UNIT II

GEOMETRIC DESIGN OF HIGHWAYS

Cross sectional elements - Sight distances – Horizontal curves, Super elevation, transition curves, widening at
curves – Vertical curves - Gradients, Special consideration for hill roads - Hairpin bends – Lateral and vertical
clearance at underpasses.

Design Speed

The design speed, as noted earlier, is the single most important factor in the design of
horizontal alignment. The design speed also depends on the type of the road. For e.g, the design
speed expected from a National highway will be much higher than a village road, and hence the curve
geometry will vary significantly.

The design speed also depends on the type of terrain. A plain terrain can afford to have any
geometry, but for the same standard in a hilly terrain requires substantial cutting and filling implying
exorbitant costs as well as safety concern due to unstable slopes. Therefore, the design speed is
normally reduced for terrains with steep slopes.

For instance, Indian Road Congress (IRC) has classified the terrains into four categories,
namely plain, rolling, mountainous, and steep based on the cross slope as given in table . Based on
the type of road and type of terrain the design speed varies. The IRC has suggested desirable or ruling
speed as well as minimum suggested design speed and is tabulated in table .

Table : Terrain classification

Terrain classification Cross slope (%)
Plain 0-10
Rolling 10-25
Mountainous 25-60

Steep 60

The recommended design speed is given in Table .

Table : Design speed in as per IRC (ruling and minimum)

Type Plain Rolling Hilly Steep
NS&SH 100-80 80-65 50-40 40-30
MDR 80-65 65-50 40-30 30-20
ODR 65-50 50-40 30-25 25-20
VR 50-40 40-35 25-20 25-20
 Topography:

The next important factor that affects the geometric design is the topography. It is
easier to construct roads with required standards for a plain terrain. However, for a given design
speed, the construction cost increases multiform with the gradient and the terrain. Therefore,
geometric design standards are different for different terrain to keep the cost of construction and time
of construction under control. This is characterized by sharper curves and steeper gradients.

Other factors :

In addition to design speed and topography, there are various other factors that affect the
geometric design and they are brie y discussed below:

Vehicle: The dimensions, weight of the axle and operating characteristics of a vehicle
influence the design aspects such as width of the pavement, radii of the curve, clearances, parking
geometrics etc. A design vehicle which has standard weight, dimensions and operating characteristics
are used to establish highway design controls to accommodate vehicles of a designated type.

Human: The important human factors that influence geometric design are the physical, mental and
psychological characteristics of the driver and pedestrians like the reaction time.

Traffic: It will be uneconomical to design the road for peak traffic flow. Therefore a
reasonable value of traffic volume is selected as the design hourly volume which is determined from
the various traffic data collected. The geometric design is thus based on this design volume, capacity
etc.

Environmental: Factors like air pollution, noise pollution etc. should be given due
consideration in the geometric design of roads.

Economy: The design adopted should be economical as far as possible. It should match with the
funds allotted for capital cost and maintenance cost.

Others: Geometric design should be such that the aesthetics of the region is not
affected.

Factors affecting Sight distance

The most important consideration in all these is that at all times the driver traveling at the
design speed of the highway must have sufficient carriageway distance within his line of vision to
allow him to stop his vehicle before colliding with a slowly moving or stationary object appearing
suddenly in his own traffic lane.
The computation of sight distance depends on:

