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LISTING HIGHWAY PARAMETERS
For highway geometrics
Towards the development of a common methodology in international

highway design.
Author:
Robert E. Bartlett
Pre-Release Version 8c
April 2017

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 1: Introduction

About the author

Mr. Bartlett is an international consultant with over 30 years of professional
experience as a highway and traffic engineer. He has worked with leading
companies and organisations in several countries, including Germany, China
(Hong Kong), Qatar and the UK. His interests include urban studies, highway
engineeering, comparative geometrics and the use of GIS.

Mr. Bartlett has presented papers at conferences organised by the EC, the US
Institute of Transportation Engineers, the UK's AGI, and others.

Countries he has worked in include: Albania, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Hong
Kong, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, P.R.China, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia,
Switzerland, Tanzania, UAE, Uganda and the UK.

Email comments to : roadnotes2@gmail.com,

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-2

About the author

Mr. Bartlett is an international consultant with over 30 years of professional
experience as a highway and traffic engineer. He has worked with leading
companies and organisations in several countries, including Germany, China (Hong
Kong), Qatar and the UK. His interests include urban studies, highway engineeering,
comparative geometrics and the use of GIS.
Mr. Bartlett has presented papers at conferences organised by the EC, the US
Institute of Transportation Engineers, the UK's AGI, and others.
Countries he has worked in include: Albania, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Hong

Kong, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, P.R.China, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia,
Switzerland, Tanzania, UAE, Uganda and the UK.
Email comments to : roadnotes2@gmail.com

About Global Transport Atlas
Global Transport Atlas is a research project which looks at aspects of

highway design and traffic studies in different countries of the world,
and which publishes documents on these topics.
Sources of information include formal and informal design standards and

guidelines published in different languages, research papers, and in-country
contacts.

Table of Contents
Cover
Title page
About the author
About GTA
Table of contents 1-4
Part 1 - Introduction
1.1 Aim of this document
1.2 General structure of this document
1.3 Associated documents
1.4 Version history
Part 2 - Discussion 2-1
2.1 Introduction 2-2
2.2 What are “parameters” 2-3
2.3 Identifying parameters 2-5
2.4 Listing parameters 2-12
Part 3. Notes on the parameters 3-1
1. Road type
2. Vehicle type
3. Road users
4. Geometrics
4.1 speed
4.2 controls
4.3 horizontal alignment

4.4 vertical alignment
4.5 cross-sections
4.6 parking
4.7 junctions
5. Geography
6. Economics
7. Engineering
8. Aesthetics
9. Concepts
Part 4. Lists of parameters 4-1
1. Road type
2. Vehicle type
3. Road users
4. Geometrics
4.1 speed
4.2 controls
4.3 horizontal alignment
4.4 vertical alignment
4.5 cross-sections
4.6 parking
4.7 junctions
5. Geography
6. Economics
7. Engineering
8. Aesthetics
9. Concepts

Part 5 - Definitions 5-1
Part 6 - Annexes
Introduction
Annex 1 Glossary (excerpt)
Annex 2 List of references (excerpt)

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION
Contents of this section:
1.2 General structure of this document
1.4 Version history

Suggests there should be a simpler way to

document the principles behind the geometric
design of a new road.
Wherever you travel in the world you will find many different types of road, and different types of
vehicle which use them. The road you are using might be a motorway or a country lane, the vehicle
a truck-trailer combination or a bicycle. If you are planning a new road you will also find many
different documents which give you advice - and perhaps instructions - on how to design it, and
how knowledge of the types of vehicle which will use your road can affect your decisions.
These documents appear in different languages, and cover different political and administrative
areas such as countries or urban areas. In the USA there are documents issued at a national level,
by individual states, and by individual cities or special interest groups. So far as language is
concerned, many very useful documents are published in languages other than English- those by
Germany’s FGSV (in German) and by Chile’s Ministry of Public Works (in Spanish) are just two
examples.
But differences in administrative area and differences in language have nothing to do with the
design of roads. After all, a truck driver travelling between France and Germany does not have to
stop at the frontier between area and language and change his vehicle for a different one.
Documents on road design - from local guidelines to international standards to textbooks - all
approach the topic of highway design differently; Even when published in the same language and
country, road design documents use different terms for the same engineering feature such as
speed; and they hide the details of the feature in a puzzle of pages and an impenetrable fog of
words.
If we can eliminate these problems of language, boundaries and terminology then the people who
prepare design documents would be able to present their suggestions in a consistent manner. This
would allow readers to compare these ideas and decide which ones were the most promising for
their own project. It would also be possible to reduce the presently very large number of highway
design documents, and so help make road design a more efficient exercise.
Parameters - one way to simplify matters would be to begin with the building blocks of highway
design, with what we can call "parameters". There are more than a thousand parameters involved
in just the geometric design of roads, and many more for the materials aspects of road design. This
document therefore is limited to a discussion of geometric design parameters, Examples of these
include road type, lane width, and vertical gradient. The basic argument is that once designers

agree that, say, "lane width" is a useful parameter - and once they can agree on what they mean by
"lane width" - then people who issue road design standards can structure them in terms of these
parameters, and people who use the standards will be able to compare different solutions and
values for a particular parameter. This means that there are three key steps for any parameter -
identifying it, deciding on just one term to refer to it, and providing a definition of it.
Once design standards use a consistent approach to identifying and defining a parameter, road
designers will be able to search design standards for different solutions or values for the
parameter, and then to select the most convincing one as the current best practice solution for
their project.
The aim of this document is to present a structured list of all the parameters involved in the
geometric design of roads. The document also includes a discussion on the problems of highway
geometrics and parameters, some notes on the main parameter groups, and examples of how to
present solutions for individual design parameters.

