Route Surveying

CHAPTER 1
1. ROUTE SURVEYING

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Route surveying includes all the surveying activates required to plan, design, and layout
(construct) any "Long and narrow" transportation facility. This transportation facility could be
road (high way), railways, and pipeline and power transmission lines.

Highway and railroad routes are chosen only after a complete and detailed study of all possible
alignments. Route selection usually involves the use of air photos, satellite imagery, and ground
surveys as well as the analysis of existing plans and maps. The route selected should satisfy all
design requirements with minimal social, environmental, and financial impact. Alignment is the
position or the layout of the central line of the highway generally there are two Types of
alignment. Those are:-

1. Horizontal alignment includes straight and curved paths.

2. Vertical alignment includes curves and gradients.
The aim of alignment selection process is to find a location for the new road that will result in
the lowest total construction, land, traffic and environmental costs and Provide the basic
information for structural design, as well as the economic analysis.
1.2. The need to do route surveying
If an adequate route surveying are not carried out properly, there will be deficiencies in the
selected alignment, specification and design are to come to in trouble during execution of the
work. The quality of the survey has influence on the cost of the project. A number of alternatives
should be examined and the most appropriate solution should be selected out. This is possible
only if exhaustive investigations are to be carried out. Failures are encountered if the survey is
not properly done. Embankment subsidence, flooding of roads, land slide, deposition of sand-
dunes, and erosion of river or sea are some of the problems which can be avoided by proper
route surveying.

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1.3. BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF A HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT

There are some basic requirements of the highway alignment in the plain and hill roads which
must be fulfilled. In general the basic requirements are:
1. Short: The alignment must be the shortest of the various alternatives available. Of course the
shortest path between any two points is a straight line but the topography of the area or other
factors may necessitate it do divert and take some other route, but as far as possible it should be
kept minimum.
2. Easy: Alignment should be such that the road must be easy to construct and easy to maintain
or repair. If curves are of large radius and the gradient is gentle it would be easy to construct the
road, rather than opposite.
3. Safe: Safety is again the basic requirement of the highway alignment and special care must be
taken to align the road in such a way that it must have the safe or minimum Sight distances and
Radius of the curves, means the geometrical design features like Sight Distance, Radius of the
curves and the gradient of the road must be given special attention.
4. Economical: Road alignment must be designed to have the initial cost of construction,
maintenance cost and the vehicle operation cost to a minimum. Also the locally available
materials should be checked before and it may decrease the overall cost. There must be a balance
in the cutting and filling on the alignment of the road.
1.4. STAGES IN ROUTE SURVEYING
Generally there are four stages in route surveying :-

1. Reconnaissance survey
2. Preliminary location survey
3. Data collection (topographic data).
4. Final location survey
1. Reconnaissance survey
It is a first (preliminary) field inspection of the entire area to be surveyed in terms of existing
control points, possible site for new observations, detection of possible obstacles and solutions,
type of instrument to be used, estimation of the duration of the whole fieldwork, and collection
of information regarding communication, water, food, labour and health facilities. In
reconnaissance the surveyor goes over the area and decides best plan of working. The purpose

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of the reconnaissance survey is to evaluate the feasibility of one or more corridor routes for a
highway between specific points that may be many kilometers away.
• Subdivision of reconnaissance
A) Desk study
B) Field study

A) Desk study
Study all available information in the office,
• Aerial Photography
• Geological maps
• Topographic Map
• Published literatures:
B) Field study
It involves inspection of each band (identified during the desk study) to determine the most
corridor feasible route based on some basic criteria.
• Soil type and depth
• Slope stability
• Percentage of rock in excavation
• Terrain classification
• Bridging requirements etc…
2. Preliminary Location Survey
Is a large- scale study of one or more feasible corridor routes. Consists of running an accurate
traverse line along the routes already recommended as a result of reconnaissance survey. During
Preliminary Survey we establishing horizontal and vertical control points that is the most
essential part in topographic surveying since the three dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z) of each
point to be surveyed can only be determined with respect to well established reference points.
This is done if the area has no control points or the existing control network is not dense enough.
The most common way of establishing control points are traversing and/or satellite technology
(GPS) is applied for establishing reference points and also with a level, the elevations of the
traverse stations are determined.

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3) Data collection (topographic data)

It is crucial for planning and designing transportation projects.

