TRANSPORTATION ENGG 15CE54T

# 1. 1 HIGHWAY INTRODUCTION

Human race has moved from place to place in search of food, warm weather,
shelter, economical reasons, etc. Transportation is a very imp for wandering
around places for the primitive man. Transportation plays a imp role in the all-
round development of a country.
Transportation plays vital role in the fields like social development &
economic development. Also helps to transport of gods, food grains, movement
of military in times of emergencies etc., It also helps to transport the goods ,food
grains etc., from production centers to market places. Lack of transportation
facilities slows down the economic & social development of the country.

Importance of transportation
a) Economic development
b) Social development
c) Cultural development
d) Industrial development
e) Rural development
a) Economical development: The economic activities are the ones by which
products are utilized to satisfy the human needs (wants or needs). Economic
activities are governed by the
1) Supply
2) Demand (consumption for human needs)
Every commodity need to be transported from source (production) to consumers.
The raw materials are to be collected from the source and conveyed to
production centers (factories).Once again finished product has to be conveyed to
market places for consumers. The efficient transport system is required to reduce
the cost of transportation and timely delivery of goods (produces).
b) Social development: The efficient network of roads helps in improving
underdeveloped areas of country .By connecting these places with market
centers, cities, towns, social development can be achieved .People can travel to
places with the help of transportation the increase their knowledge. Proper and
well-connected transportation system should be there within cities to facilitate
the movement of people for work ,entertainment ,business activity etc., It also
helps to emergency medical services, fire tenders, military or police during
emergencies like fire, building collapses, strikes etc., During these times
transportation system plays key role for providing help to citizens.
c) Cultural development: India is a vast country with people speaking different
languages, cultures, caste, creed; food habits etc.., People with different cultural
backgrounds can meet, discuss and exchange their views through a good
transportation system. It helps in understanding different cultures, improves in
unity and harmony of our country.
d) Industrial development: It plays important role in the establishing and
running of an industry. The raw materials are to be transported from the source
to the manufacturing unit. Finished product is to be conveyed to the business
centers for distribution. Once again transportation plays a key role in industrial
development.
e)Rural development: India is a country of villages most of the population is
living in rural areas (villages).These rural areas needs to be connected to market
places. So that they sell their produces at attractive prices. Also, migration of
people to cities can be reduced by providing suitable facilities like roads,
entertainment etc.
MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
Human beings are surrounded by 3 natural resources
1) Land…… Roads & railways
2) Water… Waterways
3) Air……… Airways
The modes of transportation are also connected with these mediums.
They are as follows.

1)Roadways: The roadways or highways includes all highways, expressways,

state ways , district roads, street roads etc., Roads serves for a wide range of
vehicles including pedestrians. The other modes of transportation are dependent
on roads for service. To and fro movements to their stations, airports and
harbors.
2) Railways: The science of dealing with planning designing, operation and
maintenance of railway track, wagon, coaches, engines is called as “railway
engineering”. Steel rails are laid on ground and these are used for “railway
movement” .railways are developed for long distance transportation and for
urban development.
3) Waterways: Oceans, rivers, canals are used for transportation using ships,
boats, ferries etc. It is slowest means of transportation but cost will be less.
4) Airways: In this mood of transportation aircrafts, helicopters are used. This is
quickest mode of transportation but costliest (mode of transportation).This mode
was confined to elite class earlier. With the introduction of low cast airways now
it is used by the middle class also.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROAD TRANSPORTATION:
1) Roads are used by variety of vehicles like bicycles, cars, buses, Lorries,
bullock carts including pedestrians
2) Construction cost of roads (comparatively) less to railways other modes of
transportation.
3) Roads offer complete freedom to users so that they can enter to adjoining lane
as per requirements.
4) It saves time for short distances
5) It is subjected to high degree of accidents
6) Road transportation is only means of transport that offers itself for the service
of whole community alike.
HISTORY OF HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT:
The first hard surface was existed in Mesopotamia at around 3500 B.C.
Archeological findings in Mohenjo-Daro indicate that about 3500B.C.streets are
paved. Roads were constructed in large scale during Roman Empire at about
1500 B.C. Roman roads were constructed by large blocks of stones and they are
still in use.
Macadam construction
Development of modern roads started in 18th century. During 19th century, John
Macadam develops a new concept (method) in road construction. He was the
surveyor general of roads in England. Following are the characteristics
1. Sub grade drainage was given importance and the sub grade was prepared with
sufficient cross slope.
2. In place of heavy stones, compact layer of broken stones are placed at bottom.
3. The total thickness was less.
4. The sizes of broken stones for the top layer were decided upon the stability
under animal drawn vehicles.