1.2 General structure of this

document
Lists the groups into which parameters

involved highway geometric design have been
sorted, and summarises the various parts of
this document,
Parameter groups
This document looks at the parameters involved in highway geometric design. Early work quickly
identified several hundred parameters. It is easy to lose an overview with so many, and so it was
decided to gather the parameters identified into a small number of groups. The parameters in each
group have a common theme, as their names suggest.
Even with this step, one group still had a large number of parameters, and so it was further divided
into a number of sub-groups.
The groups and sub-groups are:
1. Road type
2. Vehicle type
3. Road users
4. Geometrics
4.1. Speed
4.2. Controls
4.3. Horizontal alignment
4.4. Vertical alignment
4.5. Cross-sections
4.6. Parking
4.7. Junctions
5. Geography
6. Economics
7. Engineering
8. Aesthetics
9. Concepts
Structure of this document

This document has seven parts. The first part is the present, “introduction” section.The six other
parts are:

Part 2 includes a detailed discussion of what geometric parameters are and the problems
associated with identifying them.
Part 3 - has notes on each of the nine parameter groups, and on the seven sub-groups of
"geometrics"
Part 4 - includes starter lists of parameters for each group and sub-group
Part 5 - list of definitions for this document
Part 6 - annexes, with details from a glossary and details of references

This document is one of a wider series of

publications and extracts,
Listing parameters may be a useful step in simplifying a study of highway geometrics, but by itself
does not take designers into very much engineering detail. More information is contained in a
number of associated documents. Some deal with the topic of “parameters” in general. The layout
and content of others vary with the various parameter group they refer to - although their general
structure is still the same for each group.
General documents
Table of parameters A structured list of parameters. The parameters are sorted into
groups and sub-groups, and into levels of importance (see later). At
least one source reference is given for each parameter.
Glossary of parameters A document with one or more definitions for each parameter. The
definitions may be contradictory.
List of references A list of source documents, with details such as publisher, language,
country of publication and so on
And
Specific documents
List of solutions List of different solutions for a particular parameter, with notes of the
standard or document each was taken from
Solutions Documents with detailed information on one specific solution. Usually

one- or two-pages long, they are usually in English, although the
source publication may be in another language.
Other related documents

Road Design Standards Country-by-country listing of important and interesting documents on

designing for road transport - both motorised and non-motorised.
There are also separate lists of multi-country documents and topic
documents.
Discussion papers Documents which look in detail at a particular geometric design

parameter, such as minimum horizontal radius.

1.4 Version history
A record of the updates and versions of the

published versions of this document,
Listing parameters may be a useful step in simplifying a study of highway geometrics, but by
itself does not take des
Version history
Revision Date Details Notes
LHP March 2017 First pre-release version of the Limited issue edition,
pre-release 8 full document circulated for comments

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 2: Discussion
PART 2 - DISCUSSION
2.1 Introduction
2.2 What are “parameters”
2.3 Identifying parameters
2.4 Listing parameters

2.1 Introduction
This section discusses what is meant by the

word "parameter". It goes on to talk about how
parameters can be listed, that some
parameters may be more important than
others, and that it is possible to create not just
a list of parameters but some sort of
structured list of parameters.

2.2 What are “parameters”
Explains what this document means when it

uses the term “parameter” in the context of
highway geometric design..
Searching for examples

One way to explain what parameters are is to search the Internet for dictionary definitions of the
term. Such a search might produce results such as:
"A numerical or other measurable factor forming one of a set that defines a system or sets
the conditions of its operation"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
And
"Definable, measurable, and constant or variable characteristic, dimension, property, or

value, selected from a set of data (or population) because it is considered essential to
understanding a situation (or in solving a problem)"
http://www.businessdictionary.com
However these results do not specifically relate to highway design. Another way to find out what
the term “parameter” means would be to search published documents on highway design for
paragraphs where the term is used. Examples found include:
"A compilation of the 85th percentile values of the various parameters of the vehicle type
being designed for, e.g. length, width, wheelbase, overhang, height, ground clearance, etc.,
and not a commercially available vehicle".
Ref. 2247, South Africa, 2015
And
"Included under location and geometry of site are parameters that are likely to vary along
the entire length of the road being considered. These parameters are radius of curvature
and superelevation of the road, longitudinal gradient, altitude and shade".
Ref. 834, UK, 2007
The results give a general understanding of what the term means in the context of road design,
even though they do not include a formal definition of it. But this sort of search can produce a
number of results which may not mean the same as "parameter", or which might be special
variations of it, for example:
● Design parameter (ref. 929)
● Basic design parameter (ref. 138)
● Geometric design parameter (ref. 1038)

A search of technical documents will also produce terms which, although they use different words,
may mean the same as “parameter”. For example, the book “Road engineering for development”
(ref. 856) has a section headed “Geometric design elements”. The section lists a number of these
elements which “.... must be considered when carrying out the geometric design”. As a matter of
interest, the list is structured with elements sorted into three groups: horizontal alignment, vertical
alignment, cross-section.
Working definition
So published documents may include notes on “parameters” which use terms which mean the
same thing but use different words, or use the same word but may mean something different. It
might then be as easy to begin with a working definition for the purpose of this document, such as:
"In the context of the geometric design of roads, a parameter is a definable, quantifiable
feature or variable which influences or sets the conditions of the design"
Author

2.3 Identifying parameters
Works from a discussion of what a road design

“standard” is, to identifying relevant standards,
and picking out relevant parameters. It
includes a discussion on terms and language.
2.2.1 What is a standard
Suppose we begin with the idea that - so far as a discussion of road geometrics is concerned - a
“standard” is a document which is published by a specialist government department such as the
UK’s Department of Transport, a document which contains detailed technical notes on geometric
road design, and which may represent required practice. We might also begin with the idea that
such “standards” also represent unquestionable best practice and can be followed with little extra
thought.
Both these ideas are misleading and incorrect, for example because:
● Many non-government bodies publish useful documents on geometric design

● Government bodies issue documents on suggested practice as well as on required practice
and it is also probably true that:

● Documents on the same topic but published by different bodies often give conflicting
advice
● The advice in standards can vary over time
● Standards are not necessarily unique - they can contain material copied from other
documents
● Where the advice in a standard does not vary with time, the advice is probably out of date
● Different standards can give different advice on the same geometric design parameter
● Standards can be wrong
Here are some notes on such documents:
1. Many organisations publish standards

Many central and local government bodies produce publications on the geometric design of roads.
They include, in the USA,
● The FHWA (Federal Highway Authority) for example with its Separated bike lanes planning
and design guide (ref. 2184)
● the State of Illinois' Department of Transport (Bureau of design and environment manual)
(ref.1999)
● The city of Philadelphia (e.g. the Philadelphia complete streets design handbook) (ref.2333)

