Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
&
Traffic Engineering
UNIVERSITY
OF
MAURITIUS
Assignment 2
COURSE:
MODULE:
CODE:
CIVE 2109
LECTURER:
Dr J. Rana
Submitted by:
PARMESSUR Ashvin ID: 1140263
NASEEVEN B. Allia ID: 1118803
UJOODHA Yashveer ID: 1110917
Question 1
Elaborate on the main criteria to consider when appraising a Highway Project.
Prior to commencement of a highway project, several important criteria shall be considered and
they are as follows:
All records that already exist, for example, topographical, geological, geotechnical.
All plans that are available, for example, existing building, existing services like aerial
CEB cable, CWA piping network or telecom networks.
2. In case we do not obtain sufficient information from a desktop study, we need to have the
following:
Aerial photography
Indication of feeling of terrain itself, that is, rivers, hill, mountains etc.
3. Topographical survey
Prior to a survey, a risk assessment must be performed by the health and safety
officer in order to assess the risk that the surveyor is exposed during the survey
for insurance purposes and also to know which protective equipment are to be
used.
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The geological engineer employs the scientific method which essentially requires
first, the observation and classification of physical conditions, second, the
formation of a hypothesis to explain those conditions and third, experimentation
to demonstrate through repeated results, whether the hypothesis is valid.
6. Engineering Survey
This task is performed by the civil engineer who works in detail on alignment, cut and fill
ratio and curvatures.
7. Type of highway
Which type of traffic will use the highway? Whether it will be a dual carriageway or
single highway.
8. EIA report
Normally in Mauritius a highway project will be a government project. Therefore, it is
exempted from and EIA report.
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Finding a different feasible option and it is important to note that if the funding
authorities find the project too expensive, the project might be differed.
Finally, decision makers (funding) will decide which alternative to choose despite
technicians will recommend the best alternatives though it is very expensive.
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Question 2
Explain the terms
Generated Traffic
Generated traffic is the supplementary travel when road capacity rises; the number of peak
period trips also intensifies until jamming again limits further traffic growth. Generated traffic
involves of diverted traffic (trips shifted in time, route and destination) and induced vehicle
travel (shifts from other mode, longer trips and new vehicle trips).
Generated traffic has 3 implications for transport planning:
1. It reduces the congestion reduction benefits of road capacity expansion.
2. It increases many external costs.
3. It provides relatively small user benefits because it consists of vehicles travel that
consumers are most willing to forego with their cost increase.
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Normal Traffic
It is the traffic that occurs without the construction of a new road or the improvement of an
existing one. It also includes the normal traffic growth. Normal traffic growth can be evaluated
by the extrapolation of the time series data of the traffic volume count on existing similar roads.
Directed Traffic
It is the traffic that occurs whenever there is a construction of a new road or improvement of an
existing one. In such cases, traffic is diverted to an alternate route which bypasses the project
area by following suitable traffic signs.
In the case for improvement of a road, the diverted traffic can be forecasted using the existing
traffic on the road itself.
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Question 3
Subsurface investigations
What are the factors determining the type and extent of subsurface investigations?
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1. Remote sensing
This is done to identify terrain conditions, geologic formation, site access conditions and general
soil and rock formations. Remote sensing data are obtained from satellites, aerial photographs,
and commercial aerial mapping service organizations.
2. Geophysical techniques
The commonly used geophysical tests are surface resistivity (SR), ground penetrating radar
(GPR) and electromagnetic conductivity (EM) which is effective in establishing ground
stratigraphy, detecting sudden changes in subsurface formations, locating underground cavities
in karst formations, or identifying underground utilities and/or obstructions. Mechanical waves
include the compression (P-wave) and shear (S-wave) wave types that are measured by the
methods of seismic refraction, cross hole, and down hole seismic tests and these can provide
information on the dynamic elastic properties of the soil and rock for a variety of purposes.
Advantages of geophysical techniques are that they have high penetration rates, no cuttings (only
pure sonic), cross contamination is minimized and high quality cores possible.
3. Disturbed sampling
Disturbed samples are usually taken in order to determine the soil type, gradation, classification,
consistency, density, presence of contaminants and stratification.
