HIGHWAY PLANNING AND

ALIGNMENT
 HISTORY OF ROAD
CONSTRUCTION
• FIRST ROAD CONSTRUCTED AT 1900
B.C.
• Roman roads
Roman roads
• The main features of the Roman roads are
that they were built straight regardless of
gradient
• They were built after the soil was
removed and a hard stratum was reached.
• Total thickness 0.75 – 1.2m
• They mixed lime and volcanic puzzolana
to make mortar and they added gravel to
this mortar to make concrete. Thus
concrete was a major Roman road making
innovation.
Construction procedure
 Tresaguet construction
• Pierre Tresaguet developed an improved
method of construction in France.
• Total thickness – only 30 cm.
 Telford construction
• Thomas Telford began his work in early
19th century.
• Using heavy foundation stones above the
soil subgrade.
• He provided a slope for top surface of
pavement by varying thickness of
foundation stones.
 Macadam construction
• Modification by Macadam:
• The importance of subgrade drainage and
compaction were recognised.
• Macadam suggest- heavy foundation stones not
necessary to be placed at bottom.
• Total thickness less than all previous methods.
 Highway planning in India

• Jayakar Committee
• Nagpur road congress 1943
• Bombay road congress 1961
• Lucknow road congress 1984
 IRC-INDIAN ROAD CONGRESS
• Central Governments semiofficial technical
body -1934.major recommendation by
Jayakar Committee
• Played an important role in formulation of
three 20year road development plans in
India.
• To recommend standard specifications
 HRB-Highway Research Board
• Set up in 1973.
• It gives proper direction and guidance to road
research activities in India.
• Objectives
 To ascertain the nature and extent of research
required.
 To correlate research information from various
organisations in India and abroad.
 To coordinate and conduct correlation services
 To collect and disseminate results on research.
 To guide consultative services
• 3 technical committees of HRB
Identification, monitoring and research
application
Road research evaluation and distribution
Bridge research evaluation
 Central Road Research Institute
(CRRI)
• In 1950,CRRI was started in New Delhi for
research in various aspects of highway
engineering.
• This institute engaged in applied research
and technical advice to state governments
and industries on various problems
concerning roads.
• The National Highways Authority of
India (NHAI) is an autonomous agency of
the Government of India, responsible for
management of a network of over 60,000
km of National Highways in India. The
Authority is a nodal agency of the Ministry
of Road Transport and Highways.
 MORTH
• The Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways, a branch of the Government of
India, is the apex body for formulation and
administration of the rules, regulations and
laws relating to road transport, national
highways and transport research, in order
to increase the mobility and efficiency of
the road transport system in India. Since
May 2009, the Ministry is under the
leadership of Kamal Nath
 Highway alignment
Once the necessity of the highway is assessed, the next process is
deciding the alignment. The highway alignment can be either
horizontal or vertical and they are described in detail in the
following sections.

• Alignment
• The position or the layout of the central line of the
highway on the ground is called the alignment.
Horizontal alignment includes straight and curved paths.
Vertical alignment includes level and gradients.
Alignment decision is important because a bad
alignment will enhance the construction, maintenance
and vehicle operating costs. Once an alignment is fixed
and constructed, it is not easy to change it due to
increase in cost of adjoining land and construction of
costly structures by the roadside.
 Requirements

• The requirements of an ideal alignment are

• The alignment between two terminal stations should be
short and as far as possible be straight, but due to some
practical considerations deviations may be needed.
• The alignment should be easy to construct and maintain.
It should be easy for the operation of vehicles. So to the
maximum extend easy gradients and curves should be
provided.
• It should be safe both from the construction and
operating point of view especially at slopes,
embankments, and cutting. It should have safe
geometric features.
• The alignment should be economical and it can be
considered so only when the initial cost, maintenance
cost, and operating cost are minimum.
 Factors controlling alignment