Non-government organisations which produce these publications include universities, publishing

houses, and special interest groups such as, again in the USA
● University of Michigan (Parameters affecting stopping sight distance)

● McGraw Hill (Highway engineering handbook, 2nd edition)
● Institution of Transportation Engineers (e.g. Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A
Context Sensitive Approach - an ITE recommended practice)
There are also standards which are published by organisations which cover more than one country.
Examples are
● The UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) - Trans European Motorway
standards and recommended practice, third edition
● United Nations - Asian Highway Handbook
2. The advice in standards can vary over time
An example here is the document "A policy on the geometric design of highways and streets", which is
published by AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) .
The 6th edition of this document was published in 2011. If the advice it contained did not change
there would be no need for a new edition.
3. Standards often include material copied from other documents
An example of one standard including material from another is volume1 part II of Paraguay's
"Normas para la Evaluacion de Proyectos y Geometria Vial" (ref. 895) of 2011 ends with a bibliography.
This suggests that the document is based on research and publications in other countries in South
America. The bibliography includes references to the AASHTO guideline (1994 edition) and to
South Africa's "Geometric design guidelines". This does not mean that the Paraguay document is not
a valuable publication in itself.
4. Standards may contain out-of-date information
An example here is Dutch road design guidelines for freeways. In a paper on horizontal curves, the
authors Broeren, Uittenbogerd, Groot, Ruijs say that
"The design of horizontal curves is incorporated in the Dutch road design guidelines for
freeways (NOA) and highways (Handbook Road Design). Although the horizontal curve
sections of the latest editions of these guidelines are updated, fundamental parameters
and parameter values remain unchanged; vehicle and road characteristics research from
the 1970s is still the foundation for the guidelines. Since modern vehicles, road pavement
surface and driver characteristics can’t be compared to those of the 1970s, fundamental
research is needed to determine a representative guideline on horizontal curves".
(ref. 2326, Netherlands, 2015)
5. Standards which discuss the same geometric parameters may not be based on the same
understanding of them
Another document, this time from South Africa on low volume sealed roads (LVSR), contains a
paragraph which refers to different standards and guidelines from various countries. It says that:

"All the guidelines/manuals listed above are based on different philosophies and make
different assumptions or use different criteria for developing design values for the various
design elements.
For example, some guides give emphasis to safety considerations while others may place
emphasis on service level, capacity, comfort or aesthetic values. Not surprisingly, the
resulting design values recommended, and their related cost implications, all
differ,sometimes quite significantly.
Thus, it is essential for the designer to have a thorough understanding of the origin,
background and basis of development of the design guides or manuals and related design
criteria as a basis for adaptation, where necessary, and subsequent judicious application to
LVSR situations".
(ref 1042, South Africa, 2003)
Unfortunately it is not easy to get a “thorough understanding of the origin, background and basis of
development of the design guides or manuals …. “ , or even to find the particular advice you may be in
need of, since these documents often have an impenetrable layout, and where the advice on a
particular parameter is fractured across different chapters and sections of the document, without
any clear cross-link between them.
Working definition of a “standard”

Documents on the geometric design of roads come in various shapes and formats, from textbooks
to research papers, government advice notes, and in some cases even Powerpoint presentations.
For the purpose of this document, a definition of a standard might be:
"In the context of the geometric design of roads, a standard is a document with some claim
to authority, which provides information and guidance on the geometric design of roads"
Author

2.2.2 Identifying relevant standards
“Standards” - useful documents which describe the geometric design of roads - are published in
many different countries and many different languages. After all there is no reason to suppose that
(for example) a document published in Germany or China, or in the French or Russian languages, is
not as useful as s document which is published in the UK, or in English.
A first step towards identifying these standards was made with the publication of the
document "Road design standards - by country", which is also a “Global Transport Atlas”
document. The latest version 6.1.1 was published in September 2016, and covers 79
countries and includes details of 7 multi-country standards. The purpose of the
document is stated as:
"Most countries issue their own guidelines on highway geometric design (and some issue
more than one guideline). The guidelines offer a good place to start from when a new
project involves road design in their country. Compiling a document on guidelines in
different countries is also one step towards identifying current best practice in design.
.
This document provides an overview of what the current standards are in a number of
different countries. The details are as accurate as could be prepared at the time of
publication, but there are no claims that they are either complete or fully up to date”.
The publication is associated with a digital document archive of standards which presently contains
over 2,000 publications from a number of countries, and in a number of different languages.
Other sources of information on standards include online lists of publications. For example, some
technical organisations have searchable databases with details of their technical publications and
standards.

2.2.3 Extracting relevant parameters
Some standards make it easy to identify at least some relevant parameters, whilst others seem to
make it particularly difficult, even without a consideration of terminology (see later). Examples of
the former include a document issued by the City of Norwalk, USA on “basic design controls” (ref.
2388) and Delaware Department of Transport’s Road Design Manual (ref. 1010), which has a
separate chapter on “Design controls”. Here, “design control” could be seen as alternative term for
“parameter”.
Less easy documents include standards where the use of terms to refer to a particular parameter is
not consistent, where these terms / parameters are not defined, or where the discussion of a
parameter is fragmented into parts spread across a hundred pages or more of text .
Further, some parameters fall out of fashion, as did a number of parameters for the measurement
of length (e.g. ell, rod and perch). Other, new parameters may appear -for example “curvature
change rate of the single curve“, as in:
"The case of two-lane rural roads with traffic volumes in the range of 1 000 to 12 000
vehicles per day as reflected in United States, German and Greek databases was
considered in order to assess the impact of various design parameters, e.g. lane width,
radius, sight distance and gradient, on the variability of operating speeds and accident
rates4. It was found that most of this variability could be explained by a new parameter,
Curvature Change Rate of the single curve (CCRs)".
Ref.929, Germany / South Africa, 2001
This means that trying to prepare a list of parameters in geometric road design is not as
straight-forward as might be expected. There is also the problem of terms, the combination of
words used to name a particular parameter (see next section).
Approach used for this document
This involved a search through a large number of (mostly digital) documents. The main steps are:
● Restrict the initial search to a single language (English)