Reaction time of the driver

Reaction time of a driver is the time taken from the instant the object is visible to the driver to
the instant when the brakes are applied. The total reaction time may be split up into four components
based on PIEV theory. In practice, all these times are usually combined into a total perception-
reaction time suitable for design purposes as well as for easy measurement. Many of the studies
show that drivers require about 1.5 to 2 secs under normal conditions. However, taking into
consideration the variability of driver characteristics, a higher value is normally used in design. For
example, IRC suggests a reaction time of 2.5 secs.
Speed of the vehicle
The speed of the vehicle very much affects the sight distance. Higher the speed, more time will
be required to stop the vehicle. Hence it is evident that, as the speed increases, sight distance also
increases.
Efficiency of brakes
The efficiency of the brakes depends upon the age of the vehicle, vehicle characteristics etc. If
the brake efficiency is 100%, the vehicle will stop the moment the brakes are applied. But
practically, it is not possible to achieve 100% brake efficiency. Therefore the sight distance required
will be more when the efficiency of brakes are less. Also for safe geometric design, we assume that
the vehicles have only 50% brake efficiency.
Frictional resistance between the tyre and the road
The frictional resistance between the tyre and road plays an important role to bring the vehicle
to stop. When the frictional resistance is more, the vehicles stop immediately. Thus sight required
will be less. No separate provision for brake efficiency is provided while computing the sight
distance. This is taken into account along with the factor of longitudinal friction. IRC has specified
the value of longitudinal friction in between 0.35 to 0.4.
Gradient of the road.
Gradient of the road also affects the sight distance. While climbing up a gradient, the vehicle
can stop immediately. Therefore sight distance required is less. While descending a gradient, gravity
also comes into action and more time will be required to stop the vehicle. Sight distance
required will be more in this case.

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.
There is a term called safe stopping distance and is one of the important measures in tra c
engineering. It is the distance a vehicle travels from the point at which a situation is rst perceived to
the time the deceleration is complete. Drivers must have adequate time if they are to suddenly
respond to a situation. Thus in highway design, sight distance atleast equal to the safe stopping
distance should be provided. The stopping sight distance is the sum of lag distance and the braking
distance. Lag distance is the distance the vehicle traveled during the reaction time t and is given by
2
vt, where v is the velocity in m=sec . Braking distance is the distance traveled by the vehicle during
braking operation. For a level road this is obtained by equating the work done in stopping the
vehicle and the kinetic energy of the vehicle. If F is the maximum frictional force developed and the
braking distance is l, then work done against friction in stopping the vehicle is F l = f W l where W
is the total weight of the vehicle. The kinetic energy at the design speed is

Therefore, the SSD = lag distance + braking distance and given by:
2
where v is the design speed in m=sec , t is the reaction time in sec, g is the acceleration due to
gravity and f is the coefficient of friction. The coefficient of friction f is given below for various
design speed.
When there is an ascending gradient of say +n%, the component of gravity adds to braking action
and hence braking distance is decreased. The component of gravity acting parallel to the surface
which adds to the braking force is equal to W sin W tan = W n=100. Equating kinetic energy and
work done:
Similarly the braking distance can be derived for a descending gradient.

Overtaking sight distance

The overtaking sight distance is the minimum distance open to the vision of the driver of a
vehicle intending to overtake the slow vehicle ahead safely against the traffic in the opposite
direction. The overtaking sight distance or passing sight distance is measured along the center line of
the road over which a driver with his eye level 1.2 m above the road surface can see the top of an
object 1.2 m above the road surface.
The factors that affect the OSD are:

1. Velocities of the overtaking vehicle, overtaken vehicle and of the vehicle coming in the opposite
direction.
2. Spacing between vehicles, which in-turn depends on the speed
3. Skill and reaction time of the driver.
4. Rate of acceleration of overtaking vehicle.
5. Gradient of the road.

The dynamics of the overtaking operation is given in the figure which is a time-space diagram.
The x-axis denotes the time and y-axis shows the distance traveled by the vehicles. The trajectory of
the slow moving vehicle (B) is shown as a straight line which indicates that it is traveling at a
constant speed. A fast moving vehicle (A) is traveling behind the vehicle B. The trajectory of the
vehicle is shown initially with a steeper slope. The dotted line indicates the path of the vehicle A if
B was absent. The vehicle A slows down to follow the vehicle B as shown in the figure with same
slope from t0 to t1. Then it overtakes the vehicle B and occupies the left lane at time t3. The time
duration T = t3 t1 is the actual duration of the overtaking operation. The snapshots of the road
at time t0 ; t1, and t3 are shown on the left side of the figure. From the Figure, the overtaking
sight distance consists of three parts.