• Obligatory points- bridge site , mountain ,

intermediate town, religious places,
Lakes/ponds
• Traffic
• Drainage
• Political:
• Monotony:
• Hydrological (rainfall/water table):
 Special consideration for hilly
areas
• Stability of the slopes: for hilly areas, the road
should be aligned through the side of the hill that
is stable. The common problem with hilly areas
is that of landslides.
• Hill side drainage: Adequate drainage facility
should be provided across the road.
• Special geometric standards: The geometric
standards followed in hilly areas are different
from those in flat terrain.
• Ineffective rise and fall : Efforts should be made
to keep the ineffective rise and excessive fall
minimum
 CLASSIFICATION OF ROADS
• All weather roads, fair weather roads
• Paved roads and unpaved roads
• Surface and unsurfaced roads
• Classification of urban roads
• Urban roads other than expressways are
classified as
 Arterial roads
 Subarterial roads
 Collector street
 Local street
 Other criteria
Roads may also be classified based on the traffic volume in that road,
load transported through that road, or location and function of that road.

• Traffic volume : Based on the traffic volume, they are

classified as heavy, medium and light traffic roads.
These terms are relative and so the limits under each
class may be expressed as vehicles per day.
• Load transported : Based on the load carried by these
roads, they can be classified as class I, class II, etc. or
class A, class B etc. and the limits may be expressed as
tonnes per day.
• Location and function : The classification based on
location and function should be a more acceptable
classification since they may be defined clearly.
Classification of roads by Nagpur Road plan is based on
the location and function which we had seen earlier.
 According to Nagpur classification
• NH,SH,MDR,ODR,VR

• Major district roads

• Important roads with in a district serving areas of production and
markets , connecting those with each other or with the major
highways.
• India has a total of 4,70,000 kms of MDR.
• Other district roads
• Roads serving rural areas of production and providing them with
outlet to market centers or other important roads like MDR or SH.
• Village roads
• They are roads connecting villages or group of villages with each
other or to the nearest road of a higher category like ODR or MDR.
• India has 26,50,000 kms of ODR+VR out of the total 33,15,231 kms
of all type of roads.
 Pavement surface
characteristics
• Friction
• Unevenness
• Light reflection
• Drainage
 Camber

• Camber or cant is the cross slope provided to

raise middle of the road surface in the
transverse direction to drain off rain water from
road surface. The objectives of providing camber
are:
• Surface protection especially for gravel and
bituminous roads
• Sub-grade protection by proper drainage
• Quick drying of pavement which in turn
increases safety
 Shoulders

• Shoulders are provided along the road edge and

is intended for accommodation of stopped
vehicles, serve as an emergency lane for
vehicles and provide lateral support for base and
surface courses. The shoulder should be strong
enough to bear the weight of a fully loaded truck
even in wet conditions. The shoulder width
should be adequate for giving working space
around a stopped vehicle. It is desirable to have
a width of 4.6 m for the shoulders. A minimum
width of 2.5 m is recommended for 2-lane rural
highways in India.
 Footpath

• Footpaths are exclusive right of way to

pedestrians, especially in urban areas.
They are provided for the safety of the
pedestrians when both the pedestrian
traffic and vehicular traffic is high.
Minimum width is 1.5 meter and may be
increased based on the traffic. The
footpath should be either as smooth as the
pavement or more smoother than that to
induce the pedestrian to use the footpath.
• Right of way
• Right of way (ROW) or land width is the
width of land acquired for the road, along
its alignment. It should be adequate to
accommodate all the cross-sectional
elements of the highway and may
reasonably provide for future development
• The right of way width is governed by:
• Width of formation: It depends on the category of the
highway and width of roadway and road margins.
• Height of embankment or depth of cutting: It is governed
by the topography and the vertical alignment.
• Side slopes of embankment or cutting: It depends on the
height of the slope, soil type etc.
• Drainage system and their size which depends on
rainfall, topography etc.
• Sight distance considerations : On curves etc. there is
restriction to the visibility on the inner side of the curve
due to the presence of some obstructions like building
structures etc.
• Reserve land for future widening: Some land has to be
acquired in advance anticipating future developments
like widening of the road.