In this stage we collect elevation, slope, and feature data (e.g., trees, buildings)

4) Final location survey

The purpose of the final location is to fix the centerline of the selected alignment in the field and
to collect additional data for design and preparation of the drawings. If the preliminary survey
has been done properly the data collection work during the final alignment survey will be
limited.
The following are the general features of the final location survey
 pegging the centre line
 Centre line leveling
 Cross section
 Intersecting roads
 Ditches and streams
1.5. SELECTING THE ROAD ALIGNMENT

When constructing a new road, there are several possible choices of alignments. Although the
shortest connection between two points is a straight line, the road alignment will very seldom be
entirely straight. for various reasons:

(a) A straight and short alignment may cross through villages, farms or other public or private
property. In most cases, this is not acceptable as it would destroy crops, buildings or public
facilities;

(b) In rolling, hilly or mountainous terrain, the gradients on a straight alignment would often be
too steep or the earthworks required excessive;

(c) The straight alignment may pass through extremely difficult terrain (rocks, dense forest,
swamps, etc.) which should be avoided to minimize construction costs;

(d) If a river or other obstacle has to be crossed, another alignment may be necessary in order to
find a crossing at the most suitable location;

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Fig.1.1. River cross-section

(e) By choosing a slightly longer alignment, the road can be constructed on a soil type more
suitable for road construction.

In addition, the choice of alignment may be influenced by the location of suitable sources of
water and the location of gravel deposits.

When rural roads are built to provide access, existing tracks should be followed whenever
possible to minimize earthworks.

Fig. 1.2 existing rural alignment

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It is also sensible to first make sure that all interested parties agree on the route and places to be
linked by a new or rehabilitated road. Where several alignments are possible, the engineer will
decide on the detailed design after considering:

(a) Construction costs - e.g. an alignment of a certain length with steep gradients up to 20 percent
(Alignment 1) will be cheaper to construct than an alignment of the same length with gradients
up to 5 percent (Alignment 2). For the latter, the necessary earthworks will be far more
extensive. Try to avoid steep side long ground even if the existing road is cut into it. Although it
is possible to overcome the problem, any solution is expensive in terms of labour, materials and
finance. Route selection is therefore important. If possible, relocate the line lower down the hill
side where the ground is flatter.

(b) Costs to future traffic - these costs will be greater for Alignment 1 than for Alignment 2.
More energy is used to climb/descend steep gradients and will cause more wear to brakes.
Stronger means of transport will be required for Alignment 1. For village roads, it is to assume
that these may become market roads as the country develops. Steep gradients should therefore be
avoided.

(c) Maintenance costs - the costs to maintain steep gradients are considerably higher than the
costs to maintain gentle gradients.

(d) Social costs and benefits - in many cases, the higher construction costs of a longer alignment
may be justified if the road also serves public facilities (e.g. school, health centre).

The engineer also has to consider existing land use and to whom the land belongs. Although
compensation arrangements would normally be made, careful consideration of all possible
alternatives at the design stage may avoid such issues.

(e) Watershed route - normally cross drainage is expensive but can be avoided if the road follows
the line of the watershed. Ditching may then be unnecessary and considerable cost savings will
derive. It is therefore advantageous, where possible, to locate and use the watershed route.

From the survey, quantities of work can be derived, soil conditions observed and productivity
norms assumed. The line as established by the surveyor must be clearly defined to facilitate
construction.

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It is important to stress, however, that during the survey the subsequent end product must be
borne in mind. For a new road to be built by labor-based methods and likely to carry low traffic
volumes, the alignment selected should reflect this. A high speed alignment is irrelevant and
expensive. Undulating vertical curvature and comparatively sharp curves are more compatible
with low volume roads. The objective of such a survey is to refine actual position and
dimensions of the road. The survey and methods used should be simplified without prejudicing
the level of accuracy desired.

Often, immediately preceding road construction, a supplementary survey is undertaken. The

purpose may be to investigate a better line or cheaper route. But more frequently, it comprises
pegging out the route, and establishing the width and level of the road. Salient points should be
staked to normally form the basis of any recalculation of quantities, the basis for measurement of
work undertaken and assessment of performance of the work force.

There are a number of appropriate methods for setting out the road alignment. The surveying
equipment required is based on the setting out methods chosen. When choosing a specific
method of surveying, it is important to bear in mind the required level of accuracy for the works.
Obviously, the requirements of a rural road may not be the same as for major highways or city
streets. Bearing this in mind, there are some low-cost but still accurate enough methods of setting
out rural road alignments.

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