SL ROADWAYS RAILWAYS
NO

1 Cost of construction is less Cost is more.

compared to other modes

2 Accident rate is more Accident rate is less.

3 Right of entry is free for Right of entry is restricted to railway.

all vehicles.

4 Strength of roads is less Strength of railway tracks is more.

5 Cost of transport is more. Cost of transport is cheap.

6 Suitable for hilly areas. Not suitable for hilly areas, due to steep gradients.

7 Maintenance cost is low. Maintenance cost is high

Classification of Roads as per IRC

➢ National Highways (NH)
➢ State Highways (SH)
➢ District Roads (DR) a)Major district Roads (MDR)
b) Other district Roads (ODR)
➢ Village Roads (VR)

National Highways (NH)

State Highways (SH)

District Roads (DR)

A) Major district Roads (MDR)

b) Other district Roads (ODR)

Village Roads (VR)

Express ways
 Expressways are constructed to connect imp cities within our country.
Expressways are the highest class of roads in the Indian road network. They are
six or eight-lane controlled-access highways where entrance and exit is
controlled by the use of slip roads They have higher deign speeds and controlled
access . The Golden Quadrilateral is a highway network in India connecting
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. One of the famous expressways in India
is Mumbai-Pune Expressway

# 1.2 HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT

• India is a country of villages which needs to be connected with commercial
centres for their development. Absence of roads is a hurdle in economic
development of rural India. The highway planning is the continuous
development & modification of long term as well as short term
requirements for capital investment in the highway network.

The position occupied by the center line of a road in plan is called alignment of
road. A new road should be aligned very carefully as the cost of construction,
maintenance, safety and ease in travel etc. depends much upon the alignment of
road.
Once the construction of the road is completed, the alignment of the road cannot
be changed. It is difficult to change the alignment after the completion of road
construction.

Due to increase in cost of land and construction of costly roadside structures, it

difficult to change the road alignment posts the construction. Hence road
alignment should therefore, be carefully selected and located.
Highway engineering is an engineering discipline branching from civil
engineering that involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and
maintenance of roads, bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe and effective
transportation of people and goods.

Requirements of an ideal Alignment of Road :

The following are the basic requirements of an ideal road alignment.

• Easy
• Short
• Economical
• Safe
• Utility
• Natural aspects
Easy :
The alignment must be easy in construction, maintenance and traffic operations.
The alignment should be easy for the operation of vehicles with easy gradients
and curves to meet this requirements.

Short :
In between two terminal station the alignment should be as short as possible.
Short alignment provide economy in the cost of construction, maintenance and
transportation.

The alignment should be as straight as possible to meet this requirement.

Economical :
The alignment should be economical in its cost of construction, maintenance and
traffic operations.

Safe :
The alignment should be safe for traffic operation. To fulfill this requirement, the
alignment should be safe enough for construction and maintenance from the view
point of stability of natural hill slopes, embankment and cut slopes and
foundation of embankments.

FACTORS CONTROLLING NEW ROAD ALIGNMENT

• The distance between two stations should be minimum.

• It should cross the rivers or streams at right angles.

• It should cross the rivers, where the width is minimum and also hard
foundations are available at reasonable depth straight reach and high bank.

