G.

THE HIGHWAY CROSS SECTIONAL ELEMENTS

1. Carriageway and Lane Width
Carriageway is the portion of the road on which the vehicles are expected to travel. The four
basic types of road layout are Two-lane carriageways, Three-lane carriageways, Dual two-lane
carriageways and Dual three-lane carriageways.
Lane width has an iportant bearing on highway capacity, and the standard recoended
for classified roads is !."# wide lanes. $%ee &igures below'
(. %houlders
) shoulder is the portion of the roadway contiguous with the travelled way for
accoodation of stopped vehicles, for eergency use, and for lateral support of base and surface
courses. Well-designed and properly aintained shoulders are necessary on rural highways with
any appreciable volue of traffic.
The standard width of shoulder is (.*#. %houlders are sloped to drain away fro the
travelled way. The slope adopted for shoulders is usually 1 in (+ or #,.
With bituinous paveents, shoulders should be constructed of gravel to offer good
contrast to the paveent. )s such, the through traffic lanes should be clearly defined at all ties,
particularly at night or in incleent weather.
The advantages of shoulder are as follows-
a' %pace is provided for stopping free of the traffic lane due to otor trouble, flat tyre, or other
eergency. .ehicles stopped upon the paved surface of the highway introduce a high
accident potential.
b' %pace is provided for the occasional otorist who desires to stop to consult road aps,
to rest, or for any other purpose.
c' %pace is provided to escape potential accidents or reduce their severity.
d' %oe types of shoulders contribute uch to the appearance of the highway.
e' The capacity of the highway is iproved. /nifor speed is encouraged.
f' %pace is provided for aintenance operations.
g' Lateral clearance is provided for signs and guardrails.
h' %tructural support is given to the paveent.
!. Caber and crossfall
0rovision ust be ade for the run-off of surface water fro the carriageway, shoulders,
etc., by sloping the carriageway into the side1earth drain or concrete drains.
&or a cabered carriageway, the slope is usually 1 in 2+ or (.#,. while for a shoulder, the
slope is usually 1-(+ or #,.
2. 3erbs
3erbs are used for various purposes including4
a' to control drainage,
b' to act as deterrents to vehicles leaving the paveent at ha5ardous points,
c' to delineate the edge of paveent,
d' to present a ore finished appearance, and
e' to assist in the orderly developent of the roadside.
6ften, a 7erb serves two or ore of these purposes. To be considered a 7erb, soe raised
aspect or vertical eleent is re8uired. 3erbs are needed ostly on highways in urban areas.
There are two general classes of 7erbs- 9:arrier; and 9<ountable; 7erbs.
i' :arrier 7erbs are relatively high and steep faced, designed to inhibit, or at least
discourage, vehicles fro leaving the paveent. )s shown in the &igures, they
range fro 1#+ to (#+ or ore in height and ight be a two-step section.
ii' <ountable 7erbs are designed so that vehicles can cross the readily when re8uired.
)s shown in the &igures, they are low and have flat sloping faces.
#. Drainage channels
=oadside drainage channels perfor the vital function of diverting or reoving surface
water fro the highway right-of-way. &or drainage channels to be efficient and functional, they
a' should have ade8uate capacity for the design runoff,
b' should provide for unusual stor water with iniu daage to the highway and
c' should be located and shaped to avoid creating a ha5ard to traffic.
Where terrain perits, roadside channels built in earth should have side slopes not steeper
than 2-1 $2 hori5ontal to 1 vertical', and a rounded botto at least 2 feet wide. The iniu grade
for unpaved channels should be about +.# percent to avoid excessive saturation of the roadbed.
>n urban areas, roadside drains are usually reinforced concrete rectangular or trape5oidal
open or covered channels.
". %ide %lopes
%ections of roadway on fill $eban7ent' or deep cut will usually re8uire proper shaping of
the side slopes. ?ffective erosion control, low cost aintenance, and ade8uate drainage of the
subgrade largely are dependent upon proper shaping of the side slopes.
*. <edian
) edian is provided priarily to separate opposing traffic streas. To this end, a edian
should be highly visible both day and night and it should be as wide as feasible. The general range
of edian widths is fro a iniu of 2 feet to a desirable diension of "+ feet or ore.
<edians on rural highways preferably should be of sufficient width to perfor the following
functions-
a' provide the desired freedo fro interference of opposing traffic,
b' inii5e headlight glare,
c' include space for safe operation of crossing and turning vehicles at intersection at grade, and
d' to provide a haven in case of eergency.
@. Wal7ways
Wal7ways or sidewal7s are provided for safe pedestrian oveents. Wal7ways are
accepted as integral parts of city streets but are seldo considered necessary in rural areas. >t is
advisable to raise the grade line of wal7ways higher than that of the vehicle lanes.
