Module 3.

1  Where hazard is not a factor, the minimum

volume to justify arterial road is 300 vehicles per
Designing the Highway average hour per day and 450 vehicles hourly
during peak periods

CONSISTENCY
Control of Access
- Consistency is the most important single rule in
highway design. That is, by making every - It is a condition where the rights of owners or
element of the roadway conforms to the occupants of adjoining land or other persons
expectation of every driver. access to light, air or view in connection with a
highway is fully or partially controlled by public
authority.
DEFINITION OF TERMS Full Control of Access
AASHTO - The authority to control access is exercised to
- AASHTO (American Association of State give preference to through traffic by providing
Highway and Transportation Officials) access connections to selected public roads
- Their task is to prepare specification manual and only. Crossing at grade or direct private
standards, representing the current highway driveway connections is not permitted.
engineering practice. Partial Control of Access
AASHTO publications include; - The authority to control access is exercised to
• Transportation Materials Specifications and give preference to through traffic. Although in
Tests addition to access connections with selected
public roads, there may be some crossing at
• Specifications for Highway Bridges grade and some private driveway connections
allowed.
• Geometric Design Standards
Arterial Street
• Numerous Policy Statements and Guides
- It is an arterial route that carries traffic to the
nearest access point or through traffic. Arterial
Roads and Highways street is considered as a “make do” substitute
for controlled access facilities when traffic
- Defined as strips of land that have been cleared volume exceeds about 20,000 vehicles per day.
and further improved for the movement of
people and goods. Collector Street

Road - Form smaller mesh grid pattern where

passengers are pick up from service streets and
- Road has somewhat broader application in carried to the arterial. Large commercial
usage while generally used to describe a public enterprises or amusement facilities like drive in
thoroughfare. It can also refer to railways. theaters are mostly fronting arterial roads.

Highway Local Road

- A higher state of development than road, but the - It is defined as street or road primarily for access
words are almost interchangeable. to residence, business or other adjoining
properties. It is also defined as a road
Expressway constructed and maintained by the local
government.
- It is a divided arterial highway for through traffic
with full or partial control or access and AADT or ADT
generally provided with grade separation at
major intersections. - Refers to traffic volume or flow on a highway as
measured by the number of vehicles passing a
Freeway partial station during a given interval of time. It is
called “Average Annual Daily Traffic” if the
- It is an expressway with full control of access.
period is less than one year. Volume may be
stated on hourly “Observed Traffic Volume” or
estimated 30th hour volume commonly used for
Basic Consideration in Planning Arterial Roadways design purposes.
 Selection of the routes Highway Capacity
 Studies of the traffic volume
 Origin and destination - It is defined as the maximum number of vehicles
 Accident experienced that are reasonably expected to pass a given
 Width should not be less than 15 meters point over a given period of time usually
 Must at least carry one lane of traffic in each expressed as vehicle per hour.
direction
 Should be at least one kilometer in length
 Should skirt neighborhood areas rather than
penetrate them
 On grid design system streets, arterials are
spaced at about 600 to 900 meters apart
DESIGN SPEED
AASHTO defined Design Speed as;
- The speed determined for design and correlation
of the physical feature of a highway that
influence vehicles operation. It is the maximum
that can be maintained over a specified section
of the highway when weather and traffic
conditions are so favorable that the design
features of the highway govern

Table 2-1 Minimum Recommended Design Speed

Design Speed
Facility Urban (kph) Rural (kph)

Freeway 80-95 preferred 110-95 mountainous

Arterial 64-95 but 48 in built 80-110

up areas

Collectors 48 See Table 2-2

Local 32-48 kph See Table 2-2

Table 2-2 AASHTO Minimum Desing Speed

Kilometer/Hour for Rural Collectors and Local Roads

Based on Current ADT

Class Terrain Average Daily Traffic

Collect 0-400 400-750 750- 2000- Over

or 2000 4000 4000

Level 60 75 75 75 90

Rolling 45 60 60 75 75

Mountain 30 45 45 60 60
ous

Local 0-50 50-250 250-400 Over

400

Level 45 45 60 75

Rolling 30 45 45 60

Mountain 30 30 30 45
ous

Highway Capacity
- It is defined as the maximum number of vehicles
that are reasonably expected to pass a given
point over a given period of time usually
expressed as vehicle per hour.
 Under ideal conditions, one freeway lane
can accommodate about 2,000 passenger
cars per hour.
 Two-lane roads can carry up to 1,000
passenger cars per hour in each direction.
- As the volume of traffic approaches capacity, the
average speed is markedly reduced.