• It should avoid confluence of rivers and tributaries, on upstream side of the

bridge.

• It should not pass through rich and fertile agricultural lands and also it
should not pass through reserved forests, wild life sanctuaries etc.

• It should not pass through marshy areas and water logged areas.

• It should not pass through lakes or ponds.

• When the alignment passes through mountains or high ridges, it should be

deviated to pass through a suitable hill pass.
FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR ALIGNMENT OF HILL ROADS

• STABILITY: Special case should be taken while aligning roads in hilly

areas. Roads should be aligned in the stable side of hill to avoid
landslides.

• DRAINAGE: Plays an important role in the alignment of hilly roads

suitable drainage facility must be provided like grouping drains on uphill
side and proper cross drainage system for conveying the water to downhill
side.

• GEOMETRICAL STANDARDS: Grades the sight distances, horizontal

curves width of road should be sufficient for smooth flow of traffic.

• CURVES AND DEVIATIONS: there should be minimum curves,

unnecessary curves and deviations should be avoided.

• Deep cutting and heavy filling should be avoided

• Deep cutting may leads to land slides and heavy embankments leads to
breaches.

• During uphill road alignment road must not be allowed to acquire

downward gradient. The best hill road is the one which has least total
descent while a ascending.
HIGH WAY SURVEYS
Name surveys conducted for new road alignment. Explain them

Following are the various surveys conducted for new road

Types of Highway surveys:

• Map study

• Reconnaissance survey

• Preliminary survey

• Final location and detailed survey.

• Map study:

• Topographic maps of the concerned area can be studied for possible

alternate routes. Topographical maps contains the details like rivers,
valleys etc. with a contour interval of 0.5 –5.0 m. These maps can be
studied and alternates alignments can be selected considering the obligatory
points to be touched. Also ruling gradients should not be executed. Map
 study, thus provides a possible routes which requires further survey at
the actual locations.

• Reconnaissance survey:

• It is the second stage of survey. This survey is carried out for alternate
routes to examine the physical features on ground like rivers, valleys and
pond important buildings etc. which are not available in the map. This is
generally done with the help of survey instruments like hand held level,
ghat traces, barometers, tangent clinometer etc. This also helps to study
topography of land, availability of water , observation of geological
features and crossings etc. Special attention is paid to river crossings and
determination of suitable sites for bridges, culverts etc.

• Alignment should have minimum cutting and embankments with suitable

gradients.

• Materials required for construction of road.

• PRILIMINARY SURVEY

OBJECTIVES

• To survey the various alternate alignments proposed by the reconnaissance

and to collect all the necessary physical information and details of
topography, drainage soil etc.

• To compare the different proposals considering the good alignment.

• To estimate the quantity of earth work, materials and other construction

aspects and to work out the cost of alignment.

• To finalize the best alignment from all considerations.

• Surveys are carried out for each alignment with the survey instruments. A
preliminary centre lines is located on the topographic features are recorded
levelling work is carried out along the centre line and typical cross section
to work out the earthwork quantities, cross drainage works are recorded and
relevant details are collected like hydrological data and depth of
foundation. Soil samples are collected all along the alignments to work out
the details of earthwork, slopes, suitability of materials, sub soil and surface
 drainage requirements and also to decide the type of pavement and
thickness.

• At this stage, detailed soil survey is not required but suitable number of
samples can be taken selectively.

• Traffic surveys are conducted in the area to decide the number of traffic
lanes, width, pavement, design and economic analysis of highway. The
surveys should be carried out for 24 hours of day for a week.

• These surveys are carried out for all alignments and the best one or two is
selected for detailed and final survey.

• FINAL LOCATION AND DETAILED SURVEY:

The alignment finalized after preliminary surveys or first located on the
field by establishing centre line. Detailed survey is carried out for the
collecting the information necessary for the preparation of plans and
construction details of the highway. In location survey, theodolites, dumpy
levels, levelling staffs, plane table, steel tapes etc. are used. Levels are
taken along the centre line and established permanently. Also cross
sections are taken at suitable intervals across the centre line along the
length. From this survey works, final plans designs and estimates are
prepared.

