Al-Muthanna University Dr.

Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

Lecture 1

Highway Engineering
References:

 Traffic and Highway Engineering, By Nicholas Garber (4th Edition 2010).

 Principles and Practices of Highway Engineering, By L. R. Kadiyali (4th Edition
2008).
 Principles of Pavement Engineering, By Nicholas Thom (2nd Edition 2014).
 Deterioration and Maintenance of Pavements, By Derek Pearson (1st Edition 2013).
 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO),
(2003).
 Highways, The Location, Design, Construction and Maintenance of Road Pavements. By
Coleman O’Flaherty (4th Edition 2009).
 Highway Engineering, By Rogers M., (2008), 2nd Edition, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
 Principles of pavement design, By Yoder, E. and Witczak. M., 1975, 2nd edition, New
York :John Wiley and Sons ,Inc.

Course Description:
Highway engineering subject is a two-course sequence that covers the fundamental elements
of highway engineering. Highway engineering is the application of technological and
scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of
highway network in order to provide for the safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical,
and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods. Also, the course includes
the geometric design, cross section elements, earthwork, paving material properties, structural
design of flexible and rigid pavements and maintenance program that can be adopted on
highway system.

Course Objectives:
The objectives of these courses are to introduce highway engineering principles to civil
engineering undergraduate students and to familiarize the students with highway engineering
subject and concepts commonly encountered in engineering practice.

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 1

Al-Muthanna University Dr. Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

Requirement: Traffic Engineering

Course Type (Required, Elective, or Selective Elective): Required

Course Outcomes:
By the end of this section, student will be able to:
1. Determine the best location and route of a highway.
2. Understand the cross section elements of various highway classes.
3. Calculate the earthwork volumes of cut and fill along the highway profile.
4. Understand and design the horizontal and vertical alignment of highway.
5. Understand subgrade and subbase course properties.
6. Classify soil using standard classification schemes;
7. Understand the concept of surface and subsurface drainage;
8. Identify asphalt cement and aggregate properties;
9. Design hot asphalt mixture;
10. Design the structural layers of flexible pavement;
11. Design rigid pavement thickness and joint types.
12. Identify pavement distress and recommend maintenance program.

Grading:
Homework and quizzes:
Monthly examination:
Laboratory tests:
Laboratory report:
Final Exam: (comprehensive)

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 2

Al-Muthanna University Dr. Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

1. Highways History; Highway Location and economic; Highway surveying

1.1 Road Construction Development:

 In its most general sense, a road is an open, generally public way for the passage of
vehicles, people, and animals.
 Covering these roads with a hard smooth surface (pavement) helped make them durable
and able to withstand traffic and the environment. Some of the oldest paved roads still in
existence were built by the Roman Empire.
 By in large, Roman roads (see Figure) were constructed during the Republican times –
the oldest road dates back to 312 BC.
 The Roman road network consisted of over 100,000 km (62,000 miles) of roads.
 The superior quality and structure of its pavements have allowed many Roman roads to
survive to this day.

Historically, the Babylonians built the earliest roads using natural asphalt as a binder; also the
Egyptians constructed roads to transport stones during the building of the pyramids (Watson,
1994). The Chinese built the Silk Route, which is amongst the best known roads, in about
2600 BC; and the Persian Empire also benefited from this route through its lands for trade
between China and Europe (Kendrick et al., 2004). In Europe, in about 2500 BC, roads were
built using log-rafts; such roads have been discovered in Britain. Also, similar roads have
been discovered in the Swiss Lakeside Villages and across the Pangola Swamps in Hungary
(Kendrick et al., 2004). In Indian civilization, brick paving with proper piped surface water
drainage systems dating from about 3000 BC has been discovered.

Figure (1-1) Roman Road Structure (All dimensions in mm)

The first insight into today's modern pavements can be seen in the pavements of Thomas
Telford (born 1757). Teleford served his training as a building mason (Smiles, 1904) and
extended his masonry knowledge to bridge building. During lean times, he carved grave-

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 3

Al-Muthanna University Dr. Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

stones and other ornamental work (about 1780). Eventually, Telford became the "Surveyor of
Public Works" for the county of Salop, thus turning his attention more to roads. Telford
attempted, where possible, to build roads on relatively flat grades (no more than a 1 in 30
slope) in order to reduce the number of horses needed to haul cargo.