%oeties, the top cover of lined drains in urban areas is ade to serve as wal7ways, to
reduce construction cost.
A. =ights-of-way
a' %ufficient rights-of-way are ac8uired, usually before construction, to provide for widening
or the later addition of ore lanes to the highway.
b' Wide rights-of-way decrease interference fro adBacent property and provide for ore
freedo of oveent.
c' =ights-of-way should be of sufficient width to include all the cross section eleents with
good balance throughout.
d' <iniu width of right-of-way for rural highway is #+ etres on both sides of the highway
centerline but will less within built-up areas.
H. THE ROAD PAVEMENT
The odern road paveent is usually coposed of several layers of aterial of differing
8uality4 the strongest aterial being placed upperost and foring the actual running surface.
There are basically two types of paveents- &lexible paveent and =igid paveent.
1. &lexible 0aveent
) flexible paveent can be defined as a structure that aintains intiate contact with and
distributes loads to the subgrade and depends on aggregate interloc7, particle friction, and cohesion
for stability. ) flexible paveent is usually coposed of the subgrade, sub-base, base, and
surfacing. $see &ig. 1'.
a. The %ubgrade
This is the foundation layer that eventually supports all the loads that coe onto the
paveent. >n soe cases, the subgrade will siply be the natural earth surface. >n other
and ore usual instances, it will be copacted soil existing in a cut section or the upper
layer of an eban7ent section.
b. The %ub-base
This is a layer of granular or stabili5ed aterial that ay or ay not be included as part of
the flexible paveent. >t will be necessary to use sub-base layer in cases where-
- the subgrade soil is extreely wea74
- frost action in the area is severe4 and
- suitable sub-base aterials are cheaper than base aterials of higher 8uality.
c. The :ase
The base is a layer $or layers' of very high stability and density. >ts principal purpose is to
distribute or 9spread; the stresses created by wheel loads acting on the wearing surface so
that the stresses transitted to the subgrade will not be sufficiently great to result in
excessive deforation or displaceent of that foundation layer.
d. The %urfacing
>t is desirable that the wearing surface should possess the following characteristics-
i. ust be capable of withstanding the wear and abrasive effects of oving vehicles,
ii. ust possess sufficient stability to prevent it fro shoving and rutting under traffic
loads,
iii. ust prevent the entrance of excessive 8uantities of surface water into the base and
subgrade fro directly above.
The wearing surface ay be bituinous surface treatent used for low-cost, light-traffic roads
with thic7ness less than (# $1 inch'. &or heavily travelled routes, the wearing surface is asphalt
concrete with thic7ness of up to 1#+ $" in.' or ore.
(. =igid 0aveent
Concrete surfaces and bases are fre8uently classed as rigid paveents. The ter 9rigid; iplies
that paveents constructed of this aterial possess a certain degree of 9bea strength; that perits
the to span or 9bridge over; soe inor irregularities in the subgrade or sub-base on which they
rest.
)s a result of Crigid natureD, inor defects or irregularities in the supporting foundation layer ay
not be reflected in the surface course. Eaturally, defects of this type are certainly not desirable, as
they ay lead to failure of the paveent through crac7ing, brea7ing, or siilar distress.
=igid paveents are usually ade of 0ortland ceent concrete and this ay be defined as a
plastic and wor7able ixture coposed of ineral aggregate such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, or
slag, interspersed in a binding ediu of ceent and water.
When first cobined, the aterials listed for a plastic wor7able ass that ay be easily
handled and shaped into any desired for. ) short tie after ixing, the concrete begins to stiffen
or 9set; because of cheical reaction between the ceent and water in the ixture, and in a
relatively short tie it fors a dense, hard ass that possesses considerable copressive and
flexural strength.
When properly designed and constructed, concrete roads and streets give any advantages-
i. They are capable of carrying alost unliited aounts of any type of traffic with ease,
cofort, and safety.
ii. %urfaces of this type are sooth, dust-free, and s7id-resistant.
iii. %urfaces of this type have a high degree of visibility for both day and night driving.
iv. They are econoical in any locations because of their low aintenance costs and
relative peranence.
The principal use of concrete paveents has been in the construction of heavily travelled roads
and city streets, including those in residential, business, and industrial areas.
I. EARTHWORK QUANTITIES
>n the geoetric design of a highway, it is alost always certain that the final grade line will
definitely not follow the existing ground level in order to satisfy certain design controls and criteria.
Thus, there will alost always be areas of cutting away portion of the existing ground and areas of
filling up soe portions. The process of cutting and filling portions of the existing ground is called
earthwor7 operations in highway.
%ince earthwor7 operations for a substantial part of any rural highway proBect and
probably represent the largest variable factor in constructional costs, detailed attention ust be paid
it.
There are basically two standard ethods of calculating earthwor7 8uantities naely
)verage ?nd )reas $)vgendarea' ethod and the 0risodial ethod.