• ROAD PROJECT REPORT

• This is the most important project document which contain the exhaustive
information of different features of the project so that it helps in
appreciation of the proposals. Project report is subdivided into following
heads:

• Preliminary report

• Road features

• Road design and specifications

• Drainage facilities including cross drainage structures.

• Availability of materials, labour and equipment's, rates.

• Construction programmes

• Miscellaneous information including design calculations

• HIGHWAY GEOMETRIC DESIGNS

• The Highway should be designed in such a way maximum speed can be

achieved with maximum safety at reasonable cost. Highways have to
provide optimum efficiency in traffic operations at least expenditure.

• It is possible to design and construct a highway in stages but geometric

design needs to be done at initial stage itself. It geometric elements of road
are not designed properly it leads to increased number of accidents, fuel
consumption, maintenance of vehicles etc. It is very expensive to correct
the geometric design elements. Hence proper care should be taken at the
initial stage itself.

• GEOMETRIC ELEMENTS OF THE HIGHWAYS

• Cross section elements, width of pavement and cross slope of pavement.

• Sight distance consideration, stopping sight distance and over taking sight
distance.

• Horizontal and vertical curve

• Intersectional elements

• Intersection of details.

• REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD ROAD

• It should remain dry.

• It should have good carriage way.

• It should have good drainage.

• It should have good , large, and smooth curves.

• It should have good wearing coarse.

• It should be easy to construct and maintain.

• It should be an impervious layer.

• TYPICAL CROSS SECTION OF A ROAD

• SUB GRADE

• It is one which is directly rests on ground.

• Functions:

• It supports the road structure

• It forms bed for the road

• BASE COURSE:

• It is the layer below wearing course and important structural member of the
road. It is generally made up of well compacted broken stones.

• Functions:

• It bears load of traffic

• It supports the wearing course and prevents distortion.

• It reduces the load on the sub base and sub grade.

• It reduces the thickness of wearing course.

• SUB BASE
It is formed with locally available cheap materials like Murom, gravel,
sand, rubble etc.

• Functions:

• It protects the sub grade.

• It reduces the pressure on sub grade

• It helps in improving the drainage.

• WEARING COURSE

• This is the top most layer of the course which comes into contact with the
traffic. It should be able to withstand the wearing effects of traffic and also
it should not allow the water to percolate into it. Following are the
important functions.

• It provide a smooth surface for traffic

• It drains away the rain water from the surface and prevent percolation of
water

• It provides strength to the road structure

• It acts as a cushion between wheels and base course of the road.

•

RIGHT OF WAY

• It
is the area of land acquired for the road along its length or alignment. This
is also known as road width or land width or right of way. The right of way
depends upon various factors like Importance of road and possible future
development. IRC has prescribed various widths for each category of roads.
When acquiring land initially for the road, it is desirable to acquire more
 width. This extra width can be utilized for future widening and other
improvements.
• The land width is controlled by:
➢ Width of formation and category of road
➢ Height of embankment
➢ Side slopes of embankment or cutting
➢ Drainage systems like cross drainage works or bridges depends upon the
rain fall
➢ Site distances on horizontal curves
➢ Reserve land for future widening plan well in advanced future volume of
traffic.
➢ Width of carriage way.
WIDTH OF CARRIAGE WAY
• The width of roads depends upon the width of traffic.
• Lane and number of lane, the carriage way for one line of traffic way is
known as traffic lane.
• The width of line is arrived from two considerations.
➢ Maximum width of vehicle using the road
➢ The amount of side clearance for vehicles, if the site clearance is more.
There is an increase in operating speed of vehicle which increases the
capacity of traffic lane.
➢ For a single lane of vehicles, 3.75 m width is essential for vehicle of
maximum 2.44 m wide. For two or more lanes width of each lane is 3.5 m
will be sufficient. The number of lanes required in a highway depends
upon the volume of traffic and predicted volume. The width of pavement is
increases on horizontal curves.
 CLASS OF ROAD WIDTH OF CARRIAGE

