Section (C)

4.0 Transportation Engineering

4.1 Highway Engineering
4.2 Airport Engineering.

 Section (C) composes of 25 marks

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 4.1 Highway Engineering
2

Introduction to Transportation System

Transportation:
 Movement of people and goods from one place to

another place with safe, easy, comfort, economical

is known as transportation.
 Movement of people is known as passenger

transportation whereas movement of goods is

known as freight transportation.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Modes of Transportation:

There are two modes of Transportation:

(I) Primary Modes:
(A) Landways:

(a) Roadways: Roads, Highway,Street

(Bus,Car,Container,truck,etc)
(b) Railways: Rails (Wagon,train,container)

(B) Waterways: River,Lake,sea,ocean

(Ship,Boat,etc)
(C) Airways : Air-route (Plane,Aircraft,Helicopter)
(D) Spaceways: Space-route (Satellite,Rocket)
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Modes of Transportation…
4

(II) Secondary Modes

(A) Ropeways: Cable (car,carriage,cabin,

chair,gondola)
(B) Pipeline: Pipe (Water,gas,sewer)

(C) Canal : Irrigation canal (Water)

(D) Belt Conveyor : Belt (Aggregate in crusher plant)

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Advantages and Dis-advantages of road
transportation
5

The advantages of road transportation are:

 It covers wide geographical coverage

 It provides Large Influential area

 Road Transportation only provides Door-door

service
 It is flexible in using it.

 It provides Quick and assured deliveries of goods.

 It creates highest Employment potential

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Advantages…

 It provides personalized travel and services.

 It is Economical for short distance travel.
 It is safer in comparison with other modes of transportation

Dis-Advantages:
 It degrades the land.

 It produces Environmental pollution

 It consumes huge amount of non-renewable sources of energy.

 It has effects of parking especially in urban areas

 Repeated number of accident daily

 It is uneconomical for long distance travel

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 History of Road:
7

 History of road development in the world are

described as:
(1) Roman Road

(2) Tresaguet Construction

(3) Telford Construction

(4) Macadam Construction

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

8

(1) Roman Road

 Roman road were constructed during Roman Empire.

 Deep trench of (0.75-1.2) m were constructed in Roman

road.
 They were built after the removal of soft soil & a hard

stratum was reached.

 Roman roads were not built as per engineering design.

 Roman road were much Expensive

 In Roman road Straight roads were constructed regardless

of gradients.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Roman Roads…
9

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

10

(2) Tresaguet Construction

 Tresaguet in 1775 A.D. developed an advanced method

of construction with total depth of 30 cm maximum.

 He was the first man to realize the importance of

surface drainage and methodological maintenance.

 Tresaguet roads were much cheaper than Roman roads.

 Tresaguet construction were used in France during the

period of Napoleon.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Tresaguet Construction…
11

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

12

(3) Telford Construction:

 Telford Construction was developed by Scottish

Engineer Thoms Telford.

 The foundation was prepared for a road width of 9m

 Different size of aggregate varying from 17 cm to 22

cm were used.
 Total thickness of 40 cm were used.

 Telford consider the cross slope for drainage (1 in 45)

 Cross drains are provided at the interval of 90 meters.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Telford Construction…
13

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

14

(IV) Macadam Construction

 British Engineer John Macadam introduced first scientific road

construction method.
 He was the first man to realize the importance of subgrade

drainage system in addition with surface drainage system.

 In Macadam road, subgrade was prepared and compacted with a

cross slope of 1 in 36.

 He was also the first man to note the baseless use of hard and

strong stones in the road base.

