Consistency

is the most important single rule in highway design. That is, by making every element of the roadway
conforms to the expectation of every driver.
Drivers expect the highway agency to provide them with:
1. Clear information and guidance through a variety of road signs.
2. Avoiding abrupt changes in the traffic as well as the road standards.
The Design Speed
Design speed is the target speed at which drivers are intended to travel on a street, and not, as often
misused, the maximum operating speed.
According to AASHTO, Design speed is the maximum safe speed that can be maintained over a specified
section of the highway when conditions are so favorable that the design features of the highway govern.
Design speed is a selected speed used to determine the various geometric features of the roadway.
The assumed design speed should be a logical one with respect
to the topography, anticipated operating speed, the adjacent land use, and the functional classification of the
highway.

• Factors affecting the design speed:

o Type of road
o Importance of road
o Surface characteristics of road
o Type of intensity of traffic
o Road geometric and topography of the area
o Weather conditions ( wind speed, rainfall)
o Sight distance

Definition of Terms
• Highway Capacity is defined as the maximum number of vehicles that are reasonably expected to pass a given
point over a given period of time usually expressed as vehicles per hour.
1. Under ideal conditions, one freeway lane can accommodate about 2,000 passenger cars per hour.
2. Two-lane road capacity can carry up to 1,000 passenger cars per hour in each direction.
However, based on several surveys conducted in Metro Manila for various infrastructure projects, it was found out
that the maximum volume is achieve on at a level of 1,400 vph on expressways and 1,100 for urban arterials.

The Design Speed

There is an obvious relationship between vehicle speed and highway capacity. As the volume of traffic
approaches capacity, the average speed is markedly reduced.
AADT or ADT refers to traffic volume or flow on a highway as measured by the number of vehicles passing a
partial station during a given interval of time. It is called Average Annual Daily Traffic if the period is less than
one year. Volume may be stated on hourly “Observed Traffic Volume” or estimated 30th hour volume
commonly used for design purposes.
In the Philippines rail transportation is currently used mostly to transport passengers in Metro Manila. The
operating speed of Philippine National Railways is 20 to 40 kph.

Road Shoulders
•is a reserved area by the verge of a road or motorway. It is kept clear of motor vehicle traffic. AASHTO requires that
its usable pavement width shall be strong enough to support vehicles.
✓Shoulder widths typically vary from as little as 0.6 m on minor rural roads, where there is no surfacing, to about 3.6
m on major highways, where the entire shoulder may be stabilized or paved.

Importance of Road shoulders

1. It serves as a place for vehicles to stop when disabled or for some other purposes. It reduces road accidents
2. The road capacity is decreased and accident opportunity increases if the shoulder is too narrow or omitted in the
design.
3. Shoulder should be continuous along the full length of the roadway. It also adds structural strength to the road
pavement.
4. Shoulder increases the horizontal sight distance on curves. It reduces accident potential when vehicle stop during
emergencies.

Cut or Fill Slope

• The lateral slopes of a highway geometry are sometimes called “fills or cuts”, where these techniques have been
used to create them known as excavation and embankment.
It’s a process procedure at construction sites to level slopes and create cuttings, canals, and embankments by
removing large masses of dirt and stone from one point and using it as a fill in another.
o Cut: earth that is removed from an area is considered cut or excavated earth
•Cut sections of roadway or rail are characterized by the roadway being lower in elevation than the surrounding
terrain.
o Fill: earth that is brought into an area is considered fill or embankment earth
•Fill sections manifest as elevated of roadway or track bed.
•This process is usually accomplished with earth moving equipment. Bulldozers and excavators remove land from
cut locations and transfer it to dump trucks. The filled earth is then compacted with a roll-style or plate compactor.
•Unique environmental effects associated with cut sections of roadway.
Air pollutants can concentrate in the valleys created by the cut section.
The cut material is often used to cover rocks and tree stumps along the route and to stabilize the slope above the
track or road.
Reason for creating fills
•Reduction of grade along a route or elevation of the route above water swampy ground, or areas where snow drifts
frequently collect and used to cover tree stumps, rocks, or unstable soil, in which case material with a higher bearing
capacity is placed on top of the obstacle in order to carry weight of the roadway or railway.
• Project planners use detailed and intelligent cut and fill maps to avoid such problems, providing exhaustive plans to
help guide excavation teams to the most efficient use of mass and labor. Designers create drawings called cut and fill
diagrams. These diagrams illustrate all the areas where cut or fill are required.

