Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................2

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................2

a) Lane Types ...................................................................................................................................2

b) Shoulder .......................................................................................................................................3

c) Lateral offset .................................................................................................................................4

d) Median ..........................................................................................................................................4

e) Cross Slope ..................................................................................................................................4

f) Sidewalk .......................................................................................................................................4

g) Bike Lane......................................................................................................................................5

CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................5

References ..........................................................................................................................................5

Appendix .............................................................................................................................................5

a) Technical Drawings ......................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Design of highways is the most efficient way that planners can design a highway to ensure that it is
as safe as possible. When utilizing geometric road design, planners will decide the best way to position
the road in response to physical elements and barriers to ensure that it is safe. For instance, they will
look at how to incorporate curves and straightaways so that the road is built according to the required
standards, as well as water flow and other factors to ensure that those environmental risks and
hazards are adequately dealt with.

The main purpose of geometric road design is to create a roadway that encourages the smooth flow
of traffic and a crash-free zone. This can be achieved through methods like the ones mentioned above;
however, it is also essential to integrate elements like barriers and delineators when necessary. These
elements help drivers to better comprehend the natural curvature of the road and its intended design,
and thus, barriers and delineators help to make the road safer

To see how the integration of elements like curves, water drains, barriers and delineators will affect
the end result, planners create a geometric highway design that can be broken into three basic parts:
an alignment (or route of the road), a profile (or vertical view of the road), and a cross-section. The
cross-section is a particularly important part of the design because it allows the designers to look at
the number of lanes, the intersections with pedestrian pathways, the drainage features, and other
elements which are sometimes considered beyond the scope of the geometric design.

When creating their design, planners need to consider how the roads will be used, how fast the cars
will be driving, how busy the roads will be, and which types of vehicles will be using the roads. After
they have carefully considered all of these things, they can finally create a geometric road design with
an eye toward making the road as safe as possible.

METHODOLOGY

a) Lane Types
According to (Coakley, 2015), lane Types (conventional, transit‐only, HOV, bicycle) is heavy use by
specialized users, special purpose lanes may be desirable. Providing bike lanes or wide curb lanes
encourages their use and makes travel by bicycle more safe and comfortable. There is no trend that
shows one is safer than the other. Transit‐only lanes help buses move through traffic, providing
service that is more reliable. Providing lanes for specialized users reduces conflicts between vehicles
decreasing the crashes that result from those conflicts. Transit only lanes may have increased
conflicts where buses enter general travel lanes.

Width of the Travel Lane

In the research of Zegeer et al. (1988), the width of the travel lane does not only influence the comfort
of driving and operational characteristics of a roadway, but is also an important parameter affecting
the road crash frequency as well as crash severity. For any functional classification of roadway,
whether it is an arterial road or a local road, and for any environment of the roadway, whether it is an
urban road or a rural road, when the lane width reduces, the probability of crashes increases
drastically. For example, a study which looked at safety risks on a two-lane undivided highway, found
that when the lane width was increased from 2.75 meter to 3.75 meter, the probability for head-on or
other related crashes was reduced by fifty percent (50%).

When the traffic volume is higher and the lane width is less, the probability for crashes, especially
crashes like head-on or run-off the road, are greater. For example, in a multi-lane rural highway where

the average annual daily traffic volume is greater than 2,000, the probability for a crash on a narrow
lane i.e. 9 feet (2.75 meters) increases by more than thirty percent (30%) (Zegeer et al., 1988).

b) Shoulder
Another research of Zegeer et al. (1981) stated that a shoulder is the portion of the roadway contiguous
with the travel lane that accommodates stopped vehicles, emergency use etc. Generally, the shoulder
width varies from 0.6 m to 3.6 m but there are places where no shoulder can be accommodated.
While it is desirable that a shoulder be wide enough for a vehicle to be driven completely off the
travelled way, narrow shoulders are better than no shoulder at all. One study found that the
probability for a road with a 60 cm wide shoulder on each side, has thirty percent (30%) more crash
risk than a road having a 1.8 metre wide shoulder on each side.

Regardless of the width, a shoulder should be continuous and intermittent shoulders are better than
no shoulders. The importance of wider shoulders is more acute in two-lane two way roads. For a two-
lane two-way road, if the daily average traffic volume is greater than 2,000, the probability of crashes
for a very narrow width or no shoulder increases drastically, and if no shoulder is present the chance
of a crash increases by fifty percent (50%) (Zegeer et al., 1981).

The shoulder type also governs the crash frequency. The shoulder material and thus the surface
condition have at least some impact on the recovery of an errant driver going out of the travel lane. A
paved shoulder is the best type of shoulder in terms of road safety and better than gravel shoulders.
A gravel shoulder is better than a composite shoulder (combination of different types). However, a
turf shoulder is considered to be the worst in terms of road safety and can lead to ten percent (10%)
more crashes (Zegeer et al., 1981).

