The Role of Speed for Street in

Highway Design

Norman W. Garrick
Lecture 2.1
Street and Highway Design

The Role of Speed for Street and

Highway Design

Norman W. Garrick
Lecture 2
Street and Highway Design

Speed and The Role of the

Designer
Speed is perhaps the most important parameter
for the design of both streets and highways
As we saw in the speed survey, design has a
huge impact on the speed chosen by drivers
The role of the designer with respect to
designing for speed varies depending on if we
are designing for context time or system time

Context Time
Social Behavior Governs

Multi-functional
Culturally defined
Personal
Diverse
Unpredictable

The design should be such that the speed of vehicles are under control
In many Europe cities the maximum speed in built-up areas is 18 mph
This is not the tradition in the USA, but we are moving in that direction
In any case, the design should be consistent with the desired speed

System Time
Traffic Behavior Governs
Single purpose
Regulated
Impersonal
Uniform
Predictable

The design should be such that vehicles can operate safely at high speeds
In system time the operating conditions needs to be uniform and predictable
for safe high speed operations

Speed and Traffic Safety

Speed affect the severity of crashes
Not necessarily the number of crashes

Chance of Pedestrian Fatality vs. Impact Speed

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/foi/responses/2005/nov/203040message/paperaboutthedepartments20302445

Crash Severity
Probability of Fatality

Courtesy of Jim Charlier

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Change in Speed at Impact (mph)

Source: FHWA-RD-98-154

Annual US Traffic Fatalities

Courtesy of Jim Charlier

52,627

50,000

50,000

40,000

40,000

30,000

33,808

20,000

10,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

12,155

20
Source: NHTSA, FHWA

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

00

08

09

1970
Fatality per 100,000

Source: OECD - IRTD

1970
Fatality per 100,000

Source: OECD - IRTD

2005
Fatality per 100,000

Source: OECD - IRTD

2005
Fatality per 100,000

Source: OECD - IRTD

How Do We Talk about Speed

in Street and Highway Design?

 What are some terms that are used for characterizing speed?
How do we conceptualize speed for design purpose?

Common Description of
Speed

Operating Speed
Running Speed
Design Speed
Target Speed

Is design speed equal to running speed?

or operating speed?
or target speed?
What should be the relationship between
these various types of speed?

AASHTO Definition of Speed

AASHTO defines three different types
of speed
Operating Speed
Running Speed
Design Speed

AASHTO Definition
Operating Speed
The speed at which drivers are observed operating
their vehicle during free-flow conditions
In other words, this is the chosen speed of the driver on that
point in the road way (not encumbered by congestion or
weather or other adverse conditions)
This is the speed that I am trying to get at when I ask What
speed would you choose?
Typically AASHTO suggest using 85 percentile observed speed
to represent the operating speed

AASHTO Definition
Running Speed
The speed at which an individual vehicle travels
over a highway section
The running speed is not necessarily in the control of the
driver since it is affected by congestion and weather
What is the relationship between operating speed and running speed
for the same section of roadway?

AASHTO Definition
Design Speed
A selected speed used to determine the various
geometric design features of the road way
Say what?
To understand what design speed is, we need to look into i)
how it is selected, iii) what it is used for, and iii) how it is
used
It is a deceptively complex concept that is essential to parse in
order to understand how AASHTO design works

Selecting the Design Speed

The assumed design speed should be a logical one with respect to
the topography, anticipated operating speed, the adjacent land
use, and the functional classification of highway.
Except for local streets where speed controls are frequently included
intentionally, every effort should be made to use as a high a
design speed as practical to attain a desired degree of safety,
mobility, and efficiency within the constraints of environment
quality, economics, aesthetics, and social or political impacts

The selected speed should fit the travel desires and attitude of
nearly all drivers that are expected to use a particular
facility

What is Design Speed used For?

Once the design speed is selected, all of the pertinent highway
features should be related to it to obtain a balanced design.
Above-minimum design values should be used, where practical.
Some design features, such as curvature, superelevation, and
sight distance, are directly related to, and vary appreciably with,
design speed
Other features, are not directly related to design speed, but they do
affect vehicle speeds. Therefore, wider lanes, shoulders, and
clearances should be considered for higher design speeds

Alignment as 1/R Plot

1/R
Curve 1
0.0005
27+00
12+00

35+00

22+00

Station

-0.00075
Curve 2

How is Design Speed used in

Practice?
An Example
What is the design speed of the two roads shown?
Since both of these alignments are freeways they most likely have a
DS of 60 or 70 mph (lets assume 60 mph for this exercise)
(The alignments are presented as 1/R plots see next slide)

Highway A

Highway B

How is Design Speed used in

Practice?
An Example

Under the AASHTO procedure, the design speed is used to determine

the minimum radius of curvature for the roadway section. For a
design speed of 60 mph, the minimum radius of curvature is 1300
ft
The designer can then choose to use any radius larger than this
value. We can assume that this was the procedure that was
applied to these two sections of highway

How is Design Speed used in

Practice?
An Example
In the case of highway A, all the radii used are significantly larger than the
minimum. In fact, the smallest radius used is 5,500 ft, using the AASHTO
formula; this radius would be equivalent to a design of speed of about 120
mph.
We perhaps might not expect an operating speed of 120 mph, but it is clear
that this entire section of road could be comfortably traversed by most
drivers at speeds well in excess of the design speed.

