CHAPTER 3

Introduction to Physical Design of Transportation Facilities

3.1 THE DESIGN PROCESS
There are many ways to describe the design process for transportation
facilities or transportation systems. The overall process of developing a
transportation project is a mixture of technical, legal, and political elements.
In this process, there is no clear distinction between what is usually referred
to as planning and the process known as design. Planning refers to the more
general and abstract parts of the process and design to the more detailed and
concrete, but both involve use of rational processes to decide how to use available
resources to achieve goals. The overall process is a coordinated process of
information gathering, analysis, and decision making. In most all cases, it is openended (that is, there is no one right answer, although some answers may be better
that others in terms of particular goals) and iterative, so that various alternatives
are proposed and evaluated before the final decision is made.
Figure 3.1 is one way of representing the overall transportation facility design
process.

Specific steps:
1. Deciding generally what sort of system or facility is needed a highway, a
mass transit route (or station), an airport, even a whole system. This step
is normally considered to be a part of the planning process, and is the
responsibility of transportation planning officials and the political system
as a whole; nevertheless, design engineers are the key participants.
2. Demand analysis for the system or facility to be designed. In this context,
transportation demand analysis is an attempt to predict, as accurately as
possible, the number or type of trips which will take place on a particular
facility.
3. Traffic performance analysis. In this step, the designer establishes the
relationship between anticipated demand and the design features of the
facility or system. This step is often referred to as capacity analysis.
4. Size the facility or system, based on performance standards and the traffic
analysis. For a highway, for instance, this consists of deciding the number
of lanes to be provided at various locations.
5. Determine the location of the facility or system. This step ordinarily
requires consideration of several alternative locations. Deciding between
them may further require preliminary designs, cost estimates, and
environmental impact analyses, and will usually involve public hearings
and other public decision processes.
6. Determine the configuration and/or orientation of the facility or system.
Orientation refers to such matters as the direction of an airport runway;
configuration refers to things like transit system route structures or
selection of highway interchange types.
7. Identify physical design standards. These are often a matter of policy
within a given design organization, but the individual designer must judge
the applicability of given design standards to particular situations.
8. Geometric design. Geometric design refers to establishment of horizontal
and vertical alignments and cross sections, based on considerations such
as operating characteristics of vehicles, design standards, and drainage.
9. Design auxiliary systems, such as drainage, lighting, traffic control, and
power supply (for electrified rail lines)
10.Design surface or guideway. This refers to the design of pavement or track
for land transportation facilities.
11.Estimate construction costs and project impacts. Major cost item in the
design of a transportation facility include land (right-of-way, earthwork,
structures, and control devices). Final cost estimates are necessary before
jobs can go out to bid. It is also necessary to identify environmental
impacts and the cost of environmental mitigation.
12.Evaluate design. Designs should be evaluated continually throughout the
design process. Evaluation are based on criteria such as physical
feasibility; economy; and social, economic, and environmental impacts.
3.2 DESIGN STANDARDS
Responsibility for the establishment of design standards varies, depending on the
type of facility. Design standards for the state highways are established by the state
departments of transportation. These standards are usually based on the
recommended standards of the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

Establishment of design standards for rail facilities is the responsibility of

each individual railroad company or transit authority. Recommended standards are
published by the American Railway Engineering Association.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established design standards
for airport landing areas (runways, taxiways, etc.)
The physical performance of a transportation facility, including its comfort
and safety, is a result of the interaction of vehicular characteristics, human
characteristics, and the characteristics of the transportation facility. Physical design
standards link physical performance to design elements such as horizontal
alignment, vertical alignment, cross section and various design details.

Transportation system characteristics (or design elements) to which design

standards apply include the following:

Minimum radius of horizontal curve. This standard applies to highways and

railways. For a given design speed, minimum curve radius is limited by
maximum allowable side friction, which is usually based on a comfort
standard; maximum superelevation rate (or banking) for the curve, and the
necessity to maintain stopping sight distance.
Maximum rate of superelevation. This standard applies to highways and
railways. For highways, maximum superelevation rate is limited by side
friction and by presence of roadside features such as driveways. The major
concern here is to prevent slow-moving vehicles from sliding to the inside
curve under slippery conditions. For railways, it is limited by the need ti limit
imbalances in the roads on the rails.
Maximum grade. This standard applies to highways, railways, and airport
runways. Maximum upgrades are limited by vehicle power/ weight ratios and
vehicle traction. Maximum downgrades are also limited by stopping distances
and sight distances. Maximum grade standards for particular classes of