 Total thickness of pavement was 25 cm

 Cross-slope of 1 in 36 were also used on the pavement

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Macadam Construction…
15

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Road in Nepal

16

NRS : Nepal Road Standard (2027 B.S., 2045 B.S. and

latest is 2070 B.S.)
NRRS : Nepal Rural Road Standard ( 2055 B.S., 2069 B.S.
and latest is 2071 B.S.)
NURS : Nepal Urban Road Standard- 2076 B.S.
 NRS is used for the design of Strategic road (Highway+
Feeder Roads), District road, Urban road.
 NRRS is used for the design of Rural road, Agricultural
road, Village road, etc.
 NURS is especially used for the design of Urban road.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Classification of Road in Nepal

17

 As per NRS-2070, road in Nepal is classified into

two types:
(I) Administrative Classification and
(II) Functional /Technical Classification

(I) Administrative Classification

 As per Administrative classification , there are
four (4) types of road and they are:

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Road in Nepal…

18

(A) National Highway/Highway/Trunk Road

 The road along the length of the country or across the
width of the country is known as Highway.
 The important or major road of a country is Highway.
 National Highway are designated by Capital Letter “H”
followed by two digit number.
 Eg: H01 = Mahendra Rajmarga (1028 km) , from Mechi
bridge, Jhapa Border to Gaddachowki Border, Kanchanpur.
 There are 80 numbers of National Highway in Nepal.
 Tribhuwan Highway is the oldest of Nepal’s Highway.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Road in Nepal…

19

(B) Feeder Roads:

 The road departing from Highway and connecting to

Zonal Headquarter, District Headquarter, Economic

centre or tourism area is known as feeder roads.
 Feeder roads are designated by Capital Letter “F”

followed by three digit number.

 Eg: F001 = Birtamod to Chandragadhi
,Bhadrapur,12.53 km
 There are 208 numbers of Feeder roads in Nepal.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

20

(C) District Road

 The roads within the district is known as District road.

 District roads are represented by capital letter “DR”

 District Roads are important roads within a district serving areas

of production and markets, and connecting with each other or

with the main highways.
(D) Urban Roads
 The roads within the metropolitan city, sub-metropolitan city,

municipality or town development board is known as Urban

roads.
 Urban road are specially also known as street

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

21

(II) Functional /Technical Classification(4 types)

(1) Class-I

 Class-I roads are highest standard roads with divided carriageway

(Expressway) with Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of 20,000

Passenger Car Unit (PCU) or more in 20 years perspective period.
 Design speed of class-I roads in plain terrain is 120 kmph.

(2) Class-II
 Class-II roads are those with ADT of (5000-20,000) PCU in 20

years perspective period.

 Design speed of class-II roads in plain terrain is 100 kmph

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Functional /Technical Classification…
22

(3) Class-III
 Class-III roads are those with ADT of (2000-5000) PCU in

20 years perspective period.

 Design speed of class-III roads in plain terrain is 80 kmph

(4) Class-IV
 Class-IV roads are those with ADT of less than 2000 PCU

in 20 years perspective period.

 Design speed of class-IV roads in plain terrain is 60 kmph

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Co-relation Between Administrative and Functional
Classification
23

Plain and Mountainous and

Rolling Terrain Steep Terrain

National Highway I,II II, III

Feeder Roads II, III III, IV

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Terrain Classification
24

SN Terrain % Cross Slope Degree of Curve

Type
1 Plain (0-10) % (0-5.7) degree

2 Rolling (10-25) % (5.7-14) degree

3 Mountainou (25-60) % (14-31) degree

s
4 Steep > 60 % > 31 degree
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
25

As per NRRS, there are two types of terrain

(a) Terai

(b) Hill

 If the percentage cross slope of an area is less or

equal to 25 % then the terrain is known as terai

and if greater than 25 % is known as Hill

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Vehicle type with their corresponding Equivalency
factor
SN Vehicle Type Equivalency
26

Factor (PCU )
1 Bicycle, Motorcycle, scooter, 0.5
Moped

2 Car, Auto-ricksaw, light van, 1.0

pickup
3 Light (mini) truck, tractor 1.5
without trailor , Ricksaw
4 Truck, Bus, Minibus, Tractor 3.0
with trailor
5 Non-motorized Carts (Bullock
Er. Sabin Pokhrel 6.0
Cart)
 Design Speed
27

