Outline of Presentation

Geometric Design of
Transportation Facilities Introduction
Highway Engineering Part I Highway design criteria
Locational design
Lecture Alignment design
Cross section
Traffic analysis for pavement design

National Center for Transportation Studies

Introduction
Geometric Design of Highways: refers
to the design of the visible dimensions of
streets and highways. Its main purpose is
to provide safe, efficient, and economical
movement of traffic.
Additional Considerations:
Social and environmental impacts that are likely to
occur because of the construction and reconstruction of
facilities.
Most important factors to consider:
Driver behavior
Traffic performance
Introduction
Road Hierarchy
A. Primary Arterials (Expressways, National Roads)
Provide the transportation link between regions and provinces
Primary function is movement (instead of access)
B. Secondary Arterials (Provincial Roads)
Primary function is movement but may contribute to access
requirements
C. Collector Roads (Municipal/City Roads)
Serve to feed traffic onto and off the main road network at the
beginning and end of trips
Serve local traffic
D. Access Roads (Local Roads)
Primarily for residential use (ultimately the streets along which
people live)
E. Pedestrian Areas/Routes
Motorized vehicles are excluded to improve safety
Non-motorized traffic has sole priority (footpaths and bikeways)
Introduction Introduction
UP Diliman Area Roads
[Local Roads]

Katipunan Avenue (C5)

[Primary Arterial]
University Avenue and Academic Oval
[Collector Roads]

UP Village Roads
[Local Roads]

C.P. Garcia Avenue

[Secondary Arterial]

Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

Design Controls
1. Design Vehicles are selected motor vehicles with the weight,
dimensions, and operating characteristics used to establish highway
design controls for accommodating vehicles of designated classes.
2. Vehicle Performance and Impacts design is greatly affected by
the accelerating and decelerating characteristics of vehicles. Air
pollution from vehicle emissions as well as noise from vehicles affect
land uses adjacent to roadways.
3. Driver Performance activities fall into three levels: control,
guidance and navigation. The driving task depends on how
information is received and used.
Information handling integration of various information inputs and
maintaining an awareness of the changing environment.
Reaction time reaction times increase as a function of increased
complexity
Speed reduces the visual field, restricts peripheral vision, and limits
the time available to receive and process information.
Driver Errors drivers are prone to error when they have to perform
several highly complex tasks at the same time.
Design Controls and Criteria
Design Controls
4. Traffic Characteristics
Traffic Volume width, alignments and grades are dependent on the
traffic composition and volume. Quantities used include ADT, DHV (in
terms of a percentage K of the ADT), and peak flow values.
Operational Speed the highest overall speed at which a driver can
travel on a given highway under favorable weather conditions and under
prevailing traffic conditions without at any time exceeding the safe
speed as determined by the design speed on a section-by-section basis.
Design Speed is the maximum safe speed that can be maintained
over a specific section of a highway when conditions are so favorable
that the design features of the highway govern.
Running Speed distance traveled by a vehicle divided by the time
the vehicle is in motion (or actual vehicle speeds occurring on a
highway section.
Design Controls and Criteria
Design Criteria
A. Design speed
Maximum safe speed that can be maintained
over a specific section of highway when
conditions are favorable that the design
features of the highway govern
Factors to be considered when choosing a design speed:
1) Function of the road
2) Anticipated operating speed
3) Anticipated speed limit
4) Economics
Design Controls and Criteria
Design Controls
5. Highway Capacity and Design Controls
Capacity the maximum rate of flow that can reasonably be expected
to pass a point or uniform section of a lane or roadway under prevailing
roadway, traffic and control conditions.
Level of Service a qualitative measure describing operational
conditions within a traffic stream, or their perception by motorists
and/or passengers.
Acceptable Degrees of Congestion principles to be kept in mind:
1) Traffic demand should not exceed the capacity of the highway even
during short intervals of time.
2) The design traffic volumes per lane should not exceed the rate at
which traffic can dissipate from a standing queue.
3) Motorists should be given some latitude in the choice of speeds
(related to the length of trip)
4) Operating conditions should provide a degree of freedom from
driver tension that is consistent with trip length and duration.
5) There are practical limitations to having an ideal freeway.
Note: Once a level of service has been selected, it is essential that all elements of
the roadway are consistently designed to this level.
Design Controls and Criteria
Design Criteria
A. Design speed
Speed Implications
At higher speeds a rider or driver has less time to
react to a situation and therefore there is the
likelihood that an error will result in a crash;
Momentum and kinetic energy of a vehicle
increases rapidly with speed
The sudden dissipation of this energy in a crash means
that the injury to occupants is more severe
Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria
Design Criteria Speed Limits
Local speed restrictions are set out in Republic Act
A. Design speed

Speed Implications Factors that may be considered when establishing

At higher speeds a rider or driver has less time to
react to a situation and therefore there is the
likelihood that an error will result in a crash;
Momentum and kinetic energy of a vehicle
increases rapidly with speed
The sudden dissipation of this energy in a crash means
that the injury to occupants is more severe
speed limits are the following:
1. Road characteristics, shoulder condition, grade,
alignment, and sight distance;
2. The pace speed;
3. Roadside development and environment;
4. Parking practices and pedestrian activity; and
5. Reported crash experience for at least a 12-
month period.

Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

Speed Limits Speed Limits
Allowable speeds for different environments:
High risk pedestrian areas: 40 kph [where there
1. Open country roads is significant presence of vulnerable road users]
not closely bordered by habitation: passenger
cars and motorcycles 80 kph, trucks and Low risk pedestrian areas: 60 kph [where there
buses 50 kph; are not so many pedestrians, and in built-up
2. clear of areas]
passenger
cars and motorcycles 40 kph, trucks and - 80 kph for high standard duplicate
buses 30 kph; carriageway roads with only occasional access
3. City and municipal streets not designated as from adjoining properties
through streets: 30 kph; - 100 kph for very high standard expressways
4. with low crash rates; high standard geometry and
dangerous circumstances: 20 kph. free from hazards
Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria
B. Superelevation
Risk of pedestrian fatality banking or tilting of the roadway cross section

100

85

25

0
0 40 50 60

Impact Speed (km/h)

Forces acting on a vehicle negotiating a curve

Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

Methods of attaining superelevation:

a) Pavement revolved about the centerline
b) Pavement revolved about the inner edge of pavement
c) Pavement revolved about the outer edge of pavement Pavement revolved about the centerline
Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

Superelevation rates in the Philippines

e = 4% - 6% : common practice where

traffic congestion or extensive marginal
development is present

10% : common rate where snow and ice

are not prevalent

Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

C. Minimum radius of curvature

Wv2/gR

F = fN = fWcos

W
F 0 (along F ) v2
Rmin
W sin F
Wv 2
cos 127(e f )
gR
Wv 2
W sin fW cos cos Where:
gR
2 v = design speed in kph;
v
tan f e f e = superelevation; and
gR f = side friction
Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria
D. Sight Distance Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)
-is the shortest distance required for a vehicle
SIGHT DISTANCE IS DISCUSSED IN FOUR traveling at an assumed design speed to stop safely
IMPORTANT CASES: before reaching a stationary object in its path.

1. The distances required by motor vehicles to vt v2

SSD
stop; 3.6 2 g (3.6 2 )( f G)
2. The distances required for passing and
overtaking vehicles, applicable on two lane Where: v = running speed (kph)
t = reaction time = 2.5 seconds
highways; g = gravitational constant = 9.81 m/s2
3. The distances needed at complex locations; and f = coefficient of friction = {0.29 to 0.40}
4. The criteria for measuring the distances for use G = gradient
in design. First term: distance traversed during perception plus brake reaction time
Second term: distance required for stopping after the brakes are applied
(braking distance)

Illustrative Example
Transportation Engineering, An Introduction, 2nd ed., 1990, Khisty
and Lall, p. 181

An alert driver (with a reaction time of 0.5

second) is driving downhill on a 4% grade at
55 kph on a dry pavement (f=0.7) when
suddenly a person steps from behind a
parked car in the path of the driver, at a
distance of 30 m.
(a) can the driver stop in time?
(b) can the driver stop in time on a rainy
day (f=0.4)?
SSD Design Controls and Criteria
Passing Sight Distance (PSD)

is the shortest distance required for a vehicle to

Source: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO), 1984
*Note: SSD values in brackets come from DPWH Design Manual 2004
SSD is normally computed for wet pavement condition.
Running speed is taken as 85% of design speed for
design speeds >= 80 kph
Running speed is taken as100% of design speed for
design speeds <=30kph
safely pull out of a traffic lane, pass a vehicle
traveling in the same direction, and return to the
correct lane without interfering either with the
overtaken vehicle or opposing traffic.
Along curves, this is the length of the road that must
visibly be free of obstructions in order to permit a
vehicle moving at the design speed to pass a slower
moving vehicle.
PSD is determined on the basis that a driver wishes
to pass a single vehicle, although multiple passings
are permissible

Design Controls and Criteria Design Controls and Criteria

The following assumptions for PSD are made based on

observed traffic behavior:
1) The overtaken vehicle travels at a uniform speed
2) The passing vehicle trails the overtaken vehicle as it
enters a passing section
3) The driver requires a short period of time to perceive
whether a clear passing section is available and to
start maneuvering
4) The passing vehicle accelerates during the maneuver,
during the occupancy of the left lane, at about 16
kph higher than the overtaken vehicle.
5) There is a suitable clearance length between the
passing vehicle and the oncoming vehicle

Illustration of PSD component distances

 PSD

Design Controls and Criteria SSD vs. DSD

Decision Sight Distance (DSD)
used when information is difficult to perceive
when the driver is required to detect an
unexpected or otherwise difficult to perceive
information source (e.g., interchanges,
intersections, changes in cross section, areas with

Reaction time = 2.5 sec

= 1.5 sec (perception time) + 1.0 sec (action time)

Premaneuver Time
time required for a driver to process information relative to a
hazard
-Consists of :
1) Time to detect and recognize the hazard
2) Time to decide on proper maneuvers and initiate required action
DSD (AASHTO)

Ensuring Adequate Sight Distance

along the full length of a road for vehicles to

be able to stop (or overtake) safely.

particularly important for 2-lane highways)

of the time

minutes of travel (or ratio of PSD for whole

stretch is at least 30%)