It is assumed that the vehicle A is forced to reduce its speed to v b , 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

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
The distance traveled by the vehicle C moving at design speed v m=sec during overtaking operation
is given by:
2
where 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 and a is the overtaking vehicles acceleration in
2
m=sec . In case the speed of the overtaken vehicle is not given, it can be assumed that it moves 16
kmph slower the design speed.
The acceleration values of the fast vehicle depends on its speed

Horizontal curve

The presence of horizontal curve imparts centrifugal force which is reactive force acting
outward on a vehicle negotiating it. Centrifugal force depends on speed and radius of the
horizontal curve and is counteracted to a certain extent by transverse friction between the tyre and
pavement surface. On a curved road, this force tends to cause the vehicle to overrun or to slide
outward from the centre of road curvature. For proper design of the curve, an understanding of the
forces acting on a vehicle taking a horizontal curve is necessary. Various forces acting on the vehicle
are illustrated in the figure.
They are the centrifugal force (P) acting outward, weight of the vehicle (W) acting downward,
and the reaction of the ground on the wheels (R A and RB ). The centrifugal force and the weight is
assumed to be from the centre of gravity which is at h units above the ground. Let the wheel base be
2
assumed as b units. The centrifugal force P in kg=m is given by

where W is the weight of the vehicle in kg, v is the speed of the vehicle in m=sec, g is the
2
acceleration due to gravity in m=sec and R is the radius of the curve in m.

The centrifugal force has two effects: A tendency to overturn the vehicle about the outer wheels and a
tendency for transverse skidding. Taking moments of the forces with respect to the outer wheel
when the vehicle is just

The second tendency of the vehicle is for transverse skidding. i.e. When the centrifugal force P
is greater than the maximum possible transverse skid resistance due to friction between the
pavement surface and tyre. The transverse skid resistance (F) is given by:

F= FA + FB
= f (RA + RB )
= fW

where FA and FB is the fractional force at tyre A and B, RA and RB is the reaction at tyre A and B,
f is the lateral coefficient of friction and W is the weight of the vehicle. This is counteracted by the
centrifugal force (P), and equating:
 Analysis of Super-elevation

Super-elevation or cant or banking is the transverse slope provided at horizontal curve to

counteract the centrifugal force, by raising the outer edge of the pavement with respect to the inner
edge, throughout the length of the horizontal curve. When the outer edge is raised, a component of
the curve weight will be complimented in counteracting the effect of centrifugal force. In order to
find out how much this raising should be, the following analysis may be done. The forces acting on
a vehicle while taking a horizontal curve with superelevation is shown in figure
2
Forces acting on a vehicle on horizontal curve of radius R m at a speed of v m=sec
are:

Analysis of super-elevation P the centrifugal force acting horizontally out-wards through the center
of gravity, W the weight of the vehicle acting down-wards through the center of gravity, and F the
friction force between the wheels and the pavement, along the surface inward. At equilibrium, by
resolving the forces parallel to the surface of the pavement we get,
P cos = W sinθ + FA + FB
= W sinθ + f (RA + RB)
= W sinθ + f (W cosθ + P sinθ)

where W is the weight of the vehicle, P is the centrifugal force, f is the coefficient of friction, is the
transverse slope due to super elevation. Dividing by W cosθ, we get:
By substituting the value of P/W this in equation
Design of super-elevation
While designing the various elements of the road like superelevation, we design it for a
particular vehicle called design vehicle which has some standard weight and dimensions. But in the
actual case, the road has to cater for mixed traffic. Different vehicles with different dimensions and
varying speeds ply on the road. For example, in the case of a heavily loaded truck with high centre
of gravity and low speed, superelevation should be less; otherwise chances of toppling are more.
Taking into practical considerations of all such situations, IRC has given some guidelines about the
maximum and minimum superelevation etc.