Single lane 3.75 m

2 lanes, without kerb 7m

2 lanes with raised kerb 7.5 m

Intermediate carriage way except on 5.5 m

important roads

Multi-lane pavements 3.5 m per lane

ROAD CAMBER
• The main object of providing camber is to drain off the rain water from the
surface.
• FUNCTIONS
• To prevent entry of rainwater into subgrade through the wearing course.
• If the water stagnates on the road, it causes the stripping of bitumen from
the aggregates resulting in deterioration of road.
• Removal of water from the surface makes dry surface soon after the rains.
Dry road offers better skid resistance than wet road. Wet surface of the
road provides slippery and unsafe for vehicles moving at high speed.
• Camber is the slope provided in the transverse direction to drain off the rain
water from the surface. It is defined as the slope of line joining the crown
to the edge of road surface is called camber or cross slope. The rate of
cross slope is defined as 1 in n, where cross slope is horizontal

•
• SHAPES OF CAMBER
Straight camber
• Parabolic camber
• Combination of straight and parabolic camber
PAVEMENT RECOMMENDED
VALUE

Earthen road or foot path 1 in 20 - 1 in 24

Gravel road 1 in 20 - 1 in 30

Murrum road 1 in 24 - 1 in 30

Water bound macadam road 1 in 30 - 1 in 48

Bituminous roads 1 in 48 - 1 in 60

Bituminous concrete roads 1 in 36 - 1 in 48

Cement concrete roads 1 in 60 - 1 in 72

Pavior blocks 1 in 48 - 1 in 60

ROAD GRADIENT
The topography of the ground is never dead flat, it always have rise and falls to
negotiate the different levels. The ratio of rise/fall to the ground surface, along
its length is called road gradient.
TYPES OF GRADIENTS
Gradients depends on the following factors:
✓ Nature of traffic
✓ Nature of topography of the land
✓ Rainfall of the locality.
• The gradients which are provided on the roads are as follows:
✓ Maximum gradient
✓ Minimum gradient
✓ Ruling gradient
✓ Average gradient
✓ Exceptional gradient
✓ Floating gradient
Maximum gradient
It is the maximum or steepest gradient which can be provided on the road.
This is inconvenient to the traffic. Specially to slow moving vehicles. This
is also called as limiting gradient. For hilly areas limiting gradient is 1 in 15
and for the plain areas it is 1 in 20.
Minimum gradient
It is required for the areas where the ground is almost flat, to drain of the
water from the road surface to the side drains. A certain minimum amount
of gradient is required. Its values is 1 in 200. However this value will be 1
in 330 for cc roads.
Ruling gradient
This is the most suitable gradients for all types of vehicles. It is adapted for
new road alignments. In flat area a very small grades may be provided but
 in hilly areas same cannot be adopted. IRC recommends a gradient 1 in 30
for plain lands and 1 in 20 for hilly areas.
Average gradient
It is defined as a total rise or fall between any two points on alignment
divided by the horizontal distance between them.
EXCEPTIONAL GRADIENTS:
In some stretches of an alignment where gradients steeper than
maximum gradient have to be provided such gradient are called as
exceptional gradient which are to be provided under unavoidable
conditions. It has to be provided for a very short length of 50 – 60 m for 1
km length of the road.
TYPE OF AREA MAXIMUM EXCEPTIONAL
GRADIENT GRADIENT
Plain and rolling 1 in 20 1 in 15
terrain

Hilly areas 1 in 15 1 in 12

FLOATING GRADIENT
When a vehicles moves on a descending gradient, some tractive effect is
required to maintain uniform speed. The tractive effort required to
maintain a uniform speed of the vehicle will be provided by a particular
gradient. These gradients are called as floating gradients.