Road Plain Rollin Mountainou Steep

Class g s
I 120 100 80 60

II 100 80 60 40

III 80 60 40 30

IV 60 40 30 20
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Highway Planning and Survey
28

Approach to Road Planning:

Objectives/Necessity of Highway Planning:
 To plan a road network for efficient and safe traffic

operation.
 To plan a road network so that construction cost,

vehicle operation cost and maintenance cost would

be minimum.
 To set up priorities for the construction and

maintenance of road.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Highway Planning and Survey…
29

 To plan the future requirements and improvements

of road.
 To know about the financing system.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Economic and Environmental Viability
30

Different methods for Economic analysis are:

(1) Payback Period

(2) Net Present Value

(3) Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

(4) Benefit Cost Ratio (B/C)

(5) Present Worth Method

(6) Future Worth Method

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Environmental Viability
31

It includes:
(1) Degradation of land

(2) Environmental Pollution

(3) Biological Effect

(4) Soil Disposal

(5) Degradation of flora and fauna

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Evaluating Alternatives
32

(1) Setting objectives

(2) Determining the alternatives
(3) Selecting the best alternatives
(4) Formulation of real plan
 Similarly, based on Economic and Environmental
analysis, the project which provides maximum
benefit is selected.
 Social benefits are also considered during
evaluation of alternatives.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Historical Development of Road Construction in
Nepal:
33

 During Rana regime, there were two offices named

“Batokaj Goswara” and “Chhembhadel Adda” for
road works and other civil engineering Construction
works respectively.
 There were branch office named “ Banaune Adda” in
other parts of the country.
 In 1918 AD, “Nayabatokaj Goswara” office was
established for the construction of new road and the
name of Batokaj Goswara was changed to “Purano
Batokaj Goswara”
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Historical Development of Road Construction in
Nepal…
34

 The main responsibilty of “Purano Batokaj Goswara”

was to look after the maintenance of existing road.
 An Army Unit “Samarjung” was used to carry out
routine maintenance under “Purano Batokaj
Goswara”
 The new and old office were merged into one as
Public Work Directive (PWD) in 1950 AD.
 PWD had two sections named as Normal road and
bridge section.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Historical Development of Road Construction in
Nepal…
35

 In 1970 AD, PWD was split into separate

department named as “Department of Road” and
“Department of Building”
 In 1956 AD, Tribhuvan Highway was constructed.
 In 1963 AD, Araniko Highway was constructed.
 In 1964 AD, Siddhartha highway was constructed.
 In 1993 AD, 6 regional office and 25 division
office of DOR were created.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Road Survey
36

The stages of road survey are:

(1) Map Study

(2) Reconnaissance Survey

(3) Preliminary Survey

(4) Detailed (Location) Survey

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Road Survey…
37

(1) Map Study:

 The probable alignment can be located from the following

details available on map:-

- Alignment avoiding valleys, ponds or lakes 
- When road has to pass a row of hills, possibility of crossing
through mountain passes.
- Approximate location of bridge site.
- When a road is to be connected between two stations, one on
the top & other on the foot of the hill, then alternative route
can be suggested keeping in view the permissible gradient, say
ruling gradient.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Road Survey…
38

(2) Reconnaissance Survey:

Some of the details to be collected during reconnaissance are:-
 Valley, ponds, marshy land, ridge, hills, permanent structures &

other obstructions along the route which are not available in map.
- Maximum flood level & natural ground level.
- Soil type & geological features
 Sources of construction material

- When the area is vast or terrain is difficult reconnaissance may be

done by aerial survey.
As a result of the reconnaissance, a few alternative alignments may
be chosen for further study

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Road Survey…
39

(3)Preliminary Survey
Objectives of preliminary survey are:
 To survey the various alternative alignment & collect

necessary physical information & details of topography,

drainage & soil. 
 To compare the different proposals in view of the

requirements of a good alignment.

