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Homework No. 1

This document contains 10 homework problems related to transportation engineering. The problems cover topics like highway and road design, including horizontal curve design, sight distance, speed limits, and crash rates. Solutions to the problems are required.

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Belal AL Qaisi
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403 views3 pages

Homework No. 1

This document contains 10 homework problems related to transportation engineering. The problems cover topics like highway and road design, including horizontal curve design, sight distance, speed limits, and crash rates. Solutions to the problems are required.

Uploaded by

Belal AL Qaisi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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0504343: TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

HOMEWORK # 1
Due: Sunday, March 15th, 2020

Answer the following problems:

(For problem 1,2,3 & 4 use table 3.3 below to estimate the coefficient of side friction)

Problem # 1
The design speed of a multilane highway is 60 mi/hr. What is the minimum stopping sight
distance that should be provided on the road if (a) the road is level and (b) the road has a
maximum grade of 4% (Do for downgrade and upgrade)? Assume the perception-reaction
time = 2.5 sec.

Problem # 2
A horizontal curve is to be designed for a section of a highway having a design speed of 60
mi/hr. (Use table 3.3 to find coefficient of side friction)
a) If the physical conditions restrict the radius of the curve to 500 ft, what value is
required for the superelevation at this curve?
b) Is this a good design?

Problem # 3
Determine the minimum radius of a horizontal curve required for a highway if the design
speed is 70 mi/hr and the superelevation rate is 0.08.
(Use table 3.3 to find coefficient of side friction)

Problem # 4
The existing posted speed limit on a section of highway is 55 mph and studies have shown
that that the current 85th percentile speed is 65 mph. If the posted speed limit is to be
increased to the current 85th percentile speed, what should be the increase in the radius of a
curve that is just adequate for the existing posted speed limit? Assume a superelevation rate
of 0.08 for the existing curve and for the redesigned curve.

© Fadi Alhomaidat Spring 2020


Problem # 5
A temporary diversion has been constructed on a highway of +4% gradient due to major
repairs that are being undertaken on a bridge. The maximum speed allowed on the diversion
is 10 mi/hr. Determine the minimum distance from the diversion that a road sign should be
located informing drivers of the temporary change on the highway.
Maximum allowable speed on highway = 70 mi/hr
Letter height of road sign = 4”
Perception-reaction time = 2.5 sec

Assume that a driver can read a road sign within his or her area of vision at a distance of
40 ft for each inch of letter height.

Problem # 6
Speed data collected on an urban roadway yielded a standard deviation in speeds of ±4.8
mi/hr.
(a) If an engineer wishes to estimate the average speed on the roadway at a 95%
confidence level so that the estimate is within ±2 mi/hr of the true average, how many
spot speeds should be collected?
(b) If the estimate of the average must be within ±1 mi/hr, what should the sample size
be?

Problem # 7
An engineer wishing to obtain the speed characteristics on a bypass around her city at a
confidence level of 95%, and an acceptable limit of ± 1.0 mi/hr collected a total of 130
spot speed samples and determined that the variance is 25 (mi/hr)2. Has the engineer met
all of the requirements of the study?

Problem # 8
An engineer wishing to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference
between the average speed of passenger cars and that of large trucks on a section of highway,
collected the data shown below. Determine whether the engineer can conclude that the
average speed of large trucks is the same as for passenger cars.

© Fadi Alhomaidat Spring 2020


Problem # 9
A local jurisdiction has determined that for a given set of geometric conditions, a
maximum rate of 8 crashes/million entering vehicles can be tolerated. At an intersection
of two roadways with average daily traffic (ADTs) of 10,000 and 7500, how many
crashes can occur before corrective action must be sought?

Problem # 10
Studies were conducted at two sites on rural roads with similar characteristics. The first
site was 5.1 miles in length with an ADT of 6500. Over the year-long study period, 28
crashes occurred on this portion of roadway, five of them resulting in fatalities. The
second site was a 10-mile section with an ADT of 5000. There were 32 crashes in this
section with four fatalities. Determine the appropriate crash rates for both locations, and
discuss the implications (i.e., which site is more dangerous?).

© Fadi Alhomaidat Spring 2020

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