Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Developing a transportation facility is a mixture of technical, legal, and political elements. Some facilities such as Airports may take more than 10 years from the inception to the completion of the facility, but a few others (eg. Bypass road) might take less than a year. Broadly the process of designing a transportation facility can be divided into planning, traffic design, location, physical design. Some of these phases need to repeat many times during the process. These steps are followed with the construction phase. Specific tasks involved in the design process are listed below. Figure 3.1 (handout) shows many steps are iterative. 1. Deciding the type of facility: what facility or facilities are needed? For example, should we go for metro, bus rapid transit system (BRTS), monorail? 2. Demand analysis: predict the traffic demand (no. of persons, number of vehicles, or amount of freight) for the facility. Steps 1 and 2 are interdependent. 3. Traffic performance analysis: After finalizing the type of facility, the anticipated traffic demand with respect various features of the facility is analyzed. This step includes finding capacities and evaluating the performance of the system. For examples, how much aircraft traffic will be handled by one run way, two runways, etc and under what level of service. 4. Size of the facility: Based on the analysis in the step 3 (Traffic performance analysis) the size of the facility is finalized. For example, deciding the number of runways, number of lanes, or number of railway tracks.
5. Location of the facility: Involves studying various alternatives and selecting the best alternative. 6. Configuration and/or orientation of the facility: deciding the direction of runways, selecting the highway interchange type 7. Physical design standards: Various design standards are available. This is a policy matter for the organization designing the system. 8. Geometric design: Developing horizontal alignment and vertical alignment 9. Design auxiliary systems: designing drainage, lighting, traffic control etc. 10. Design surface or guideway: design of pavement or design of track 11. Estimate construction cost: detailed cost estimate is necessary before the bid process begin. 12. Analyze project impacts: study environmental impacts, social impacts of the facility 13. Evaluate design: designing a facility is an iterative process and needs evaluation at various stages for different criteria such as physical feasibility; economy; and social, environmental, economic impacts.
Classification of Urban Roads i) ii) iii) iv) Arterial roads Sub-arterial roads Collector streets : Collects and distribute traffic from and to local streets Local Streets :
Highway Alignment
Fixing centre line of a highway proposed between two points
Requirements:
Short: o as straight as possible Easy: o Easy to construct and maintain o Easy to travel Safe: o Safe for construction and maintenance o Safe geometric features Economical: o Construction cost, maintenance cost, and vehicle operating cost should be minimum
o The final alignment should be economical with respect to construction, maintenance, and vehicle operating costs e) Other consideration: o Drainage consideration o Hydrological consideration o Political factors o Monotony
Railway Alignment
Requirements
New alignment should serve the purpose for which the railway line is being planned The alignment should be economical It should be as short as possible The alignment should result in the minimum construction, maintenance, and operating costs It should provide maximum safety during and after construction The alignment should able to provide visually pleasant journey
o Sites for tunnels The points through which the alignment should not pass include religious and historical monuments. Topography of the region Geometric standards: requirements of geometric standards such as gradient, curve radius for the safe and comfortable journey Geological formation: The alignment should pass through a good and stable soil formation Effect of flood and climate: The alignment should pass through areas which are not likely to get flooded. Proximity to labour and material: This will reduce the construction cost Location of Railway stations and yards: these should be located on level stretches Cost: The alignment should result in minimum construction, maintenance, and operating costs Traffic demand: The alignment should able to attract maximum demand. Economic consideration: The alignment should be economically feasible. Political consideration: The alignment should not pass through foreign soil or controversial border areas.
o Aircrafts enough airspace for maneuvering during congested period and during poor visibility 6) Surrounding Obstructions o High rise structures not allowed in the airport surrounding 7) Cost of Construction o If other conditions are satisfied, a site with the minimum construction cost is selected 8) Availability of Utilities o Water, fuel, electricity, etc should be available easily 9) Closeness to the demand served o Airport should be as close as possible to the point of demand 10) Landuse planning o A site selected should be in accordance with the land-use planning for a city or a region 11) Environmental impact assessment o Effect on air quality, noise level, ecological process, and demographic development should be minimum 12) Economic and financial feasibility o Airport should generate enough revenue to cover all costs and preferably make some profit