Transportation -II

Lecture 2

By
Engr. Muhammad Waseem
Lecturer Department of Civil Engineering
UET, Jalozai

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 Design Control and Criteria
 Selection of the appropriate set of geometric design standards is
the first step in the design of any highway

 This is essential because no single set of geometric standards can

be used for all highways

 For example, geometric standards that may be suitable for a

mountain road with low average daily traffic (ADT) are
inadequate for a freeway carrying heavy traffic

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 Design Control and Criteria
1. Design vehicle

2. Vehicle performance and human factors

3. Traffic characteristics

 Design speed

 Design hourly volume

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 Design Vehicle
 A design vehicle is selected to represent all vehicles on the
highway.

 For purposes of geometric design, each design vehicle has larger

physical dimensions and a larger minimum turning radius than
most vehicles in its class

 The vehicle type selected as the design vehicle is the largest that
is likely to use the highway with considerable frequency

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 General Guidelines for Selecting a Design
Vehicle
 When a parking lot or a series of parking lots are the main traffic
generators, the passenger car may be used

 For the design of intersections at local streets and collector roads,

a single-unit truck may be used

 At intersections of city arterials roads that serve buses with

relatively few large trucks, a city transit bus may be used

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 General Guidelines for Selecting a Design
Vehicle
 At intersections of highways and low-volume county highways
either an 84-passenger large school bus 40 ft long or a 65-
passenger conventional bus 36 ft long may be used

 At intersections of freeway ramp terminals and arterial

crossroads, and at intersections of state highways and
industrialized streets that carry high volumes of traffic, the
minimum size of the design vehicle should be WB-67

 The selection of either of these will depend on the expected

usage of the facility.
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Passenger cars

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Single Unit vs Combination Trucks

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Design Vehicle Dimensions

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Minimum Turning Radii of Design Vehicles (ft)

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 Vehicle Performance
 Acceleration and deceleration rates of vehicles are often critical
parameters in determining highway design

 These rates often govern the dimensions of such design features:

 Freeway ramps

 Climbing or passing lanes

 Turnout bays for buses

 Acceleration and deceleration lanes

 Highway alignment (adequate passing and stopping sight distance)

 Determine the need for truck climbing lanes (steep grade)

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Vehicle Performance

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 Vehicle Performance

150m

Acceleration of Passenger Cars, Level Conditons

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 Vehicle Performance

110m

Deceleration Distances for Passenger Vehicles Approaching Intersections

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Driver performance and human factors
 Consideration of driver performance is essential to proper
highway design and operation

 The suitability of a design rests as much on how effectively

drivers are able to use the highway

 When drivers use a highway designed to be compatible with their

capabilities and limitations, their performance is aided

 When a design is incompatible with the capabilities of drivers, the

chance for driver errors increase, and crashes or inefficient
operation may result
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Driver performance and human factors
 Older Drivers
 Older road users deserve mobility and they should be accommodated in
the design of highway facilities to the extent practical

 Older drivers have special needs that should be considered in highway

design and traffic control

 For example, for every decade after age 25, drivers need twice the
brightness at night to receive visual information

 Hence, by age 75, some drivers may need 32 times the brightness they
did at age 25

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Driver performance and human factors
 Characteristics of the Older Driver (compared to younger drivers)
 Slower information processing
 Slower reaction times
 Slower decision making
 Visual deterioration
 Hearing deterioration
 Decline in ability to judge time, speed, and distance
 Limited depth perception
 Limited physical mobility
 Side effects from medication

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 The Information System
 Each element that provides information to drivers is part of the
information system of the highway

 Formal sources of information: are the traffic control devices

specially designed to display information to drivers.

 Informal sources of information: include such elements as

roadway and roadside design features, pavement joints, tree lines,
and traffic

 Together, the formal and informal sources provide the information

drivers need to drive effectively
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 The Information System
 Traffic control devices: media by which traffic engineers
communicate with drivers
 Traffic control devices provide guidance and navigation information that
often is not otherwise available or apparent
 Virtually every traffic law, regulation, or operation instruction must be
communicated through the use of devices that fall into three broad
categories:
 Traffic signs
 Traffic markings
 Traffic signals

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 Information Handling
 Needed information should be in the driver’s field of view,
available when and where needed, available in a usable form, and
capable of capturing the driver’s attention
 Reaction Time
 Drivers’ reaction times increase as a function of decision
complexity and the amount of information to be processed.
 Longer the reaction time, the greater the chance for error
 For simple, unexpected decision and action, some drivers may
take as long as 2.5 s to respond.