● Find relevant standards
● Extract parameters
● Find one or more definitions for each parameter
● List parameters together with a source reference and one or more definitions

2.2.4 A note on terms and language
A note on terms
Any discussion on geometric road design cannot avoid some consideration of technical terms and
the language they are expressed in. Here, “terms” are the groups of words which become the
“names” of different geometric design parameters. The present version of this document mainly
refers to design standards which are published in just one language (English). But this does not
mean that these standards use the same term for a particular parameter - or indeed that they use
the same term consistently within their own document.
Even where two standards use the same term for a geometric parameter it would be wrong to
assume that they have the same definition for the parameter. This makes it risky to use advice
from a standard which does not have any definitions at all.
We can find examples where different terms refer to the same parameter, and where the same
term can have different meanings. This may also cause problems, as where a writer of one
standard uses material on a geometric parameter from a number of other standards, and where
these other standards have different definitions for the parameter.
It is not unusual for one standard to take material from a number of other standards. In a perfect
world this might be acceptable. But where two or more different definitions can be found for the
same parameter, design engineers should take this as a warning sign. To take a basic example we
can find several different definitions - and suggested dimensions for a parameter as basic as a
design car. If the engineer from country A uses a standard from country B to design a car park,
perhaps the resulting parking spaces will be too small for the local vehicle fleet.
The following table gives some examples.
This document has its own section on “definitions”, but it might be useful to include two of them at
this point:
Definitions
Either an explanation of the meaning of a parameter, found in a standard or, where an explanation
cannot be found, one or more examples of the use of the term.
Standards
A collection of documents, including all the national and local standards identified in the
publication "global standards", and also a large number of technical papers and reports which
cover topics in the road design area.
A note on language
Where the tems for parameters are in English there may be several alternative terms for the same
parameter. The same is probably true for other languages. The result can make a complicated
situation almost impossible, once a language translator has been at work. Take for example the
parameter "harmonic mean speed". In English there are three alternative terms which represent
this parameter, and perhaps standards published in Spanish also have three different terms for it.
Translators would then have to work with nine different possible combinations of terms - without
even considering that many translators who are not also technical specialists will probably come up
with new terms of their own.

Table 1: Problems associated with terminology
Problems Example Notes Source

Different words, ● macroscopic mean A distinction is drawn between Ref. 2247
same meaning speed microscopic mean speed and
● space mean speed macroscopic mean speed. The former
● harmonic mean speed is the average of the individual speeds
of a sample of vehicles and is also
referred to as ‘time mean speed’. The
latter, also referred to as ‘space
mean speed’ or ‘harmonic mean
speed’, refers to the average
travel times across the length of the
roadway.
Same words, Flat terrain For example,

different meaning ● Flat terrain with largely Ref. 294
unrestricted horizontal and
vertical alignment; transverse
terrain slope between 0 and 10
percent
And
● The topographical condition Ref. 763
where highway sight distances,
as governed by both horizontal
and vertical restrictions are
generally long or could be made
to be so without construction
difficulty or expertise. The
natural ground, cross slopes (i.e.
perpendicular to natural ground
contours) in a flat terrain are
generally below 3%
Same words, Profile grade line For highways, superelevation is usually Ref. 782
meaning changes applied by rotating the cross section
with road type about the profile grade line. This will
be the centerline in the case of
two-lane highways, undivided
multilane highways, and multilane
divided highways with paved medians.
For multilane divided highways with

wide medians, the inside edge of
traveled way is often used as the axis
of rotation.
For freeway ramps, the axis of rotation

will normally be the edge of traveled
way closer to the freeway; however, it
may be shifted to avoid sags in the
edge grade of the ramp.

2.4 Listing parameters
Introduces the idea of associating parameters

with levels of importance. Discusses the
development of a structured list of
parameters.
2.3.1 Parameters and levels of importance
Parameter groups
Section 1.2 above explained that there are hundreds of parameters in the geometric design of
roads, and introduced the idea of “parameter groups”, where the parameters in each group have a
common theme. For a particular group, the resulting list of parameters might then give the
impression that all geometric parameters are equally important - but of course, this is not the case.
A quick search through a number of standards will produces terms such as key parameters,
important parameters and critical parameters, as for example:
“.... In describing traffic streams in quantitative terms, the purpose is to both understand
the inherent variability in their characteristics and to define normal ranges of behavior. To
do so, key parameters must be defined and measured”.
Ref. 1036, USA, 2004
And
“The Manual deals with each of these road types and the national standards for particular road
types are set out and explained in Part B. Part B can be used by the engineer or others who simply
needs to look-up the values of the key parameters”.
Ref. 1005, Ethiopia, 2011
“Design speed is a most important parameter in road design. It is used to select geometric design
features such as alignment and cross section elements”.
Ref. 1888, Australia, 2006
“The curvature of crest curves should be sufficiently large in order to provide adequate
sight distance for the driver. In order to provide this sight distance, the curve length L is a critical
parameter”.
Ref. 587, Ireland, 2003
There are at least two ways to identify the level of importance of a particular parameter. One is to
note that some parameters are dependent on others. For example, horizontal radius is dependent
on parameters such as "design speed" and "superelevation". A second way of identifying levels of
important that some parameters are related to others, but imply more detail. For example,

● Parameters such as "port roads" and "forest roads" are more detailed types of the
parameter "resource access road"
● A design parameter such as "control lines" might be related to a more detailed level such
as "axis of rotation", and this in term to yet another level, such as "rotation about the
centerline profile of traveled way"
2.3.2 Giving parameters a structure
Other publications refer, at least indirectly, to the concept of a structured list of parameters. For
example the document “Road engineering for development, 2nd ed.” (ref.856) includes the
following graphic from a publication by Beaumont and Beavan:
Here the list steps down as in

● Engineering/Economics
○ User co sts
■ Topography

The list of parameters in part 4 below combines the ideas of “parameter groups” and “levels of
detail” to produce a list of parameters sorted into one of a number of levels. The list from reference
856 above would appear as:
Parameter group Parameters
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Economics
User costs
topography
And, examples of other parameters:
Parameter group Parameters
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
1. Road type Resource access road Port roads
Forest roads
2.Vehicles Non-motorised transport Bikes Conventional bike
Bike with child trailer