Number of Lanes
• A lane is part of a carriageway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers
and reduce traffic conflicts.
• Most public roads have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by lane markings.
• The number of lanes in a segment of the highway is determined from the estimated traffic volume for the design
year (AADT) and highway lane capacity at expected level of service. AASHTO policies accept a dually divided 16
lanes roadway with four lanes in each direction for an inner freeway and four more lanes in each direction on the
outside.
• Design standards also help to determine the actual alignment of the road by specifying for each design speed, the
minimum radius of horizontal curves, the maximum vertical gradient, the clearance under bridges, and the distance a
driver must be able to see the pavement ahead in order to stop or turn aside.
Types of Lanes
Traffic lane or travel lane
Through lane
Express lane
Dedicated lane

Highway Median
• Median- This provides between two sets of traffic lanes intended to divide the traffic moving in opposite directions.
Medians maybe depressed, raised or flush with the road surface. They are required on the following streets and
highways:
o Freeways
o All streets and highways, rural and urban with design speed of 40 mph or greater.
The nature and degree of median separation required is dependent upon the design speed, traffic volume, adjacent
land use and frequency of access.
Types of Road Median
Traversable – Median that by its design does not physically discourage or prevent vehicles from entering upon or
crossing over it. Such medians include painted medians and continuous two-way-left-turn lanes.
Non-Traversable Median – A physical barrier in the roadway that
separates traffic traveling in opposite directions, such as a concrete barrier or a landscaped island. These are
recommended for all new or reconstructed multi-lane highways.
Types of Roadway Median Openings
•No median opening •Median crossover without left turn bay
•Median crossover with a left turn bay •Directional median opening crossover
•Two-way left turn lane
Median Width
The general range of median widths is from a minimum 6 ft, to a desirable dimension 84 ft or more on freeways
and rural areas.
Desirable and minimum median width without a barrier:
•For urban land service highways should be 32 feet to accommodate future widening and 16 feet where no future
widening is anticipated.
•For rural land service highways should be 46 feet (accommodate future 12-foot lane and 5 foot wide shoulder with a
12 foot grass median); and 36 feet (accommodate 12 foot lane and 5 foot shoulder with a 2 foot median concrete
barrier curb), respectively grass median may have sloping curb on both sides.

Median Slope – The median cross slope should not be steeper than 1:6 (preferably not steeper than 1:10)
-Longitudinal slope (median profile parallel to the roadway) should be shallow and gently rounded at intersections of
grade. The longitudinal slope, relative to the roadway slope, shall not exceed a ratio of 1:10 and preferably 1:20
-The change in longitudinal slope shall not exceed 1:8 (change in grade of 12.5%).
Effective means of reducing headlight glares, conflicts and accident between opposing streams of traffic
Median offer refuge between opposing traffic stream of cross traffic and pedestrians could traverse each stream
at separate maneuvers.
Provides available space for left turns.
Making smooth and safe turning operation because it clears the through lanes and increase road capacity.

Right of Way
• A right of way is a right to make a way over a piece of land,
usually to and from another piece of land.
• A right of way is a type of easement granted or reserved over the
land for transportation purposes, such as highway, public footpath, rail transport, canal, as well as electrical
transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines.
RoW is the area of the road acquired for carriages way + other necessities + future extension, along its alignment.

1. Interstate, Freeway and Expressway Projects generally have fully controlled access. The RoW should contain the
cross-section and allow from 10’ to 25’ beyond the construction limits. Construction limits are to include slope as
well as lateral ditches, erosion control devices, retaining walls etc.
• A typical RoW width for a 4-lane section of this type of roadway would be from 250’-300’for rural projects and
150’ to 200’ for
urban projects.
2. Rural Arterial and Collector Projects can be controlled access, partial control of access, or no control of access.
RoW should be established from 5’ to 15’ beyond the construction limits.
• A typical RoW width for a 2-lane arterial or collector would be from 100’ to 150’
• For a 4-lane section of roadway, a width of 150’-250’
3.Urban Arterial Projects may contain the cross-section within the proposed right of way or utilize a combination of
right way and easements. Set right of way or easements a minimum distance of5’ to 15’ beyond the construction
limits.
Without Curb and Gutter
• Cut: set right of way at least 5’ outside the ditch bottom.
• Fill: set right of way a minimum of 10’ outside the shoulder break
With Curb and Gutter
Cut and Fill: Right of way needs to contain the berm plus a buffer Area.
A typical right of way width for an urban arterial is between 100’ to 150’ with or without curb and gutter.