The methods for obtaining disturbed samples vary from hand excavating of materials with picks
and shovels to using truck mounted augers and other rotary drilling techniques. These samples
are termed as disturbed because during the sampling processes, their natural form and structure
are altered and modified.
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4. Undisturbed sampling
Undisturbed samples are used to determine the in place strength, compressibility (settlement),
natural moisture content, unit weight, permeability, discontinuities, fractures and fissures of
subsurface formations.
Even though such samples are termed as undisturbed, in reality they are disturbed to varying
degrees. The degree of disturbance depends on various factors, such as, the type of subsurface
materials, types and condition of the sampling equipment that are used, skill of drillers and the
storage and transportation methods that are being used.
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Question 4
Elaborate on the relationship between the cost of pavement (flexible and rigid) and
their design life.
All hard surfaced pavement types can be categorized into two groups:
1. Flexible
2. Rigid
Flexible pavements are those which are surfaced with bituminous (or asphalt) materials.
Because of the tendency of the whole pavement structure to bend or deflect due to traffic loads, it
is called flexible pavement. A flexible pavement structure consists of several layers of materials
which can support this flexing. It reflects the deformation of subgrade and the subsequent
layers to the surface. It does not require any reinforcement.
Flexible pavements have a low completion cost but high maintenance cost.
This type of
pavements can be used within 24 hours of completion of work as compared to rigid pavement
which cannot be used until 14 days of curing.
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Each of these pavement types distribute load over the subgrade in different ways.
Rigid
pavement, because of the high elastic modulus (stiffness) of the PCC, tends to distribute the load
over quite a large area of subgrade. The concrete slab itself mostly contributes to the structural
capacity of a rigid pavement. On the other hand flexible pavement uses more flexible surface
course and the load is distributed over a relatively smaller area. It depends on a combination of
layers for transmitting load to the subgrade.
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Question 5
Explain the following terms:
Weight of vehicle
Weight of a vehicle can be classified into two categories such as the tare weight and the
gross weight.
1. Tare weight
It is the weight of the vehicle when it is not carrying any passenger, goods or any other
items.
2. Gross weight
It is the total weight designed by the manufacturer of the vehicle which includes the
self-weight of the vehicle, the weight of passenger and the goods or any other items, to
ensure the safety of both the transport and the traveller.
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Height of vehicle
It is the vertical dimension in meters taking from road levels to end points (finish of cabin
for truck or ceiling for cars), when its tyres are suitably inflated.
Vehicle loads
It is the maximum weight that the vehicle can carry which are passenger loads, goods or
any other item loads, which is taken into consideration when designing highways. This is
due to the fact that the loads will be transmitted to the pavement through the wheels.
Kerb management
It is a guideline that assists road controlling authorities in choosing the most appropriate
kerb line protection from a number of preferred alternatives. This is done in order to
provide the safest possible road environment and also consider the safety of all road users
when selecting types and installing kerb. In other words, different types of kerbs have
their functions for different suitable places. So kerb management can be described as the
selection of kerbs for their correct place.
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Alignment
It is the vertical and horizontal location of a road.
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Lane width
It is the width of a single road lane and where line markings exist, it is the distance
between the centers of adjoining lane lines.
Gradient
It is the percentage of vertical or longitudinal slope.
Shoulder
A shoulder is that surfaced clear portion of the roadway cross-section immediately
adjacent to the carriageway edge. Shoulders are used as a retreat for vehicles forced to
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Axle load
The axle load of a wheeled vehicle is the total weight impact on the road by all wheels
connected to a given axle. It can also be described as the fraction of total load of vehicle
weight resting on the axle. Axle load is very important parameters in the design of roadways
as well as railways, as both are designed to sustain a maximum weight per axle (axle load).
While exceeding the maximum rated axle load, this will cause damages to the roadway or rail
tracks.
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References
Jim McDonnell, P.E., AASHTO, Staff Liaison., 2004. American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials. 5th ed. Washington: United States of America
THAGESEN, B., 1996. Highway And Traffic Engineering In Developing Countries. 1st ed.
Oxford: Great Britain.
Expanding Metropolitan Highways, Special Report 245, National Academy Press (Washington,
D.C.), 1995.
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