For fast moving vehicles, providing higher superelevation without considering coefficient of
friction is safe, i.e. centrifugal force is fully counteracted by the weight of the vehicle or
superelevation. For slow moving vehicles, providing lower superelevation considering coefficient
of friction is safe, i.e. centrifugal force is counteracted by superelevation and coefficient of friction.
IRC suggests following

Mechanical widening
The reasons for the mechanical widening are: When a vehicle negotiates a horizontal curve,
the rear wheels follow a path of shorter radius than the front wheels as shown in figure. This
phenomenon is called o - tracking, and has the effect of increasing the effective width of a road
space required by the vehicle. Therefore, to provide the same clearance between vehicles
traveling in opposite direction on curved roads as is provided on straight sections, there must be
extra width of carriageway available. This is an important factor when high proportion of vehicles
are using the road. Trailor trucks also need extra carriageway, depending on the type of joint. In
addition speeds higher than the design speed causes transverse skidding which requires additional
width for safety purpose. The expression for extra width can be derived from the simple geometry of
a vehicle at a horizontal curve as shown in figure. Let R1 is the radius of the outer track line of the
rear wheel, R2 is the radius of the outer track line of the front wheel l is the distance between the
front and rear wheel, n is the number of lanes, then the mechanical widening Wm is derived below:

Psychological widening
`Widening of pavements has to be done for some psychological reasons also. There is a
tendency for the drivers to drive close to the edges of the pavement on curves. Some extra space is to
be provided for more clearance for the crossing and overtaking operations on curves. IRC proposed
an empirical relation for the psychological
Widening at horizontal curves Wps:

Length of transition curve

The length of the transition curve should be determined as the maximum of the following three
criteria: rate of change of centrifugal acceleration, rate of change of superelevation, and an empirical
formula given by IRC.

Rate of change of centrifugal acceleration

At the tangent point, radius is infinity and hence centrifugal acceleration is zero. At the end of
the transition, the radius R has minimum value R. The rate of change of centrifugal acceleration
should be adopted such that the design should not cause discomfort to the drivers. If c is the rate of
change of centrifugal acceleration, it is given by an empirical formula suggested by by IRC

Vertical alignment

The vertical alignment of a road consists of gradients(straight lines in a vertical plane) and
vertical curves. The vertical alignment is usually drawn as a pro le, which is a graph with elevation
as vertical axis and the horizontal distance along the centre line of the road as the the horizontal axis.
Just as a circular curve is used to connect horizontal straight stretches of road, vertical curves
connect two gradients. When these two curves meet, they form either convex or concave. The
former is called a summit curve, while the latter is called a valley curve.

Types of gradient

Many studies have shown that gradient upto seven percent can have considerable effect on the
speeds of the passenger cars. On the contrary, the speeds of the heavy vehicles are considerably
reduced when long gradients as at as two percent is adopted. Although, flatter gradients are
desirable, it is evident that the cost of construction will also be very high. Therefore, IRC has
specified the desirable gradients for each terrain. However, it may not be economically viable to
adopt such gradients in certain locations, steeper gradients are permitted for short duration. Different
types of grades are discussed below and the recommended type of gradients for each type of terrain
and type of gradient is given in table 17:1.
Ruling gradient, limiting gradient, exceptional gradient and minimum gradient are some types of
gradients which are discussed below.

Ruling gradient

The ruling gradient or the design gradient is the maximum gradient with which the designer attempts
to design the vertical pro le of the road. This depends on the terrain, length of the grade, speed,
pulling power of the vehicle and the presence of the horizontal curve. In flatter terrain, it may be
possible to provide at gradients, but in hilly terrain it is not economical and sometimes not possible
also. The ruling gradient is adopted by the designer by considering a particular speed as the design
speed and for a design vehicle with standard dimensions. But our country has a heterogeneous traffic
and hence it is not possible to lay down precise standards for the country as a whole. Hence IRC has
recommended some values for ruling gradient for different types of terrain.