Literature shows that skidding crashes are a major concern in road safety. When the surface friction
is not adequate to help stopping a vehicle, a vehicle goes out of control and crashes occur.
Vertical and horizontal alignment, pavement types and texture affect a roadway’s skid resistance.
Different pavement distresses or faults like rutting, polishing, bleeding and also dirty pavements cause
poor skid resistances of road surfaces (Zegeer et al., 1981).
 c) Lateral offset
Coakley (2015) said that the lateral offset is the distance from the edge of traveled way to an
obstruction such as a utility pole light pole, bridge pier, or sign structure on the roadside. For safety
the lateral offset to should be great enough that any obstruction does not affect the driver’s speed or
position in the lane. Lateral offset is not clear zone, but clear zone should also be considered. A clear
zone is an area adjacent to the travelled way that is clear of obstructions and has a traversable slope
that allows an errant driver to safely return the vehicle to the roadway after departing from the travel
lane. Traversable side slopes are free of fixed objects and flat enough that a vehicle can be driven
back to the travel lane. The width of the clear zone should be based on the speed and traffic volume
on the roadway.

d) Median
Medians separate traffic flowing in opposite directions and provide an area for left‐turn lanes that allow
for speed change and removal of turning vehicles from the through lane. The width of a median varies
widely depending on the type of facility. In urban areas, medians can be as narrow as 4 feet plus the
required left‐turn lane width. In rural areas, the median may also serve as an area for stopping in an
emergency and to facilitate drainage. Providing a median separates opposing traffic flows, reducing
the incidence of head‐on crashes. Medians that provide an area for left‐turn lanes keep the alignment
straighter for through traffic, reducing crashes resulting from lane departures. Medians can help with
access control reducing the number of opportunities for left turns through opposing traffic (Coakley,
2015).

e) Cross Slope
The cross slope drains the water from the roadway. Removing the water from the pavement helps
with maintenance and reduces the formation of ice on the pavement. Both maximum and minimum
criteria are set for cross slope. The cross slope should be enough to drain the water from the pavement
but not so steep as to cause drift to the side or slide transversely in snowy or icy conditions. The cross
slope should not be so great as to cause heavy vehicles with high canters of gravity to lose control
when crossing the crown to change lanes. In super elevated sections, the break between the super
elevated lane and the shoulder cross slope should not exceed 8 percent. The designer should pay
attention to the combination of longitudinal grade and cross slope to ensure there are no flat sections
(Coakley, 2015).

f) Sidewalk
Sidewalks are needed for pedestrian safety and mobility. To be effective, pedestrian facilities need to
be continuous. A successful transit system requires that sidewalks connect transit stops and
destinations. Pedestrians are extremely vulnerable road users, and crashes with vehicles
predominantly result in injuries to pedestrians. Pedestrian facilities help to reduce such crashes when
the facilities are continuous. Crosswalks must be provided in logical places to make sidewalks safe
and useful (Coakley, 2015).

g) Bike Lane
On urban bike routes, on‐road bike lanes are usually provided. On higher‐ volume/higher‐speed rural
routes with significant volumes of bicycles, a path separate from the road usually is included within
the right‐of‐way. On rural routes with a low volume of bicycles, they are usually accommodated on
a paved shoulder. Since crashes involving a vehicle and a bicycle are often severe, the provision
of bicycle facilities provides a significant safety benefit (Coakley, 2015).

CONCLUSION
Road geometric design elements are effective factors on highway safety. These elements include
specification of cross-sections, vertical alignments, horizontal alignments and various sight distances.
The horizontal and vertical alignment and the sight conditions make it easier because these elements
help the road users to see it visibly and concluded that continuous improvement of the said elements
will lead to significant reductions of accidents happening in the highway and for the cross-section
which is another element it was determined that it was useful for it increased safety margins by making
the highways wider and separate with the carriageways. The different elements discussed in this
report incorporate the knowledge that the motorists and at the same time the researcher needed to
practice in order to diminish the increasing rates of accidents in the highway. New road geometric
design elements continue to develop as the formal practice in functional safety progress.

References
1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245307056_Estimation_of_the_Safety_Effectivenes
s_of_Lane_and_Shoulder_Width_Case-Control_Approach
2. Neuman, T. R., Coakley, R. C., Panguluri, S., Harwood, D. W., Program, N. C. H. R., Board,
T. R., … M. (2016). A Performance-Based Highway Geometric Design Process.
https://doi.org/10.17226/24626

Appendix

a) Technical Drawings
Proposed Road Legend

New Road Design St Mary's Church

The Hollybush

➤
N
1000 ft
 CL
HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL CONTROL LINE

2% 2%

PROPOSED TYPICAL CROSS SECTION

Redbourn Road
CH = 0+640 KM