Prepared by: Engr. Jan Nathan A.

Anastacio
▪ The goal in highway design is to
provide safe roads for all users, and not
just those in motor vehicles.
▪ The principle that ‘man is the reference
standard’ implies that roads must be
adapted to the limitations of human
capacity.
▪ This leads to what is called the ‘safe
systems approach’.
▪ The ‘safe systems approach’ encourages:
▪ Simpler, self-explaining roads
▪ Designing roads that encourage / enforce safe speeds
▪ Forgiving roadsides (clear zone provision)
▪ Functionality – developing a hierarchy of mono-functional roads
▪ Homogeneity – avoiding differences in speed, direction of travel, and mass of vehicle
(with segregation of incompatible road users)
▪ Predictability – ensuring that roads are easy to understand and there are not nasty
surprises (as for ‘self-explaining’ roads)
▪ Roadway – the portion of highway,
including shoulders, for
vehicular use
▪ Travelled Way – the portion of
roadway exclusive of
auxiliary lanes, shoulders,
bicycle lanes, parking lanes,
and gutters
▪ Pavement or Surfacing – constructed
all-weather surface of a
highway, including parking
and auxiliary lanes but
excluding shoulders. The
part of roadway having a
constructed surface for the
facilitation of vehicular
traffic.
▪ Shoulder – the portion of roadway
contiguous with the
travelled way for
accommodation of stopped
vehicles, for emergency use,
and for lateral support of
base and surface course
▪ American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) –
formerly AASHO (American Association of State Highway Officials), established as
an association of State Territorial and District of Columbia Highway Department
and the Federal Highway Administration in 1914.
▪ Horizontal Alignment – the position or layout of the highway on the ground which
includes straight and curves paths.
▪ Vertical Alignment – the position or layout of highway on the ground which includes level
and gradients.
▪ Profile – series of elevation along a line
▪ Design life – period assumed in the design for which the infrastructure is required to
perform its function without replacement or major structural repair.
▪ Design speed – the maximum speed that can be maintained over a specified section of
highway when weather and traffic conditions are so favorable that the design
features of the highway govern.
▪ Design volume – number of vehicles which is estimated to pass a road towards the end of
its life. In estimating the design volume, the minimum life is commonly assumed to
be 10 to 15 years for a flexible pavement, and 20 years for a rigid pavement.
▪ Four general classes of design vehicles:
1. Passenger cars
2. Buses
3. Trucks
4. Recreational Vehicles
▪ In the design of any highway facility, the designer should consider the following in
determining the design of radii at intersections and radii of turning roadways:
1. Largest design vehicle that is likely to use that facility with considerable frequency
2. Design vehicle with special characteristics appropriate to a particular location
▪ The design of highway and its features should explicitly cover:
1. Traffic volume
2. Traffic characteristics
▪ Traffic volumes obtained from field studies can:
1. Indicate the need for improvement, and;
2. Directly influence the selection of geometric design features such as:
a. number of lanes
b. lane width
c. alignments
d. grades
▪ Relevant studies:
1. ADT (Average Daily Traffic)
2. Peak hour traffic
3. Directional distribution
4. Composition of traffic
5. Projection of future traffic demands
6. Speed and traffic flow relationships
6.1 Volume flow rate
6.2 Average speed
6.3 Traffic density
▪ Design policies and standards generally represent minimum values.
▪ Higher standards may be used within reasonable economic limits.
▪ To ensure uniform practice, lower design standards may not be used without approval
from the DPWH Office of the Secretary or the Bureau of Design.
▪ The alignment consists of a variety of design elements that combine with the aim of
creating a facility that serves traffic safely and efficiently.
▪ Each element requires due consideration and they all must complement each other to
achieve a consistent, safe, and efficient design.
▪ Horizontal Alignment – a combination of circular curves, transition curves, and tangents
▪ Vertical Alignment – consists of a series of gradients connected by vertical curves. The
topography of land has an influence on alignment, with the three terrain classifications
commonly used internationally being:
a. Level or flat
b. Rolling
c. Mountainous
▪ Highway design involves geometrically combining the elements which establish the road
layout, that is, horizontal and vertical alignment, width of pavement and formation, cross
slopes, etc., to ensure that the finished road will be appropriate component of the traffic
system.
▪ It is necessary that it be constructed to endure or to provide adequate safe passage of
vehicles. To achieve this objective, the design must adopt a certain criteria or standards
for strength and uniformity.
▪ These criteria and standards are subject to modifications since roads are intimately
associated with environmental conditions, vehicles, human factors and economic
considerations which seldom conform to mathematical concepts.
▪ Table 3-1 and Table 3-2 contain the minimum design standards for Philippine highways.
▪ Standard cross-sections are provided in Figure 3-1 to Figure 3-6.
▪ Table 3-3, Table 3-4, and Table 3-5 provide AASHTO minimum recommended widths of
traveled way and shoulders for local rural roads, rural collector roads, and rural arterials.
▪ Expressways should have a minimum of two 3.6m wide through-traffic lanes for each
direction of travel. Paved shoulders should be continuous on both the right and left sides
of all expressway facilities.
▪ The recommended minimum length of tangent between reversed curves should be 50m.
In no case shall the tangent be less than 30m.
▪ The tangent is necessary to effect the transition from superelevation in one direction to
superelevation in the opposite direction.
▪ When a vehicle moves in a circular path, it is forced radially outward by centrifugal force
which is counter-balanced by the vehicle weight component due to the roadway tires and
surfacing.
▪ For a given radius and speed, a set of force must be applied to maintain a circular path
and in road design this force is provided by side friction developed between tire and
pavement and by superelevation.
▪ Superelevation values are now generally computed on the assumption that all centrifugal
force resulting from a speed equal to three-fourths of the design speed will be
counteracted by the effects of superelevation up to a maximum value of 10%.
 0.007859 0.75V 2
▪ For any design speed: e=
R
where: V = design speed in kph
R = radius of curve in meters
e = superelevation in meters per meter
▪ Maximum superelevation shall be 10%.
▪ Due to the fact that on curves, the rear
wheels of motor vehicles do not
ordinarily travel in the same radius as
the front wheels, it is desirable to
widen the roadbed especially along
sharp curves.
▪ Widening should be applied on the
inside edge of pavement only.
▪ On curves designed with spirals,
widening may be placed on the inside
or divided equally between the inside
or outside of the curve.
▪ If a vehicle is running at high speed on
a carefully restricted path made up of
tangents connected by sharp circular
curves, riding is extremely
uncomfortable.
▪ As the car approaches a curve,
superelevation begins and the vehicle
is tilted inward, but the passenger
must remain vertical since there is no
centrifugal force requiring
compensation.
▪ When the vehicle reaches the curve,
full centrifugal force develops at one,
and pulls the rider outward from his
position. This process is repeated in
reverse order as the vehicle leaves the
curve.
▪ When spiral curves are introduced, the
change in radius from infinity on the
tangent to the circular curve is effected
gradually so that centrifugal force also
develops similarly.
▪ Generally, the ‘Euler’ spiral (also called
‘Clothoid’) is used.
▪ Pavement:

- the running surface, excluding shoulders.

- for national roads, all surfaces and
pavements shall have a minimum width
of 6.1m.
▪ Lane width:

- desirable lane width is 3.65m which

allows large vehicles to pass without
either vehicle having to move sideways
toward the edge of the pavement.
- on ground of economy, lane widths as
low as 2.75m may be used in low-
volume rural and residential areas
- pavement with greater than 7.32m for
two directional movement is not
recommended for two-lane roads as some
drivers will attempt to travel three
vehicles abreast on a wide pavement
▪ Shoulder:

- shoulder width commonly varies from

0.6m on minor rural roads to 3.6m on
major roads.
- all shoulders should have a
minimum width of 1.0m, but
preferably should be wider.
- there must be no difference between
the surface of the shoulder and the
surface of the adjoining travel lane
▪ Curb – raised or vertical element that may be
designed as a separate unit or integral
with the pavement.
- sloping curbs with 150mm heights may
be considered for use on urban/suburban
facilities with frequent access points and
intersecting streets
- sloping curbs with heights up to
100mm located at the outside edge of
shoulder may be considered on high-
speed facilities when necessary for
drainage
▪ Curb:

- vertical curbs should not be used along

expressways or other high-speed
roadways because an out-of-control
vehicle may overturn or become airborne
as a result of impact.
▪ Median - the portion of a highway separating
opposing directions of the traveled way.
- general range of median widths is from
a minimum of 1.5m to a desirable
dimension of 24m for a large tractor-
trailer trucks without encroaching on
the through lanes
- Medians about 4.5m or more in width
usually are constructed without curbs.
Medians of lesser width may be curbed
to provide a more positive separation.