- ROAD -

History and Classification

Mesopotamia (3500BC)
Capital City of Ur (Moated Area)
City-State and Ziggurat

ziggurat "to build on a raised area" is a temple tower

Early Trade Routes
Silk Road: Linking Europe and Asia
• Trade in silk grew under the Han Dynasty
( 202 BC - AD 220)
• 7000 mile route spanned China, Central Asia,
Northern India, and the Parthian and Roman
Empires.
• Connected: Yellow River Valley to the
Mediterranean Sea
• Han Dynasty extended the military defenses
further into Central Asia from 135 to 90 BC in
order to protect these caravans.
Roman
Road
Network
Roman Roads
Road Sections
Cross Section Width
PAVEMENT DEVELOPMENT
John Louden Mac Adam
• drainage is essential
• roadway should be elevated above the surrounding surface
• structural layer of broken stone 8” thick and used stone of 2”-3” maximum
size laid in layers and compacted
• top layer was 2” thick, using ¾ “- 1” stone to fill surface voids between the
large stones
• continuing maintenance is essential.
 Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet
He developed an entirely new type of relatively light road surface,
based on the theory that the underlying natural formation, rather
than the pavement, should support the load.
His standard cross section was 18feet wide and consisted of 8”thick
course of uniform foundation stones laid edgewise on the natural
formation and covered by a 2” layer of walnut-sized broken stone.
This second layer was topped with a 1” layer of smaller gravel or
broken stone. In order to maintain surface levels,
Lastly, Trésaguet’s pavement was placed in an excavated trench- a
technique that made drainage a difficult problem.
 Thomas Telford
Telford placed great emphasis on 2 features:
(1) maintaining a level roadway with a maximum gradient of 1 in 30
(2)building a stone surface capable of carrying the heaviest anticipated
loads.
The roadways were 18 feet wide and built in 3 courses:
(1) a lower layer, 7” thick of good-quality foundation stone carefully
placed by hand (known as the Telford base),
(2) a middle layer, also 7”thick of broken stone of 2” maximum size,
(3) a top layer of gravel or broken stone up to 1”thick.
The cross section of a road includes some or all of the following elements:

• Traveled way (the portion of the roadway provided for the movement of
vehicles, exclusive of shoulders)
• Roadway (the portion of a highway, including shoulders, provided for vehicular
use)
• Median area (the physical or painted separation provided on divided highways
between two adjacent roadways)
• Bicycle and pedestrian facilities
• Utility and landscape areas
• Drainage channels and side slopes
• Clear zone width (i.e., the distance from the edge of the travelled way to either
a fixed obstacle or non traversable slope)
• Considered as a single unit, all these cross-section elements define the highway
right-of-way.
ROAD CLASSIFICATION
 Philippines Roads
Philippines roads can be classified into six
divisions:
• MaharlikaHighway
• Tollways (Expressways)
• Regional Highways
• Provincial Highways
• Provincial Link Roads
• City/Municipal Avenues and Roads.