SUPER ELEVATION
• It is defined as the transverse inclination provided to the cross section of the
road surface throughout the length of horizontal curve to counter the effects
of centrifugal force on the running wheels. The difference in elevation outer
edge to the inner of the carriage way for the whole length of horizontal
curve is known as super elevation or cant. It can be calculated using
formula.
 e = v2 / 127R
• Where e = amount of super elevation
• v = speed of vehicle in km / h
• R = radius of curve

METHODS OF PROVIDING SUPER ELEVATION

• The changing of the cambered surface of a road to a one way slope (super
elevated) is done in 2 way.
➢ Elimination of crown of the cambered section
➢ Rotation of pavement to attain full super elevation.

• ELIMINATION OF CROWN OF THE CAMBERED SECTION

❖ This can be done by rotating outer slope slowly round about the crown.
❖ By shifting the crown position gradually to the outer edge.
ROTATION OF PAVEMENTS TO ACHIEVE SUPER ELEVATION

❑ In this method super elevation is achieved by rotating about the centre line
and outer edge is elevated and inner edge is depressed without changing the
CL.
❑ In this method inner edge is kept at its level and outer edge is raised to
achieve the required super elevation. In this method centre of pavement is
also raised. This is adopted where the rainfall is very high and terrain is flat.
ADVANTAGES OF SUPER ELEVATION
• It reduces the intensity of stresses on road foundation.
• As the road is raised for whole width on one side no gully’s are formed on
edges of the road ways.
• It increases the stability of fast moving vehicles while negotiate and
horizontal curve.
• On super elevated curves the vehicles are not necessary to decrease the
speed.
WIDENING OF ROADS ON HORIZONTAL CURVES
• When a vehicles moves along horizontal curve. The front wheels turns
sideways occupying more width then on the straight portion of the road
hence the width of carriage way increased in entire length of curve or
inside. The widening is effected gradually done with a maximum @ central
portion of the curve. When the radius of the curves is less than 300 m
widening must be provided. If the radius of curve is more than 460 m
widening is not required.
• It is a a common practice to widen the pavement slightly more than the
normal width, the object of providing Extra Widening of pavements on
horizontal curves are due to the following reasons.... (a) An automobile
such as car, bus or truck has a rigid wheel base and only the front wheels
can be turned. When the vehicle takes a turn to negotiate a horizontal curve,
the rear wheels do not follow the same path as that of the front wheels. This
phenomenon is called ‘off tracking’. The off tracking depends on (1) the
length of the wheel base of the vehicle (2) the turning angle or the radius of
the horizontal curves.
•

REASON FOR WIDENING OF ROAD @ HORIZONTAL CURVES

• The sight distance or vision is increased is due to widening while driving
on the outer as the curve.
• Most of the driver tends to use centre portion of the road while moving in
the curves. If the road width is more the chances of accidents will be
reduced to a great.
CURVES
• These are provided to change the direction either in horizontal or vertical
height of the road. These are provided for various situations. They are
➢ Topography of the country
➢ To provide connectivity to specific areas
➢ Restriction due to unavoidable reason
➢ Preservation of existing facilities.
Restrictions of certain religious, monumental
CURVES ARE CLASIFIED INTO TWO TYPES
• HORIZONTAL CURVE & VERTICAL CURVE
• HORIZONTAL CURVE:
 • These curves allows the changes the alignment of roads in horizontal alone.
Curves used in highway designs are circular and transitional curves.
• SIMPLE CURVES: These curves are the one which connect straight roads
with a single arc.
• COMPOUND CURVE:
These are the ones which consists of two or more simple curves turning
in same direction joined by the common tangent.