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 3: Notes on the Parameters
PART 3 - NOTES ON THE PARAMETERS
Notes on the parameters grouped as follows:
1. Road type 4. Geometrics 5. Geography

2. Vehicle type 4.1. Speed 6. Economics
3. Road users 4.2. Controls 7. Engineering
4.3. Horizontal 8. Aesthetics
alignment 9. Concepts
4.5. Cross-sections
4.6. Parking
4.7. Junctions

1 Road types Level 1 parameters
● Resource access roads

Road types is a group of parameters which refer to
the intended use of the road, and sometimes to the ● Low traffic roads
road's function or design. ● Low speed roads
● Speed range roads
● Land use roads
● Special function roads
● Vehicle type roads
● Other roads
● Special section roads
● Weather roads
● Transport function roads
● Junction links
● Streets
Discussion
The initial search through the available standards looked for words such as "road, street, freeway,
expressway". It produced a starter list with over a hundred terms. Some standards not only list
parameters of this type, they also give the list a structure. So for example, one standard gives a
structured list of 28 different types of street (ref. 2328, Australia, 2016).
The initial search also identified a number of problems, for example on topics such as:
● Functional classification
● Inconsistent technical terms
● Related terms
Functional classification
Road classification is a subject which is worth a full discussion of its own; functional classification is
only one example of it - indeed, the technical literature includes more than 80 different ways of
classifying roads. But functional classes are not necessarily the same as road types. One reason is
that function depends on scale - for example, what might be an important, arterial road on a city
scale might only be an access road on a national scale. It can even be argued that functional
classification simplifies to just three classes, regardless of the scale being considered:
● Short distance traffic roads
● Intermediate distance traffic roads
● Long distance traffic roads
This idea of just three classes of function can be seen in a the text of a number of technical
documents. For example a UK reference (ref. 2352) on industrial estate roads suggests three
classes (approach roads, access roads and culs-de-sac). Another document, the AASHTO Green
Book (ref. 831) says that
“the principal arterial system is stratified into the following three classifications: (1)
Interstate highways, (2) other freeways and expressways, and (3) other principal arterials”.

Arguably, a functional classification will say what a particular road is for (e.g. long-distance traffic)
but not how important a road is, and certainly not whether a road has a particular design speed, or
number of carriageways, lane width, maximum gradient and so on.
Inconsistent technical terms
Even with standards published in the same language, the use of terms to describe a particular
parameter can be loose, with the meaning of the term / parameter changing depending on who is
describing it. One such term is “Expressway”. Here are some descriptions of the term:
Expressways are functionally classified as Other Principal Arterials and are constructed with
partial control of access.
(ref. 2327, USA, 2016)
Freeways. The highest type of arterial highway is the freeway, which is defined as an
expressway with full control of access
(ref. Xxxx, USA, --)
Expressway. A divided arterial highway for through traffic with full or partial control of
access and generally with grade separations at major intersections
(ref. 2396, USA, --)
Expressway - An arterial highway with at least partial control of access, which may or may
not be divided or have grade separations at intersection
(ref. 1623, USA, 2012)
It seems that, even when referring to documents from just one country and one language,, an
expressway may or may not be divided, may or may not have full control of access, and may or
may not have grade-separations. This inconsistency suggests that the term “expressway” cannot
be taken as a specific road type parameter.
Related terms (1) Rural roads, urban roads
Some design standards distinguish between urban and rural areas, and between urban and rural
roads. But often the meaning of “rural road” can be very vague in the sense of implying specific
geometric values - the term could refer to a road with a design speed of 40 km/hr as easily as one
with a speed of 120 km/hr. Further, road geometric standards do not agree that land use /
topography can be split simply into only two types. For example, although the AASHTO Green Book
(Ref. 831) explains the need to distinguish between urban and rural areas as in:
“Urban and rural areas have fundamentally different characteristics with regard to density
and types of land use, density of street and highway networks, nature of travel patterns,
and the way in which these elements are related”.
(ref. 831, USA, 2011)
.... other documents add further types of area. For example the Illinois BDE document (ref. 2327)
introduces three types of land-use area, adding “suburban” to the list, and a document from South
Africa (ref. 148) introduces yet another term (“metropolitan areas”),.
Keith Wolhuter (ref. 2247) goes even further, and introduces eight types of “sub-area”. Here is a
quote from his publication:
“As discussed later, design of roads in urban areas differs completely from that in rural
areas. Urban areas include a wide range of vehicle types moving in high volumes and
relatively low speeds, whereas in rural areas the differences in vehicle types becomes less

critical, speeds tend to be high and volumes low. Within these two areas, many subareas
also present themselves such as.
● Urban centres
● Urban corridors
● Suburban corridors and nodes
● Industrial corridors
● Residential areas
● Rural town centres
● Transitional areas
● Rural connecting corridors
There are significant differences between these subareas in the types and numbers of
vehicles present. Traffic patterns and speeds differ and the needs of the people in each are
also going to differ”
(ref. 2247, CRC Press, 2015)
In this case, the values for design parameters of roads in these areas would probably be different.
We could then have road type parameters such as urban centre roads, transitional area roads and
so on. In the present document, the two terms rural road, urban road still appear in the list of
parameters, but with some reservations.
Related terms (2) High speed roads, low-speed roads
There is a similar inconsistency in the use of these terms. For example one source (ref. 2327) refers
to high speed roads as “high-speed facilities (i.e., posted speeds of 45 mph (~ 70 km/hr) or greater)"
- but other sources refer to different values of speed and different parameters of speed:
A maximum rate of 0.06 (of superelevation) is recommended for urban high-speed

roadways (50 mi/h or greater)
(Ref. 829, USA, 2004)
"High speed rural roads - These are roads that are designed for operating speeds in excess
of 90 km/h. This may include freeways, which are intended to provide a high quality of
service for large traffic volumes".
(ref. 1887, Australia, 2010)
"High speed roads - On high standard roads, ie. where design speeds are 100 km/h or
higher, drivers tend to adopt a relatively uniform travel speed. This will generally be less
than the speed assumed for the design of individual geometric elements but drivers will
expect to be able to maintain a high travel speed on this type of road".
(Ref. 80, New Zealand, 2003)
Another source (ref. 1887) refers to intermediate speed roads, which makes a simple two-way split
into high speed/low speed roads somewhat less defensible.