Limiting gradient

This gradient is adopted when the ruling gradient results in enormous increase in cost of
construction. On rolling terrain and hilly terrain it may be frequently necessary to adopt limiting
gradient. But the length of the limiting gradient stretches should be limited and must be sandwiched
by either straight roads or easier grades.
Exceptional gradient

Exceptional gradient are very steeper gradients given at unavoidable situations. They should be
limited for short stretches not exceeding about 100 metres at a stretch. In mountainous and steep
terrain, successive exceptional gradients must be separated by a minimum 100 metre length gentler
gradient. At hairpin bends, the gradient is restricted to
2.5%.

Critical length of the grade

The maximum length of the ascending gradient which a loaded truck can operate without undue
reduction in speed is called critical length of the grade. A speed of 25 kmph is a reasonable value.
This value depends on the size, power, load, grad-ability of the truck, initial speed, final desirable
minimum speed etc.

Minimum gradient

This is important only at locations where surface drainage is important. Camber will take care of the
lateral drainage. But the longitudinal drainage along the side drains require some slope for smooth
flow of water. Therefore minimum gradient is provided for drainage purpose and it depends on the
rain fall, type of soil and other site conditions. A minimum of 1 in 500 may be sufficient for
concrete drain and 1 in 200 for open soil drains are found to give satisfactory performance..

Creeper lane

When the uphill climb is extremely long, it may be desirable to introduce an additional lane
so as to allow slow ascending vehicles to be removed from the main stream so that the fast moving
vehicles are not affected. Such a newly introduced lane is called creeper lane. There are no hard and
fast rules as when to introduce a creeper lane. But generally, it can be said that it is desirable to
provide a creeper lane when the speed of the vehicle gets reduced to half the design speed. When
there is no restrictive sight distance to reduce the speed of the approaching vehicle, the additional
lane may be initiated at some distance uphill from the beginning of the slope. But when the
restrictions are responsible for the lowering of speeds, obviously the lane should be initiated at a
point closer to the bottom of the hill. Also the creeper lane should end at a point well beyond the
hill crest, so that the slow moving vehicles can return back to the normal lane without any danger.
In addition, the creeper lane should not end suddenly, but only in a tapered manner for efficient as
well as safer transition of vehicles to the normal lane

Grade compensation

While a vehicle is negotiating a horizontal curve, if there is a gradient also, then there will
be increased resistance to traction due to both curve and the gradient. In such cases, the total
resistance should not exceed the resistance due to gradient specified. For the design, in some cases
this maximum value is limited to the ruling gradient and in some cases as limiting gradient. So if a
curve need to be introduced in a portion which has got the maximum permissible gradient, then
some compensation should be provided so as to decrease the gradient for overcoming the tractive
loss due to curve. Thus grade compensation can be defined as the reduction in gradient at the
horizontal curve because of the additional tractive force required due to curve resistance (T cosθ ),
which is intended to o set the extra tractive force involved at the curve. IRC gave the following
specification for the grade compensation.

1. Grade compensation is not required for grades flatter than 4% because the loss of tractive
force is negligible.
30+R
2. Grade compensation is %, where R is the radius of the horizontal curve in meters.

75
3. The maximum grade compensation is limited to R %.