• REVERSE CURVE:
These curves are the curves which consists of 2 simple curves in opposite
direction joined by a common tangent. Their respective centres are also in
opposite side.
• TRANSITION CURVE:
 Curve whose radius changes from infinity to a selected minimum is called as
transition curve. It is provided for smooth change in direction from a cambered
road to the super elevated road with one side slope.
VERTICAL CURVES:
• In road alignments, when two different gradients made, they form a curve
in vertical plane these curves are called as vertical curves
• They are classified into ;
• Summit curves & Valley curves
▪ Summit curves: these are formed when an ascending gradient meets in
descending gradient forming convexity upwards. These summit curves are
also formed when ascending gradient meets another ascending gradient.
▪ Valley curves: these curves are formed when a descending gradient meets
an ascending gradient formed convexity downward.
▪ TRANSITION CURVE:
▪ These curves has to fulfil the following conditions.
▪ It should meet the straight path tangentially
▪ It should meet curved path tangentially also
▪ It should have some radius as that of circular curve at its junction.
▪ OBJECTIVES OF TRANSITIONAL CURVE
▪ To provide gradual curve in the radius of curvature
▪ To provide smooth passage from straight path to curved path.
▪ To provide super elevation gradually.
▪ Different curves are used to provide transition curves
▪ SIGHT DISTANCE
It is defined as the distance measured along the centre line on the road
surface a driver can see the object of specific height (10.0 cm) on the
ground. Provisions of this distance to avoid accidents. It also helps to
 design various geometrical elements of the road and for traffic control
measures.
▪ It should be such that drivers and pedestrians should have sufficient time to
avoid accidents and cross over to safe area in emergency situations. It is the
length of the road which driver can see an object of 10.0cm height from a
height of 1.22 m from the road surface. It can be classified into
a) Stopping or minimum sight distance
b) Safe over taking or passing distance
c) Safe sight distance for entering into uncontrolled intersection.
d) Lateral sight distance.
The standards for sight distance should satisfy the following conditions:
• Driver travelling at a design speed has sufficient distance ahead to stop the
vehicle in case of obstruction without any collision.
• Driver travelling at a design speed should be able to overtake safely at
reasonable intervals without causing obstruction or hazards of opposite to
the traffic of direction.
• Driver entering an uncontrolled intersection has sufficient visibility to take
control of his vehicle to be avoid collision with another vehicle.
• FACTORS AFFECTING SIGHT DISTANCE
• Speed of the vehicle
• Preparation time & break reaction time
• Efficiency of the brake.
• Frictional resistance of the road.
• Height of drivers eye sight from the road surface.
• Slope of the road surface
• Skills of the driver.
• SAFE SIGHT DISTANCE:
• The clear distance ahead of the driver to bring his vehicle to a stop before
meeting a stationary object on the road is called safe sight distance.
• It is the distance travelled by the vehicle during perception and break
reaction time including breaking distance. This distance in such cases is
taken as twice the distance required for a vehicle to come to stop

It is defined as the distance visible to the driver of a overtaking vehicle to

a another slow moving vehicle without causing possibility of accident to
the traffic in opposite direction, this distance is called safe passing sight
distance or overtaking sight distance. In 2 or more lane highways there
should be an opportunity for fast moving vehicles to overtake slow moving
vehicles.
PASSING OR OVER TAKING SIGHT DISTANCE;
It is defined as the distance visible to the driver of a overtaking vehicle to a
another slow moving vehicle without causing possibility of accident to the
traffic in opposite direction, this distance is called safe passing sight
distance or overtaking sight distance. In 2 or more lane highways there
should be an opportunity for fast moving vehicles to overtake slow moving
vehicles.
 # 1 Highway Engg ASSIGNMENTS - 01
1. Explain the role of transportation. Also name the different modes of
transportation.
2. List the characteristics of road transportation. Name the classification of
roads as per IRC.
3. List & explain the requirements of Ideal road alignment.
4. Explain the factors governing a new road alignment.
5. List & explain the various surveys to be conducted for new road alignment.
6. Write short notes on a) Right of way b) camber c) Super elevation d) Sight
distance.
7. Define curves & what are the advantages? Also list the types of curves.
8. What is gradient ? List & explain the various gradients provided for roads.
9. Discuss the necessity of widening of roads in curves.
10. Draw a typical c/ s of a national highway