Highway A
10-mile section of alignment
11 curves
Maximum Radius = 20,000 ft
Minimum Radius = 5,500 ft
Average Radius = 10,200 ft

How is Design Speed used in

Practice?
An Example
The alignment for Highway B is quite different: the smallest radius here is
1,432 ft and the average is 4200 ft - less than that the smallest radius for
Highway A. But again the result is the same, the operating speed would be
higher that would be expected, given the design speed.

Highway B
10-mile section of alignment
12 curves
Maximum Radius = 11,500 ft
Minimum Radius = 1,400 ft
Average Radius = 4,200 ft

What does this example tell us about Design

Speed?

The first question it raises in my mind is whether or not the DS

speed process results in a maximum or minimum limit on
actually operating speed

The second point I notice is that DS approach can produce very

different type of facility for the same design speed

Is design speed a maximum or a minimum

limit?
This example illustrates a very important feature of the design
speed approach that is not always appreciated by all
designers. The design speed sets a minimum level for the
potential operating speed on a roadway. This is not a major
problem on the two roads that are used as examples here.
In both cases we have high-speed freeways where there is no
risk of conflict between human activities along the road and
the speed of the vehicles on the road. This becomes,
however, a big issue when one is designing roads in a
context where high speeds affect livability and safety of
other road users - including pedestrians.

Is design speed a maximum or a minimum

limit?

The problem is that the design speed approach gives no guidance to

the designer on how to design for an upper limit on speed for a
given project. The result is that many newer roads and streets
have the look and feel of roads that are designed for 50 or 60
mph, but are sign-posted for 25 or 35 mph.

Variation in design for the same design

speed
It is important to note that an experienced and knowledgeable
designer can use this design speed approach and the technical
information in the AASHTO or similar guide to design context
appropriate roadways
However, the design speed approach does not readily facilitate the
development of a context sensitive design solution, and in fact all
too often it is used to produce context inappropriate designs

Variation in design for the same design

speed
In this regard, the design speed approach can be considered to be too
flexible this is illustrated by the two very different design solutions
that are represented by Highway A and Highway B above. Both
highways are designed using more or less the same criteria, but the
choices made about the alignments are very different.
Of the two roads, Highway A is more continuous, since the discontinuities
between curves and tangent sections are not as sharp and the
alignment is more curvilinear. Highway A is also more consistent, since
all the curves are about the same radii.
However, Highway A also has the potential for much higher operating
speeds because the curve radii are so large. (The actual operating
speeds will depend to some extent on other design factors, such as
the vertical alignment and the width.)

Controlling maximum speed in design

It would seem that the issue of varying operating conditions
for the same design speed should be addressed through
changes to the concept of design speed and how it is used
in the design process
In other words, the design procedure must provide an
approach to consider both the maximum and minimum
desired speed on the roadway. The design speed approach
only controls minimum speed on a road segment and gives
no guide for controlling maximum speed

The Relevance of the Design Speed Concept

The theory or research linking design speed to these various

design features is not always clear.
One key study, NCHRP 15-18, shows that in urban areas,
operating speed is relatively insensitive to geometric
characteristics.
In rural areas, operating speed is sensitive to radii and grade
but less so to other geometric characteristics.

The Problem of Using Design Speed in Urban

Areas
Under the AASHTO approach to design, the design speed
influences the choice of a host of design parameters, and
not just alignment design. These include features such as
lane-width, shoulder width, median width and the clear
zone. Design speed is also used to help decide on whether
a specific element should be part of the design for a given
roadway.
The problem is that these are the very features that we found
in our speed survey that helps to control speed. Therefore,
there is a conflict between the DS process and the need to
control speeds in most urban and some rural environment

The Problem of Using Design Speed in Urban

Areas

Based on these and other studies, some have pointed out that
design speed is only useful for the design of freeways and
other high speed highways
The concept of design speed seem to be misapplied when
used for urban streets or other streets that should operate
in context time

Target Speed

The idea of target speed is to select an appropriate speed for the

context and then to design to ensure that most drivers will chose to
go no faster than the target speed

Target Speed Approach

Design Speed Approach

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