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Information Handling

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Information Handling

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 Traffic characteristics-Volume
 The design of a highway and its features should explicitly
consider traffic volumes and traffic characteristics

 However, traffic volumes can indicate the need for the

improvement and directly influence the selection of
geometric design features, such as number of lanes, widths,
alignments, and grades

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 Traffic characteristics-Volume
 Traffic Volume: Number of vehicles passing a point on a highway during a
specified time interval. Units: Simply vehicles or vehicles per unit time
(veh/day; veh/hr)
 Average annual daily traffic (AADT): The average 24-hour volume at a given
location over a full 365-day year (366 days in leap year).
 Average daily traffic (ADT): The average 24-hour volume at a given location
over a defined time period less than one year; a common application is to
measure an ADT for each month of the year
OR
 The ADT is defined as the total volume during a given time period (in whole
days), greater than one day and less than one year, divided by the number of
days in that time period

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 Traffic characteristics-Volume
 Peak-Hour Traffic
 The reasonableness of 30 HV as a
design control is indicated by the
changes that result from choosing a
somewhat higher or lower volume
 The curve steepens quickly to the left of
the point showing the 30th highest hour
volume and indicates only a few more
hours with higher volumes
 The curve flattens to the right of the
30th highest hour and indicates many
hours in which the volume is not much
less than the 30 HV
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 Traffic characteristics-Volume
Peak-Hour Traffic
 On rural roads with average
fluctuation in traffic flow, the
30 HV is typically about 15
percent of the ADT
 Typically, 30HV
 15% of AADT in rural areas,
and
 8-12% in urban areas.

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 Traffic characteristics - Volume
 Directional Distribution
 Highways must be designed to adequately serve the peak-hour traffic
volume in the peak direction of flow.
 Total hourly traffic in both directions is used to design two-lane roads
 In the design of highways with more than two lanes and on two-lane
roads where important intersections are encountered or where additional
lanes are to be provided later, knowledge of the hourly traffic volume for
each direction of travel is essential- Directional traffic is used for
multilane roads and streets
 Typically, one direction contributes by 55-70% in total traffic, although
occasionally 80% is observed.

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 Traffic characteristics - Volume
 Directional Distribution - Example

 For example, consider a rural road with a design volume of 4,000

vehicles per hour (vph) for both directions of travel combined

 If during the design hour, the directional distribution is equally

split, or 2,000 vph is one direction, two lanes in each direction
may be adequate

 If 80 percent of the DHV is in one direction, at least three lanes

in each direction would be needed for the 3,200 vph

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 Traffic characteristics - Volume
 Directional Distribution -Directional Design Hourly Volumes
DDHV- ADTs are converted to a peak-hour volume in the peak
direction of flow

 K = proportion of daily traffic occurring during peak hour

 D = proportion of peak hour traffic travelling in peak direction of flow

 For design, the K factor often represents the proportion of ADT occurring
during the 30th peak hour of the year

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 Class Example
 Consider the case of a Urban highway (Radial) that has a 30-
year forecast of AADT of 50,000 veh/day

 Calculate the 30th Design hourly Volume (DHV)

 Calculate the DDHV.

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 Traffic characteristics - Volume
 Composition of Traffic
 Vehicles of different sizes and weights have different operating
characteristics that should be considered in highway design
 Trucks have a greater individual effect on highway traffic operation
than do passenger vehicles
 The effect on traffic operation of one truck is often equivalent to several
passenger cars depending upon the gradient.
 Thus, the larger the proportion of trucks in a traffic stream, the
greater the equivalent traffic demand and the greater the highway
capacity needed
 Traffic composition should be determined by traffic study
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Traffic characteristics - Volume

Type of Vehicle PCU

Car, taxi, pick up 1.0
Cycle, motor cycle 0.5
Bus, truck, 3.0 (4.0 in some cases)
Horse drawn cart 4.0
Bullock cart 6.0
Bullock cart (Large) 8.0

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Traffic characteristics - Volume

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 Traffic characteristics - Volume
 Projection of Future Traffic Demands

 Geometric design of new highways or improvements to existing

highways should not usually be based on current traffic volumes alone,
but should consider future traffic volumes expected to use the facility

 A highway should be designed to accommodate the traffic volume

that is likely to occur within the design life of the facility

 Many highway engineers believe the maximum design period is in the

range of 15 to 24 years. Therefore a period of 20 years is widely used
as a basis for design

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 Traffic characteristics - Speed
 Design speed is a selected speed used to determine the various
geometric design features of the roadway
 In selection of design speed, every effort should be made to attain a
desired combination of safety, mobility, and efficiency within the
constraints of environmental quality, economics, aesthetics, and social or
political impacts
 Once the design speed is selected, all of the pertinent highway features
should be related to it to obtain a balanced design
 Some design features, such as curvature, super elevation, and sight
distance, are directly related to, and vary appreciably with, design
speed

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 Traffic characteristics - Speed
 Design Speed Summary

 Should be consistent with drivers' expectations

 Should fit the traffic habits of nearly all drivers

 Should not change over a substantial length of highway

 Depends on the functional class

 Ranges from 30 km/h to 120 km/h with 10 km/h increment

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