 To estimate quantity of earthworks & construction aspects

& workout the cost of alternatives proposals

 To finalized the best alignment from all considerations.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Road Survey…
40

(4) Detailed (Location) Survey

 The alignment that is finalized by preliminary survey is

located on the field by establishing centerline.

 Now the detail survey is carried out for collecting the

information necessary for the preparation of plan &

construction details for the highway project.
 The data are;

-Topographical detail
 -Soil profile

 -Drainage

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Highway Alignment (Alignment)
41

 The position or layout of centre line of the road on

the ground is called alignment.
 A newly road should be properly aligned, as

improper alignment would result following dis-

advantages:
(1) Increase in construction cost

(2) Increase in vehicle operation cost

(3) Increase in maintenance cost

(4) Increase in accident rate

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Basic Requirements of Road Alignment:
42

(1) Short
 Perpendicular distance between any two points is the shortest distance.

 Shortest distance reduces the cost of construction, construction time,

vehicle operation cost and road maintenance cost.

(2) Easy:
 The road should be easy for construction, vehicle operation and road

maintenance.
(3) Safe:
 The road should be safe for construction, vehicle operation and road

maintenance.
 There should be minimum casaulties or fatalities during construction,

vehicle operation and road maintenance.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Basic Requirements of Road Alignment…
43

(4) Comfort:
 The road should be comfort for vehicle driving and

travelling passengers.
(5) Economical:
 As far as possible and as best as practicable, minimum

cost should be used for construction, vehicle operation

and road maintenance
(6) Useful:
 The road should be benefitted directly or indirectly for

many of the users.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Factors controlling Highway Alignment
44

The various factors controlling highway alignment are:

(I) Obligatory Points
(II) Economy

(III) Geometric Design

(IV) Traffic

(I) Obligatory Points

(A) Positive Obligatory Points:
 Points through which the road alignment is to pass:
 An industrial area or mine zone to which a highway is to serve additionally

Tourists spot, bridge site ( suitable), tourist spot , hill pass, Link with
intermediate town, health post, Rural Municipality(RM), District Co-
ordination Committee (DCC), School areas, College areas

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Points through which the road alignment is to pass…
45

(i) Alignment along a hill side pass

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Points through which the road alignment is to pass…
46

(2) Alignment to suit the proper location of bridge:

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Points through which the road alignment is to pass…
47

(3) Alignment to connect intermediate town:

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Points through which the road alignment is to pass…
48

(4) Alignment avoiding intermediate area

(5) Alignment connecting industrial area

Er. Sabin Pokhrel
49

(B) Negative Obligatory Points:

 Points through which the road alignment should not

pass:
(1) Marshy land, water logged areas, etc

(2) Historically and Archeologically important property

(3) Restricted zone for defence, national security

(4) Costly structural element requiring heavy

compensation
(5) Densely populated areas

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Asian Highway In Nepal
50

 The Asian Highway (AH) Network is also known as Great

Asian Highway.
 It is a co-operative project among countries in Asia, Europe
and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve the highway
system in Asia.
 32 countries have signed the agreement to allow highway to
cross the continent and reach to Europe.
 Countries taking part in this highway project are India,
Pakistan, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, China , Japan, Iran, South
Korea,etc
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Classification of Asian Highway
51

 The whole network is classified into 4 types

(I) Primary
(II) Class-I

(III) Class-II

(IV) Class-III

(V) Primary:
 Primary class are those highway where two-wheelers ,
light weight vehicles and pedestrian are nor allowed.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Asian Highway…
52

 The speed limit of these types of road varies from 60

kmph to 120 kmph.
 They are built with Asphalt or Cement Concrete.

(II) Class-I
 Class-I roads have four or more lanes.

 The speed limit of these types of road varies from 50

kmph to 100 kmph

 They are built with Asphalt or Cement concrete.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Asian Highway…
53

(III) Class-II:
 Class-II road are two lane road .

 The speed limit of these types of road is 80 kmph.

 They are built with Asphalt or cement concrete.

(IV) Class-III:
 Class-III roads are two lane road.

 The speed limit on these types of road is 60 kmph.