Summit curve

Summit curves are vertical curves with gradient upwards. They are formed when two gradients meet
as illus-trated in figure 17:2 in any of the following four ways:

= when a positive gradient meets another positive gradient

Types of Summit Curve

Many curve forms can be used with satisfactory results, the common practice has been to use
parabolic curves in summit curves. This is primarily because of the ease with it can be laid out as
well as allowing a comfortable transition from one gradient to another. Although a circular curve
offers equal sight distance at every point on the curve, for very small deviation angles a circular
curve and parabolic curves are almost congruent. Furthermore, the use of parabolic curves were
found to give excellent riding comfort
In determining the type and length of the vertical curve, the design considerations are comfort
and security of the driver, and the appearance of the pro le alignment. Among these, sight distance
requirements for the safety is most important on summit curves. The stopping sight distance or
absolute minimum sight distance should be provided on these curves and where overtaking is not
prohibited, overtaking sight distance or intermediate sight distance should be provided as far as
possible. When a fast moving vehicle travels along a summit curve, there is less discomfort to the
passengers. This is because the centrifugal force will be acting upwards while the vehicle
negotiates a summit curve which is against the gravity and hence a part of the tyre pressure is
relieved. Also if the curve is provided with adequate sight distance, the length would be sufficient to
ease the shock due to change in gradient. Circular summit curves are identical since the radius
remains same throughout and hence the sight distance. From this point of view, transition curves are
not desirable since it has varying radius and so the sight distance will also vary. The deviation
angle provided on summit curves for highways are very large, and so
the a simple parabola is almost congruent to a circular arc, between the same tangent points.
Parabolic curves is easy for computation and also it had been found out that it provides good riding
comfort to the drivers. It is also easy for field implementation. Due to all these reasons, a simple
parabolic curve is preferred as summit curve.

Length of the summit curve

The important design aspect of the summit curve is the determination of the length of the
curve which is parabolic. As noted earlier, the length of the curve is guided by the sight distance
consideration. That is, a driver should be able to stop his vehicle safely if there is an obstruction on
2
the other side of the road. Equation of the parabola is given by y = ax , where N is the deviation
angle and L is the length of the In deriving the length of the curve, two situations can arise
depending on the uphill and downhill gradients when the length of the curve is greater than the sight
distance and the length of the curve is greater than the sight distance.

Design considerations for valley curve

There is no restriction to sight distance at valley curves during day time. But visibility is reduced
during night. In the absence or inadequacy of street light, the only source for visibility is with the
help of headlights. Hence valley curves are designed taking into account of headlight distance. In
valley curves, the centrifugal force will be acting downwards along with the weight of the vehicle,
and hence impact to the vehicle will be more. This will result in jerking of the vehicle and cause
discomfort to the passengers. Thus the most important design factors considered in valley curves are:
(1) impact-free movement of vehicles at design speed and (2) availability of stopping sight
distance under headlight of vehicles for night driving.
For gradually introducing and increasing the centrifugal force acting downwards, the best shape
that could be given for a valley curve is a transition curve. Cubic parabola is generally preferred in
vertical valley curves.
During night, under headlight driving condition, sight distance reduces and availability
of stopping sight distance under head light is very important. The head light sight distance should be
at least equal to the stopping sight distance. There is no problem of overtaking sight distance at
night since the other vehicles with headlights could be seen from a considerable distance.

Length of the valley curve

The valley curve is made fully transitional by providing two similar transition curves of
3
equal length The transitional curve is set out by a cubic parabola y = bx . The length of the valley
transition curve is designed based on two criteria:

comfort criteria; that is allowable rate of change of centrifugal acceleration is limited to a

3
comfortable level of about 0:6m=sec .

safety criteria; that is the driver should have adequate headlight sight distance at any part of the
country.
Comfort criteria

The length of the valley curve based on the rate of change of centrifugal acceleration that will
ensure comfort: Let c is the rate of change of acceleration, R the minimum radius of the curve,
v is the design speed and t is
where L is the total length of valley curve, N is the deviation angle in radians or tangent of the
deviation angle or the algebraic difference in grades, and c is the allowable rate of change of
3
centrifugal acceleration which may be taken as 0:6m=sec .

Safety criteria

Length of the valley curve for headlight distance may be determined for two conditions: (1)
length of the valley curve greater than stopping sight distance and (2) length of the valley
curve less than the stopping sight distance.