Detailing "road type" parameters

The details of these parameters are contained in a series of documents as described in section 1.3
above:
General documents
Table of parameters A structured list of parameters
Glossary of parameters A document with one or more definitions for each parameter.
List of references A list of source documents, with details such as country of
publication
And
Specific documents
List of solutions List of different solutions such as (here) “special function road / S2 /
industrial estate road - access road”, with notes
Solutions Documents with standard layout for this parameter group, each with
detailed information on one particular solution..
Further reading
● GTA 304 - A list of road classifications

2 Vehicle types Level 1 parameters
● Motorised transport MT
Vehicle types is a group of parameters which refer to
the objects which use the road as a transport route. ● Non-motorised transport NMT
They include trucks and cars, pedestrians and cyclists, ● Dimensions
and wheelchair users and skateboarders.
Discussion
“Vehicles” include trucks and cars, pedestrians and cyclists, and wheelchair users and
skateboarders. As with "road type" parameters, some standards not only list a number of vehicle
types, they also give the list a structure. On vehicle types, the 2011 edition of the USA’s AASHTO
Green Book says:
“Key controls in geometric highway design are the physical characteristics and the
proportions of vehicles of various sizes using the highway. Therefore, it is appropriate to
examine all vehicle types, establish general class groupings, and select vehicles of
representative sizes within each class for design use”. (own emphasis)
(Ref. 831, USA, 2011)
Here we have the idea of vehicle type class groups, each group containing a number of different
vehicle sub-types. We can use details from this reference to begin to create a structured list of
vehicle types. The AASHTO Green Book has the types : cars, buses, trucks - and adds a fourth
vehicle type (recreational vehicles). It also suggests four sub-types for “buses”. This gives a
structured list such as:

● Motorised vehicles
○ Public motorised transport
■ Bus
● Articulated bus
● Inter-city bus
● School bus
○ Conventional school bus
○ Large school bus
Table 2-1b in the AASHTO Green Book has 4 vehicle types and 19 sub-types. But other standards,
from the USA and from other countries produce different lists of vehicle types. This creates a
number of potential problems for road designers, including the following:
Same country, different vehicle types

It might be thought that, once a respected organisation in a country suggests a particular set of
vehicle types and design vehicles, then this set would be used all over the country. This isn’t
necessarily the case. To continue to use the USA as an example,
● California DOT’s Highway Design Manual 2012 (ref. 1919) refers to a STAA Design Vehicle
which does not appear in the AASHTO guide; and
● the “Los Angeles 2010 bicycle plan, technical design handbook” (ref.917) gives details for
four different “bicycle“ design vehicles which don’t appear in the AASHTO book
Same vehicle types, different countries

Some countries decide to use vehicle type details from the design standard of another country. The
Tanzania road standard apparently takes its dimensions for bicycles from a standard from Norway.
But on Tanzania's roads there are types of bicycle which would be unusual for Norway (for
example, gupa work bikes) - so the dimension details from Norwegian practice don’t really fit. The
same could well be true if engineers in Pakistan were to use the AASHTO truck vehicle types as
design vehicles for their roads.
Non- “western” vehicle types

The AASHTO set of design vehicles might be described as a “Western” set. The set could well be
suitable for countries with a similar history and similar use of vehicles, but it may not be suitable
for other parts of the world. Examples of “non-western” vehicle types include Tanzania (gupa work
bikes), Peru (motocarros), Nepal (bullock carts), and Bangladesh (work rickshaws).
Vehicle type relates directly to design vehicles – the traffic which the road is to be designed for. The
choice of vehicle types for a road affect such parameters as lane widths, cross-section and design
speed(s). On this point a presentation by Dr. John Rolt of the UK’s TRL (ref. 2211) has some relevant
comments. For example, Dr. Rolt says:
"In countries of South East Asia, the traffic on rural and semi-urban roads comprises many
motor cycles, motor cycle taxis, pedal bicycles and pedestrians. You may be surprised to
know that a typical rural road in a country like Cambodia may carry 2000 motorcycles, 1000
pedal bicycles, 1000 pedestrians but only 5-10 cars or other 4-wheeled plus motorised
vehicles".
And

"It is fairly obvious that geometric standards should not be the same as in countries where
motorcycle and pedal cycle traffic is almost non-existent".
Motorised transport (MT)
The second-level parameters here are presently:

● private motorised transport
● public motorised transport
● commercial motorised transport
● other motorised vehicles
● other categorisations
Non-motorised transport (NMT)
The 19 vehicle types in the AASHTO table referred to above are all motorised vehicles. But there are
many other forms of transport, on every country’s roads, which do not have engines. One standard
says that designing for all road users:
● includes non-motorised vehicles, pedestrians, etc.

● has implications for almost all aspects of road design, including carriageway width,
shoulder design, side slopes and side drains
(ref. 1042, multi-country, 2003)
The second-level parameters for NMT are presently::

● Bicycles
● Pedestrians
● Other human-powered transport
● Animal transport
Bicycles and Pedestrians are perhaps obvious sub-sets. But, even in the 21st century, Animal
Transport is still also a recognised mode of transport in many countries. In the online publication,
the “Agri Handbook for South Africa” (link) (http://www.agribook.co.za/), Craig Macaskill writes:
“Animal Power is still used on a large scale in many third world countries throughout the
world and is beginning to make a comeback in many first world countries as well. In the
United States of America, Animal Traction is used in particular by the Amish people as a
major power source for their agriculture and transport. In the United Kingdom, Europe and
Canada Animal Traction is used more as a hobby but some areas have seen an increase in
the use of animal traction, notably in the forestry industry and for cartage over short
distances e.g. on-farm, milk delivery and fertiliser application.”
On Other human powered transport, one World Bank publication (re. 919) says that the vast majority
of trips on the rural transport network infrastructure in developing countries are made made by
non-motorized means, including walking, animals, bicycle, and porterage. Paul Starkey, in his 2013
paper for the World Bank (ref. 2359) says that
“In sub-Saharan Africa, most village transport still involves people (mainly women) walking
and head loading”, whilst his table 1 includes wheelbarrows and hand carts as distinct means
of transport”.