 They are built with double bituminous treatment.

 Class III roads is the minimum desirable standard road.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Classification of Asian Highway…
54

 Nepal is connected by two Asian Highways and they are

Asian Highway 2 (AH2) and Asian Highway 42 (AH42).
 AH2 = Bhadrapur to Kanchanpur (1027 km)
 AH42 = Birgunj to Kodari (297 km)
 The total length of AH in Nepal is 1324 km (1027+297
km).
 AH2 originates from Dhaka in Bangladesh and ends in
New Delhi,India
 AH42 originates from Barhi in India and ends in Lhasa
in China.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Geometric Design of Highway
55

Basic design control and criteria for highway design:

(1) Design Speed

(2) Design Vehicle

(3) Topography

(4) Traffic Factors

(5) Design Hourly volume and capacity

(6) Environmental and other factors

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Basic design control and criteria…
56

(1) Speed:
 The design speed is the maximum permissible safe

speed of a vehicle on a given road considered for the

design of road elements.
(2) Design Vehicle:
 The geometric elements of road naturally depend on

the design vehicle, its characteristics, size, & shape

using the road.
 It is therefore, essential to examine various types of
vehicles in use in the country
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Basic design control and criteria…
57

(3) Topography:
 Topography in general influences the physical location

of highway.
 The design elements of a highway in hilly region are

affected to a considerable degree by the physical

features such as hills, valleys, steepness of slope, stream
crossings etc.
(4) Traffic volume & composition: -
 Traffic volume is the number of vehicle crossing a

section of road per unit time at any selected period.

Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Geometric Design…
58

Traffic volume:
 Traffic volume is the number of vehicles crossing a section of road

per unit time at any selected period.

Traffic capacity:
 It is the number of vehicles passing per lane in an hour

 Maximum or basic capacity is determined by:

C = (1000*V)/S
Where,
C = Capacity of vehicles per hour per lane
V = Speed in km-ph
S = Average centre to centre spacing of vehicles in meter
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Question
59

If the average centre to centre spacing of a vehicles is 25 meters,

then basic capacity of a traffic lane at a speed of 50 kmph is:
(a) 1000 Veh/hr/lane (b) 2000 Veh/hr/lane

(c) 3000 Veh/hr/lane (d) 4000 Veh/hr/lane

Hints:
Spacing (S)= 25 meters
Speed (V) = 50 kmph
Then,
C = (1000*V)/S
= (1000*50)/25
= 2000 Vehicles/hour/lane
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Cross sectional elements of rural/Urban roads:
60

Er. Sabin Pokhrel

 Right of Way (ROW)
61

 It is the total area of land acquired for the road along its
alignment.
 It depends on the importance of the road and
possible future development.
 It is desirable to acquire more width of land as the cost of
adjoining land invariably increases very much , soon
after the new highway is constructed.
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
 Right of Way (ROW)
62

SN Type of Road Total Right of Way

1 Highway (National 50 m
Highway)
2 Feeder Roads 30 m
3 District Roads 20 m
4 City Roads
(a) 4 lanes 50 m
(b) 2 lanes 30 m
Er. Sabin Pokhrel
Carriageway or width of pavement:
 Carriageway may be defined as that strip of road which is constructed
for the movement of vehicular traffic.
 It may be cement concrete road or bituminous pavement.
 Width of carriageway is determined on the basis of the width of the
vehicle and the minimum side clearance for safety.
 Carriage width (CW) = Width of lane (Tw) * No. of lane (n)
 Width of carriageway as per NRS-2070
Shoulder:
 It is provided along the road edge to serve as an emergency
lane for vehicle.
 It act as a service lane for vehicles that have broken down.

 It should have sufficient load bearing capacity even in wet weather.

 The surface of the should be rougher than the traffic lanes so that
vehicles are discouraged to use the shoulder as a regular traffic.

 The colour should be different from that of the pavement

to be distinct.

 The width of shoulders on either side of the carriageway

shall be at least 0.75m.