Telford's pavement section was about 350 to 450 mm (14 to 18 inches) in depth and generally
specified three layers. The bottom layer was comprised of large stones 100 mm (4 inches)
wide and 75 to 180 mm (3 to 7 inches) in depth. It is this specific layer which makes the
Telford design unique. On top of this were placed two layers of stones of 65 mm (2.5 inches)
maximum size (about 150 to 250 mm (6 to 9 inches) total thickness) followed by a wearing
course of gravel about 40 mm (1.6 inches) thick (see Figure). It was estimated that this
system would support a load corresponding to about 88 N/mm (500 lb per in. of width).

1.2 John MacAdam

 Macadam pavements introduced the use of angular aggregates. John MacAdam (born
1756 and sometimes spelled "Macadam") observed that most of the paved U.K. roads in
early the 1800s were composed of rounded gravel.
 He knew that angular aggregate over a well-compacted subgrade would perform
substantially better. He used a sloped subgrade surface to improve drainage (unlike
Telford who used a flat subgrade surface) on which he placed angular aggregate (hand-
broken with a maximum size of 75 mm (3 inches)) in two layers for a total depth of
about 200 mm (8 inches) (Gillette, 1906).
 On top of this, the wearing course was placed (about 50 mm thick with a maximum
aggregate size of 25 mm). Macadam's reason for the 25 mm (1 inch) maximum aggregate
size was to provide a "smooth" ride for wagon wheels.

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 4

Al-Muthanna University Dr. Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

Telford’s method Macadam’s method

Figure (1-2) Telford’s and Macadam’s road structures

Road development was negatively affected after the first operation of the railways in 1825, as
the numbers of passengers who were using stagecoaches started to decrease continually;
consequently the turnpike revenues decreased. However, at the beginning of the 20th century,
and especially after the end of World War One, attention to the development of roads and
highways was renewed; this interest in road development resulted from the development in
motor vehicles. The development started with the spreading of tar on roads to control dust
created by vehicles’ movement and then to reconstructing existing roads.
However, the development in vehicles in terms of extra weight and speed has led to the need
for new roads and highways; as a result, for example, dual carriageway roads were
constructed and road geometric designs were advanced. Also, vehicle development put a
huge stress on pavement constructors to build structures that could resist high stresses and
bad weather conditions. Accordingly, construction techniques were advanced; more structural
layers were built; and the structural layers and subgrade were compacted using different
materials to improve their mechanical properties. During the 20th century significant
developments in road and highway construction were achieved to satisfy the traffic
requirements. Today, roads and highways represent a great achievement, but of course the
development will not stop and continued developments are still in demand.

The first research dedicated to highway engineering was initiated in the United Kingdom
with the introduction of the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), in 1930. In the USA,
highway engineering became an important discipline with the passing of the Federal-Aid

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 5

Al-Muthanna University Dr. Hayder Shanbara
College of Engineering 4 th Year Stage
Department of Civil Engineering Subject: Transportation

Highway Act of 1944, which aimed to connect 90% of cities with a population of 50,000 or
more. With constant stress from vehicles which rose larger as time passed, improvements to
pavements were needed. With technology out of date, in 1958 the construction of the first
motorway in Great Britain played a major role in the development of new pavement
technology.

Design policies standards used in the United States are typically based on publications of the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials as well as research
circulated by the Transportation Research Board, the Institute of Transportation Engineers,
the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Transportation.

In Iraq total length of highway network is 45,550 km, paved: 38,400 km and unpaved: 7,150
km. The highways are geometrical designed by [State Commission of Roads and Bridges
(SCRB), (2005), Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Housing and Construction, Department of
Planning and Studies, Baghdad].

The pavement structure is designed by AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures in
1993, and The material quality and test results are compared with State Commission of Roads
and Bridges (SCRB), (2007), "General Specification for Roads and Bridges", Republic of
Iraq, Ministry of Housing and Construction, Department of Planning and Studies, Baghdad.

Academic Year 2019-2020 / 1st Semester (Lecture 1) 6