Hill Roads

Introduction
A hill road is one which passes through a terrain with a cross
slope of 25 percent or more.
A terrain can be classified into four groups based on the cross
slope of the country i.e slope approximately perpendicular to
the centre line of the highway alignment
o
o
o
o

Level or Plain terrain - Cross slope 0 to 10 percent

Rolling terrain
- Cross slope Greater than 10 upto 25 percent
Mountainous terrain and - Cross slope Greater than 25 upto 60 percent
Steep terrain
- Cross slope Greater than 60 percent

Classification of Hill roads (As per IRC:52-1981)

National Highways

State Highways

Major District Roads

Other District Roads

Village Roads
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Fig. Classification of Terrain

Classification of Hill roads (Border Roads organization)

Class 9 roads (6m wide for 3 tonnes vehicles)

Class 5 roads (4.9m wide for 1 tonne vehicles)

Class 3 roads (2.45 to 3.65m wide for jeeps)

 Ruling gradient is the maximum gradient within which the designer

attempts to design the vertical profile of a road. Gradients up to the
ruling gradient are adopted as a normal course in design of vertical
alignment and accordingly the quantities of cut and fill are balanced.
Hence ruling gradient is also known as design gradient
The selection of ruling gradient for purpose of design is a complex job
as several factors such as type of terrain, the length of grade, the speed,
pulling power of vehicles and presence of horizontal curves are
considered.
IRC Recommendation for ruling gradient values for design in different
terrains
For plain and rolling terrain 1 in 30 (3.3 percent)
For mountainous terrain 1 in 20 (5 percent)
For steep terrain 1 in 16.7 (6 percent)

Floating gradient- This may be defined as a longitudinal slope at which

no tractive effort is involved on the part of the vehicle to maintain design
speed
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Ref: IRC:SP:48-1988

Fig. Elements of roadway (in hills and plains)

Fig. Road Land

Design Speed

Ref: IRC:SP:48-1998

Design speed for various categories of hill roads

Note: Normally ruling design speed should be the guiding

criteria for correlating the various geometric standards.
Minimum design speed may however be adopted in sections
where site conditions including cost do not permit adoption of
ruling design speed.
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Sight Distance
Two types of sight distance are considered in design of hill roads, these are
a)

Stopping sight distance

b) Intermediate sight distance

Design values for stopping and intermediate sight distance for various speed

Note: The overtaking sight distance is not considered in design

of hill roads as it is not normally feasible/practicable on hill
roads.
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Width of Carriageway Shoulder and Roadway

Note:
The roadway widths are exclusive of parapets (0.6m width) and side drain (0.6m
width)
In hard rock stretches or unstable locations where excessive cutting may lead to
slope failure, width may be reduced by 0.8m on two lane and 0.4m on other roads
On horizontal curve extra width should be provided on curve
On roads subject to heavy snow fall, where snow clearance is done over long
periods, roadway width may be increased by 1.5m
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Camber/Cross Fall

Fig: Camber/Cross slope

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Fig: Typical details of vertical /

horizontal clearance
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Horizontal Alignment
General

Fig. Bad alignment

Note: Breaks in horizontal alignment at cross-drainage structures and sharp

curves at the end of long tangent/or straight section should be avoided.
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Fig. Reverse Curve

Note: Reverse curves if needed should be ensured that there is sufficient
length between the two curves for introduction of requisite transition curve

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Fig. Broken-Back Curve

Note:
Curves in the same direction separated by short tangents is known as
broken-back-curve.
It should be possibly avoided in the interest of aesthetics and safety and
be replaced by a single curve.
If this is not feasible, a tangent length corresponding to 10 seconds travel
time must at least be ensured between two curves.
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Fig. Compound Curve

Note:

Compound curves may be used in difficult topography but only when it
is impossible to fit in a single circular curve.

To ensure safe and smooth transition from one curve to the other, the
radius of the flatter curve should not be disproportional to the radius of the
sharper curve. A ratio of 1.5:1 should be considered the limiting value.
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Set-Back Distance

Fig. Visibility at Horizontal Curve

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Vision Berms

Where there is a cut slope on the inside of the horizontal
curve, average height of sight line can be used as an
approximation for deciding the extent of clearance.

For stopping sight distance , this may be taken as 0.7m.

Cut slopes should be kept lower than this height at the
line demarcating the set-back distance envelope, either by
cutting back the slope or benching suitably. Such a
provision is generally known as better benching or vision
berms.

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Fig. Vision Berms

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Blind curves
Blind curves are those on which sight distance available is less than the
safe stopping sight distance i.e. absolute minimum from safety point of
view.
While clearance of obstructions within the minimum set-back distance
is expected to ensure the minimum sight distance required as per
standards, in hill roads it may not always be possible to ensure this due
to terrain conditions.
In such cases certain curves will have sight distance less than minimum
as per standards and hence blind.
In a blind curve there is always the danger of a vehicle not being able to
come to stop before reaching danger point or a vehicle coming from the
opposite direction which is likely to collide with it, due to lack of
adequate sight distance.
It has to be ensured that blind curves are accepted only where it is un
avoidable and that also rarely in any stretch of road since trafficability
and safety of a hill road considerably reduced by blind curves.
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Hair-Pin Bends
This is three-centered compound curve which is designed
as a circular curve with transition curves at each end.
A hair pin bend is located on a hill side having minimum
slope and maximum stability.
Inner and outer edges of roadway of hair-pin-bend should
be concentric with respect to centre line of the pavement.
It is recommended by IRC that where a number of a hairpin-bend have to be introduced a minimum intervening
length of 60m should be provided between the successive
bends to enable driver to negotiate the alignment
smoothly.
At hair-pin-bends, preferably, the full roadway width
should be surfaced.
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Compound

Fig. Hair-Pin Bends

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Hair-pin-bend design criteria (IRC:SP-48-1998

It may be designed either as a circular curve with transition at each end,
or as compound circular curve. The following design criteria should be
followed

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Passing Places

Fig. Passing Places for ODR and VR

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Passing Places
Passing places are required on single lane hill roads to
facilitate crossing of vehicles approaching from the
opposite direction and to tow aside a disabled vehicle so
that it does not obstruct traffic.
They should be provided at the rate of 2-3 per km.
Normal size of passing place is 3.75m wide, 30m long on
inside edge and 20 m long on the farther side.
The exact location of passing places should be judiciously
determined taking into consideration the available extra
width and visibility.

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