Sight Distance
• It is the length of roadway visible to a driver
• A driver’s ability to see ahead is of critical importance to safe and efficient operation.

The safe operation of all highway facilities, including intersections, requires the consideration of three primary
elements for safe roadway operations:
- the driver
- the vehicle
- the roadway
An understanding and consideration of each of these elements is necessary to define appropriate sight distance
criteria.
Human factors associated with the driver’s performance must take account of both physical abilities and
psychological influences.
The size, weight and braking ability of vehicles are of particular importance for the safe operation and stopping of
vehicles.
The roadway geometric design features, obstacles to sight at the roadsides, pavement surface condition, and
climatic conditions impact the safety on the roadway and sight distance requirements.
Each of these elements and their interactions govern the development and specifications of sight distance criteria
standards.
Stopping Sight Distance as a Design Measure and Access Management Measure
SSD is required at all locations along the highway, to see an object in the roadway with enough distance to stop.
The SSD is typically required through all intersections that are not “stop” or “yield” controlled. It is required at all
pedestrian crossings.
For access management, SSD should logically be required at driveway approaches for vehicle entering, at height
of headlight, or leaving, at the height of tail light. SSD has also been used as a criterion for safe driveway spacing on
major arterials.
To allow drivers to perceive, react, and safely stop, a minimum SSD must be available.
SSD is defined as the sum of two distances (AASHTO):
– how far your car travels in the time it takes the driver to react to a hazard and step on the brake.
- how far your car travels from the time the brakes are applied until it comes to a complete stop.
The determination of SSD requires the definition and consideration of seven design variables:
Primary SSD Factors:
Perception-reaction time Driver’s eye height
Vehicle operating speed Pavement coefficient friction
Deleration rates Roadway grade

Perception-Reaction Time - The perception reaction time for a driver often has four components.
• Perception – the time to see or discern an object or event
• Intellection – the time to understand the implications of the object’s presence or event.
• Emotion – the time to decide how to react
• Volition – the time to initiate the action, for example, the time to engage the brakes.
Current Design Perception-Reaction Time:
• Design – 2.5 s.. • Operations/control – 1 s

Driver’s eye height

AASHTO 2004 and 2011 are:
• Automobiles – 3.5 ft (1080 mm) • Trucks – 7.6 ft (2330 mm)
A moderate change in driver’s eye height results in a small change in SSD and in the required length of vertical
curves.
Driver’s eye height for trucks is not normally of concern because they are significantly higher than passenger
cars. The higher height of eye for trucks is assumed to compensate for their longer SSD.
However, truck eye height may be an issue where SSD is controlled by horizontal alignment, such as cut slopes, or
other vertical sight obstructions, such as hedge, overhanging limbs or signs.

Vehicle speed
• Design speed should be used to determine sight distance criteria
• Small variations in speed result in very large differences in SSD, since SSD varies at the square of velocity. Decision
sight distance varies linearly with the speed.

Pavement Coefficient of Friction and Deceleration

•The frictional resistance of pavements varies with tire characteristics (tire pressure, load, temperature, tread pattern,
tire wear, etc.)
•Pavement conditions (roughness, wear, aggregate type, etc.) and the presence of water.
Current 2011 Standard Stopping Based on Deceleration- Current AASHTO design deceleration: AASHTO(2001)-11.2
ft/sec² (3.4 m/ sec²)

Passing Sight Distance

• Minimum sight distance required on a two-lane, two-way highway that will permit a driver to complete a passing
maneuver without colliding with an opposing vehicle and without cutting off the passed vehicle.

Design criteria
• Passing sight distance for use in design should be determined on the basis of the length needed to safely complete
the normal passing maneuvers. While there may be occasions to consider multiple passing, where two or more
vehicles pass or are passed, it is not practical to assume such conditions in developing minimum criteria.
• Instead, sight distance is determined for a single vehicle passing a single vehicle. Longer sight distances occur in
design and these locations can accommodate occasional multiple passing.

Factors affect PSD

•Velocities of the passing vehicle, passed vehicle and of the vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
•Spacing between vehicles, which in turn depends on the speed.
•Skill and reaction time of the driver
•Gradient of the road