roadway or railway are also influenced by traffic levels and the need to
maintain reasonable speeds on upgrades.
Minimum grades for some types of highways are limited by the need to
provide drainage.
Minimum cross-slopes for highways, runways, and taxiways are also limited
by the need to provide drainage.
Minimum length of vertical curve. This standard applies to highways,
railways, and airport runways and taxiways. For highways minimum length of
vertical curve is limited by stopping or passing sight distance requirements,
vertical acceleration, and appearance standards. For railways, minimum
length of vertical curve is also limited by the need to prevent jerk on
couplings in sag vertical curves. For runways and taxiways, minimum length
of vertical curve is limited by sight distance requirements.
Edge radii in roadway and taxiway intersections are limited by vehicle turning
radii. These, in turn, are related to vehicle wheelbase dimensions.
Minimum intersection setbacks (minimum distances to obstruction to vision)
are limited by stopping sight distance and driver gap-acceptance behavior.
Freeway ramp junction details are limited by gap-acceptance behavior,
steering behavior in entering and exiting lanes, and vehicle acceleration and
deceleration capabilities.
Horizontal and vertical clearances apply to all modes of transportation. These
are limited by vehicle dimensions and, in the case of horizontal clearances for
highways, by the need to provide clear recovery zones for vehicles that run
off the road.

3.3 DESIGN SPEED AND SIGHT DISTANCE

Design speed (for highways) is defined as the maximum safe speed that can be
maintained over a specified section of highway when conditions are so favorable
that the design features of highway govern.
Design speeds vary depending on terrain and the anticipated level and
character of use of the facility. For highways, AASHTO recommends the speeds
given in table 3.2.

Sight Distances
1. Stopping sight distance is the distance required to see an object 150 mm
high on the roadway.
The stopping sight distance s depends on the reaction of the driver
(including both perception time and the time required to react physically) and
the braking distance of the vehicle. That is,
s = dr +db
Wheredr = the distance traveled during the drivers
reaction time
db = the braking distance
The distance traveled during the reaction time of the driver is just the
speed of the vehicle times the reaction time, or
dr = vtr
where v = design speed
tr = drivers reaction time (including perception
time)
Braking distance can be computed by the formula,
db =

v2
2 g( f G)

where db = braking distance

g = acceleration of gravity
f = coefficient of friction between tires and
pavement

G = average grade, dimensionless ratio (m/m)

For cases for which G varies (for instance, in a vertical curve) an
average velue for the entire brake reaction distance is used. AASHTO also
gives the mixed unit formula,
db =

V2
254 f

Where V is in kilometers per hour, db is in meters, and the effect of

grade is ignored.
Values of f, like assumed reaction times, are chosen to be conservative,
and ay vary with design speed. Table 3.3 gives values of f recommended for
AASHTO.

Example 3.1 Determine the minimum stopping sight distance on a -3.5%

grade for a design speed of 110 km/h.
Total required stopping sight distance:
s = dr +db
Reaction distance:
dt = vtr = (110 km/h)

m/km
( 1000
3600 s/h )

Braking distance:
f = 0.28 (Table 3.3)
G = 0.035 (given)

(2.5 s) = 76.4 m

db =

v
2 g( f G)

km 1000 m/km
(110
)
h
3600 s / h

)]

= 194.4 m

2( 9.81 m/ s )(0.280.035)

Total sight distance:

s = dr +db = 76.4 + 294.4 = 270.8 m
2. Passing sight distance is the distance required to see an oncoming vehicle
of a certain minimum size. The normally concerns of these are only on twoway highway.
Calculation of passing sight distance is somewhat more
complicated, in that it depends on the relative speeds leading,
overtaking, ad oncoming vehicles, and on the minimum gap between
the oncoming vehicle and the vehicle being passed that the driver of
the passing vehicle will accept.

3.4 DESIGN DOCUMENTS

Required design documents for transportation projects will vary somewhat
depending on the type of facility. In many cases, these detail will be reproduced
from sets of standard plans, which are maintained by the most design agencies. The
four basic elements are:

1. The plan view (or simply plan). This is the drawing of the facility as it
would look to an observer directly above it.
2. The profile. This drawing has elevation as its vertical axis, and horizontal
distance, as measured along the centerline of the facility (or other
recognized reference line) as its horizontal axis.
3. The geometric cross-section. This view has elevation as its vertical axis
and horizontal distance, measured perpendicular to the centerline, as its
horizontal axis.
4. The superelevation diagram. This applies to curved facilities, such as
highways or railways, only. It consists of a graph with roadway or railway
cross-slope (vertical axis) versus horizontal distance (horizontal axis). The
cross-slope is measured relative to the centerline or some axis rotation for
the facility.