of the recommendations of the Jayakar
government, and the major items were implementedCommittee were accepted by the
Fund was fotmed by the year 1929, the semi-official subsequently. The Central Road
Roads Congress was formed in 1934 and the Central Road technical body called the Indian
in 1950. Research Institute was started
 2.1.6 Macadam Construction

John Macadam (1756-1836) put forward an entirely

as compared to all the previous new method of road construction
was made by him in 1815. methods. The first attempt to improve the road conal
his new concept of road Macadam was the Surveyor Geeneral of Roads in Englandand
construction became known by the year 1827.
A
typical cross section of Macadam's
The most construction is shown in Fig. 2.4.
older methods important
are : modifications made in Macadam's methods with respe
(i) The
importance of subgrade
subgrade was compacted and wasdrainage and compaction were recognised and so the
prepared with a
cross slope of l in 3o
om : www.EasyEngineering.net
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD
CONSTRUCTION 13

BRCKEN STOE PASSING

375cm SEVE.Dem fHIC
SURFACE COURSE WiTH
STONES PASSING 19cm CROSSSLOPE
45m
1N
SIEVE.Scm THHCK

BROKEN STONES PASSAG

Scm SIEVE,10 cm THCK
COMPACTED SUBGRADE
WITH CROSS SLOPE 1IN 36J

Fig. 2.4 Typical Cross Section of Macadam's Construction (1827 A.D.)

(ii)) Macadam was the first person to suggest that heavy
foundation stones are not at all
necessary to be placed at the bottom layer of construction. He realised that the
subgrade being the lowest portion of the pavement should be prepared
kept drained so as to carry the load transmitted through the pavement properly 2nd
layer of smaller size broken stones placed at the bottom, according to Compacted
Macadam,
could replace, with advantage, the heavy foundation stones.
(iii) Though the total thickness of construction, was less than previous methods, this
technique could serve the purpose in a better way, due to better load dispersion
characteristics of compacted broken stone aggregates of smaller sizes.
(iv) The size of broken stones for the top layer was decided based on the stability under
animal drawn vehicles. The pavement surface was also prepared with a cross slope
of lin 36 for drainage of surface water.
Macadam's method is the first method based on scientific thinking. It was realised that
the stresses due to wheel load of traffic gets decreased at the lower layers of the pavement
and therefore it is not necessary to provide large and strong boulder stones as foundation
or soling course at the lowest layer of the pavement. This method became very popular
far and wide. Various subsequent improved methods were based on Macadam's
construction and some of the methods still in use are known after his name, such as water
bound macadam, penetration macadam and bituminous macadam constructions.
The construction steps are:

() Subgrade is compacted and prepared with a croSs slope of lin 36 uplo a desired
width (about 9 metres).
(ii) Broken stones of a strong variety, all passing through 5 cm size sieve were
compacted to a unifom thickness of 10 cm.
(iii) The second layer of strong broken stones of size 3.75 cm was compacted to
thickness of 10 cm.

(iv) The top layer consisted of stones of size less than 2cm compacted to a thickness of
about Scm and finished so that the cross slope of pavement surface was also 1 in
36.
The Macadam and Telford methods of coastrection differ considerably though both
the methods were put forward in the carly nineteenth century.
"Answer3: c
Explanation: The Nagpur plan classified the roads
based on location and function into 5 categories
namely National Highway, State Highway, Major
District Road, Other District Road, Village Road.
Example 23
The following data were collected for planning the ruad development progranme of a
backward district.
(i) Total area
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(i) Agriculturai and developed area 3200 km
(iiü) Existing railway track length 105 km.
(iv) Existing length of metalled road 322 km.
(v) Existing length of unmetalledroad - 450 km.
(vi) Number of towns or villages in different population ranges are as below
Population > S000 2001-5O00 1001-2000 s01-1000
Number of villages 40 130 280 $90
and towns
Calculate the additional lengths of metalled and unmetalled roads for the road ytm
based on Nagpur Road Plan formulae for this district.
Solution
(i) The total length of metalled roads by Napur Plan formnula is ubtaind fvn
cquation 2.1 and is equalto :
1.6N +8TD-R
Here.
A - 3200 km²: B9600-3200600 km
N= 40: T 8; D 15 percent; R 10s km

Metalled road length -200

8
6400
32
.6n40+s«*" 13% of total roat length105

- [400 +200 +64 +64] + 1S% of RL - 105

728 + 15x 728 - 105 =732.2 km
100

Additional metalled road nevded

732.2-322 = 410.2 km

(ü) Total length of unmetalled roads by Nagpur plan formula may be

equation 22 and is cqual to: obtaincd from
[0.32 V +0.8Q+ 1.6P+ 3.2 S] +D
Here.
V = $90, Q=2S0, P=130, S= 40, D 15%
Unmetalled road length
= [0.32x 590 + 0.8 x 280 + 1.6 x 130 +3.2 x 40]+ 15% road leneth
= [188.8+ 224 + 208 + 128] + 15% of RL
748.8x 15
= 748.8+ 861 km
100
Additional unmetalled roads required
861-450 =411 km
 Requirements of highwayalianment
> Short
>Easy
Safe
Economical

Short- desirable to have a short alignment between two

terminal stations.
Easy-_easy to construct and maintain the road with minimum
problem also easy for operation of vehicle.
Sate- safe enough for construction and maintenance from
the view point of stability of natural hill slope, embankment
and cut slope also safe for traffic operation.
Economical- _total cost including initial cost, maintenance
cOst and vehicle operation cost should be minimum.