?nd )reas <ethod
Fenerally, road cross-sectional profiles at specified interval $e.g. (#' are plotted to a scale
of, say, 1 - (#+ using spot levels ta7en along the center-line and at offsets of #, 1+, 1#, (+
and (# to either side, or wherever there is a ar7ed change of slope. The cross-sectional areas are
calculated using planieter.
?arthwor7 volues are then calculated fro the areas using the forula-
( )
( 1
(
1
A A L V + =
where A1 and A( are the cross-sectional areas distance L apart.
0risoidal forula
>f it is assued that the faces o the earth solid between adBacent cross-sections are planar $&ig. ',
then the solid so fored is a prioid and the true volue is obtained by using the prioidal
forula-
( )
( (
2
"
1
A M A L V + + =
where A1 and A( are the cross-sectional areas distance L apart, and M is the area of a section id-
way between the two ends $Note: M is not necessarily the ean of A1 and A('
J. MASS HAUL DIAGRAM
1. :ul7ing and shrin7age of aterial
%oe aterials such as roc7 and chal7 increase in volue when excavated and subse8uently
copacted to for an eban7ent and this phenoenon is tered bulking. 6ther aterials such
as gravel, sandy soils, and clays show a decrease in volue as a result of ore thorough copaction
and this is tered shrinkage.
The shrin7age factor is the ter used to describe the relationship between the excavated
volue and the volue of fill. ?xcavated 8uantities can therefore be converted to volue of
copacted fill by the use of this shrin7age factor, which could be ta7en as 1.(, thus-
.excv. G 1.( .fill
(. Haulage of <aterial
The cost of any earth-oving operation depends not only on the volue and nature of the
aterials to be handled but also on he distance which these aterials have to be carried fro the
point of excavation to the point of tipping and copaction.
>n road schees, the earthwor7s are usually planned so that, where suitable, aterial
excavated fro a cutting can be used to for an eban7ent further along the road. )s this ay
entail carting $or hauling' the aterial over a considerable distance, the cost of haulage is ta7en into
account by the contractors a7ing allowance for haulage in the rates 8uoted for the ite$s' covering
excavation in cutting and foring of eban7ents.
!. The <ass Haul Diagra
The ass haul diagra $&ig. ' is related to the longitudinal profile of the road and shows
the net cuulative volue, adBusted for bul7ing and shrin7age, up to any chainage along the center-
line. ?xcavated volues in cutting are positive while volues of eban7ents are negative.
The diagra has the following characteristics-
a. >f at any chainage the diagra is above the base line, then the net volue up to that
section is positive4 i.e. a surplus of cut. :elow the base line denotes a deficit of fill.
b. ) rising gradient on the diagra eans that the road is in cutting at that section. )
falling gradient denotes eban7ent.
c. ) axiu point occurs at the end of a cutting and a iniu point occurs at the end
of an eban7ent.
d. The vertical distance between any two points on the diagra is easure of the net
volue of earthwor7s between these sections.
e. )ny hori5ontal line on the diagra, including the base line, cuts the diagra at sections
between which earthwor7s are balanced.
f. The length of any such balance line represents the axiu haulage distance between
the sections.
2. ?arthwor7 Terinologies
a' Haul I This is the volue of aterial ultiplied by the distance through which it is
oved. >t is usually expressed in station etre. $Haul G .olue J Distance'
b' Freehaul a! O"erhaul I 6n certain road contracts, the :ill of Kuantities ay be
drawn up so that the ites relating to general excavation and copaction of aterial
include haulage only within a specified distance, called the freehaul distance. Haulage
over and above this distance is paid for under an additional ite, and the extra distance
is tered the overhaul distance. The aounts of aterial involved under these ites are
tered the freehaul and overhaul respectively, and these volues can be ascertained by
reference to the ass haul diagra.
c' E#$$%&# Haul I When the contractor is faced with large haul distances, it is ore
econoical for hi to waste aterial within the entire area of construction and borrow
aterial fro nearby areas than to pay for the expensive overhauling. 6n any given
schee, the econoic haul distance will vary considerably as it depends both on the
availability of suitable borrow aterial and of nearby sites where excavated aterial can
be wasted.
The econoic distance of haulage is tered the Economic Haul and can be deterined
by e8uating the cost of roadway excavation plus overhaul and tipping in eban7ents
with the cost of borrow pit aterial $include original cost as well as cost of excavation,
hauling and tipping borrow in eban7ent' plus excavation, haul and wasting of
roadway aterial within the freehaul distance.
d' Wa'(e a! )$rr$* I <aterials excavated fro cuts along the roadway but not used for
eban7ent fill are called waste. Borrow, on the other hand is the aterial used for fill,
which is not obtained fro roadwor7 excavation but excavated elsewhere.