Vehicle dimensions
Road design standards often include details of their suggested design vehicles. However these
dimensions usually are only for the vehicle “as built”, and often often exclude objects such as car
wing mirrors. The dimensions of a vehicle can change depending on the way their owners use
them. For example, the height of a car in use might increase with the addition of a luggage rack, the
length increase with the addition of a rear cycle rack, and the width increase if we include wing
mirrors. Different values for (for example) vehicle length change according to different types of
dimension, such as:
● basic dimensions
● in-use dimensions
● effective dimensions
● inter-vehicle dimensions
● turning path dimensions
● other dimensions
In use, cars may carry bicycles or luggage roof

racks and other luggage on the roof, or on
fittings at the rear of the vehicle;
.... and the operating envelope for a parked

car in a supermarket car park will need more
space than that indicated by the as-built
vehicle dimensions.

Basic dimensions
Road design standards often provide details of the dimensions of their suggested set of design
vehicles.
In-use dimensions
Basic dimensions often exclude objects such as car wing mirrors. Here for example:
“The legal width of commercial vehicles is 2.5 m. The majority of heavy vehicles are built to
the maximum width, but it does not include the additional 0.2 m width on each side of the
vehicle generated by wing mirrors”
(Ref. 1887, Australia, 2010)
Effective dimensions
Vehicle dimensions can also change within seconds; for example , a bicycle with rider may only be
600mm wide, but when in motion - with the rider's knees and elbows sticking out, with the
occasional wobble and uncertain linear path (bicycle riders do not necessarily travel in a straight
line), more width is needed. To quote (ref. 1887) again:
“Not all bicycle riders can steer a straight line and when riding uphill experienced riders work
the bicycle from side to side whilst the inexperienced may wobble. Bicycle riders also need
adequate clearances to fixed objects and to passing vehicles in addition to the 1 m envelope”
And to take an example of a motorised vehicle:
"The effective width of trucks increases on curves (vehicle swept path considerations)"
Inter-vehicle dimensions
Since vehicles rarely travel alone, the interaction between them should also be included as a design
parameter. Measures could include lateral inter-vehicle gap and longitudinal inter-vehicle gap. The
latter is usually related to design speed (the higher the speed, the more longitudinal distance
between vehicles is needed) - but rarely if ever related to vehicle type. In Germany, lateral
clearances between vehicles are discussed in detail, and in terms of a vehicle envelope (Lichter
Raum) and a clearance envelope (Verkehrsraum).
Turning path dimensions

Turning path dimensions are useful in the design of at-grade intersections, and parking facilities.
They are related to vehicle type, and their proper consideration can apply as much to wheelchairs
and animal transport as to trucks.
Other dimensions
A number of other design parameters related to vehicle dimensions, such as "headlight height"
(used in calculating headlight sight distance).,

Detailing "vehicle type" parameters

above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents
List of solutions List of different solutions such as (here) “motorised transport / public
transport / bus / city bus”, with notes
Further reading
● The dimensions of vehicles

3 Vehicle types Level 1 parameters
● Driver type
Road User types is a group of parameters which
refers to the people who use of the road, rather than ● Cyclist type
the vehicles. For example, a road designer may check ● Pedestrian type
the design is safe for cars, but the age of car drivers ● Dimensions
may also be a parameter which affects safety.. ● Objects
● Traffic flows
● Other
Discussion
Road users - whether vehicle drivers, pedestrians, cyclists etc - have their own characteristics which
are relevant to road design - eye height, walking speed and so on. We can find reference to many
types of road user in design standards. For example, one classification of bicyclists refers to the
type of persons using the bicycle and not to the vehicle (the bicycle) itself (see ref. 2149). If we add
this classification to the level 1 parameter the result is a structured list as:
Road user types
● Cyclist types
○ Recreational cyclists
○ Commuter cyclists
○ Sports cyclists
○ Users of special equipment
○ School children
■ Primary school children
■ Secondary school children
(based on ref. 2149, Australia, 2015)
Drivers, cyclists, pedestrians

The same person can be, at different times, a driver, a cyclist, and a pedestrian. This does not mean
that the parameters which link the person to road design will be the same in all three cases. For
example as a pedestrian he/she may pay much less attention to traffic conditions than as a car
driver, and so have a slower response-reaction time..
Dimensions

The dimensions of road users relate to road user types in the same way that the dimensions of
vehicles relates to vehicle types. For example, parameters such as driver comfort and driver
discomfort can affect the design of vertical and horizontal curves. But it can be a mistake to think
only in terms of drivers (and often, only in terms of car drivers). To take the example of eye height,
various standards can be found which discuss design relative to the eye height of truck drivers,
cyclists, equestrian riders or people in wheelchairs.
Objects
Objects - which might be described as passive users - and their dimensions can influence a number
of design parameters. For example, AASHTO’s 2011 Green Book says:
“Sight distance is the distance along a roadway throughout which an object of specified
height is continuously visible to the driver. This distance is dependent on the height of the
driver’s eye above the road surface, the specified object height above the road surface, and
the height and lateral position of sight obstructions within the driver’s line of sight”
(ref. 831, USA, 2011)
The same source explains how different values for object height are used in various parameters for
sight distance, vertical curves and so on. Another source refers to different types of object, still in
the context of object height:
(ref. 148, South Africa, 2002: Geometric design guidelines, published by CSIR)
Traffic flows
Traffic flows are a separate group of parameters which affect geometric design. For example. (ref
148) says:
“Factual information on expected traffic volumes is an essential input to design. This
indicates the need for improvements and directly affects the geometric features and
design”
(ref. 148, South Africa, 2002)
And, from the same reference:

“Traffic flows vary both seasonally and during the day. The designer should be familiar with
the extent of these fluctuations to enable him or her to assess the flow patterns. The

directional distribution of the traffic and the manner in which its composition varies are
also important parameters. A thorough understanding of the manner in which all of these
behave is a basic requirement of any realistic design”
Since flows are the result of decisions by different types of road users, they are presently included
in this parameter group.
Detailing "road user type" parameters

above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents
List of solutions List of different solutions such as (here) “pedestrian / disabled person
/ wheelchair user/ wheelchair user with companion”, with notes

4 Geometrics Geometrics - sub-groups
This group concerns parameters which immediately 1. Speed

affect particular aspects of geometric design. It is 2. Controls
divided into a number of sub-groups. 3. Horizontal alignment
4. Vertical alignment
5. Cross-sections
6. Parking
7. Junctions

4.1 Speed Level 1 parameters
● Design speed
These are parameters which refer to a measure of
speed. Some refer to design speed, others to less ● Percentile speeds
obvious concepts of speed, such as base free flow ● Speed ranges
speed or closing speed. ● Other speed parameters
Discussion
There is a inconsistency and vagueness between many standards when it comes to measures of
speed, even if we only look at documents published in English. An indication that engineers do not
really understand what they mean by speed could be taken from a statement from a document
published by the USA’s TRB:
“Desirably there would be strong relationships between design speed, operating speed, and
posted speed limit and these relationships could be used to design and build roads that
would produce the speed desired for a facility. While a relationship between operating speed
and posted speed limit can be defined, a relationship of design speed to either operating
speed or posted speed cannot be defined with the same level of confidence”.
(Ref. 1573, USA, 2002)
Design speed
We might think that at least, engineers have a common definition of "design speed"; but then we
find for example:
"Various studies have shown that the 85th percentile speed generally exceeds the posted
speed limit by a margin of at least 10 km/hr when weather and traffic conditions are
favourable. For this reason, design speed is typically equated to the 85th percentile speed“
(ref. 148, South Africa, 2002)
Whilst on the other hand Keith Wolhuter says simply that:
“In short, design speed is the speed selected for design! “

(Ref. 2247, CRC Press, 2015)

Even if there were agreement on a definition of "design speed", its values can vary with the type of
vehicle - so that a road design based on a design speed for cars has to be stress tested for design
speeds (etc.) for trucks, cyclists and the other vehicle types which will use the road. Design speed
can also vary with the weather (wet road design speeds), type of terrain, type of road, and road
function.
Even the concept of design speed as a useful tool is itself in doubt, with discussions looking at ideas
such as “context sensitive roads”. Here for example (ref. 802) refers to research by Garrick and
Wang (2005) which” examined context-based alternatives to the use of design speed as a
controlling criterion for design of streets and highways”.
Percentile speeds
Several parameters of speed refer to percentile speeds, such as the 85th percentile speed. This has
been referred to as the operating speed:
".... the 85th percentile speed of cars at a time when traffic volumes are low, and drivers are
free to choose the speed at which they travel. In effect, this means that designs based on the
85th percentile speed will cater for the majority of drivers".
(Ref. 1885, multi-country, 2010)
Speed ranges
This idea is referred to in the discussion on high-speed/low speed roads in the notes on the "road
types" group above. But some standards also refer to this distinction as a variant of design speed,
as for example:
"Road design guides contain many simplified methods to compute overtaking distance and
these vary widely, especially at high design speeds"
(ref. 80, New Zealand, 2003)
And
"High design speeds of 80 km/h [50 mph] and above are generally applicable to highways in
level terrain or where environmental conditions are favorable "
(ref. 831, USA, 2011)
Although such terms can be found in a number of standards, there is not necessarily any
agreement on what the values for the terms should be.
Other speed parameters

The present listing has around 80 parameters under this heading.
Speed for horizontal and vertical alignments

We might expect that, for any particular design project, the design speed used in the design of
horizontal and vertical alignments would be the same. However this is not necessarily the case. For
example, (ref. 2380) says

“The design speed of the road in both the horizontal and vertical planes should generally be
the same. A reduction in the vertical design speed (compared to the proposed horizontal
design speed) should only be considered when;
● the terrain is such that significant cost reductions may be achieved, and
● a risk assessment has been undertaken to determine the safety impacts of any reduction in
vertical design standards and
● measures taken to address the significant risks and provide for the safe operation of the
road.”
(Ref. 2380, Australia, 2016? )
Further reading
● Notes on design speed, blog post dated 7th October 2016

4.2 Control elements Level 1 parameters
● Factors of safety
These are parameters wwhich control or restrict the
geometric design of a road. For example, a basic e ● Control lines
calculation of minimum horizontal curve radius might ● Control checks
give a figure of 500 metres, but the designer may add ● Other
a factor of safety which gives a figure of 750 meters.
Discussion
The idea of design controls is not new. For example the Delaware DOT's Road Design Manual (ref.
1010) has a full chapter on the topic. The document also refers to different types of control,
including:
• Speed related controls
• Traffic related controls
• Other design controls
○ Terrain characteristics
○ Functional classification
○ Access control
○ Economics
○ Safety
○ Environment
The Austroads document on "Design considerations" (ref. 1888) refers to alignment and grade line
controls, and to cross-section controls. Another Australian document (ref. 585) says that "Before
setting out a proposed alignment, it is necessary to identify any controls on its position" (and goes on to
refer to two types of control, mandatory and discretional). It suggests such alignment controls
include
• Operating speed
• Environmentally sensitive areas
• Costs
• Terrain
Many of these "controls" are what are referred to in the present document as parameters, and so
perhaps an "operating speed" control would be a specified minimum value for operating speed of
vehicles on the completed road.

There is a inconsistency and vagueness between many standards when it comes to measures of
speed, even if we only look at documents published in English. An indication that engineers do not
really understand what they mean by speed could be taken from a statement from a document
published by the USA’s TRB:
“Desirably there would be strong relationships between design speed, operating speed, and
posted speed limit and these relationships could be used to design and build roads that
would produce the speed desired for a facility. While a relationship between operating speed
and posted speed limit can be defined, a relationship of design speed to either operating
speed or posted speed cannot be defined with the same level of confidence”.
(Ref. 1573, USA, 2002)
Factor of safety
This is where the design engineer believes he can control the safety of his design (and allow for
uncertainties and possible over-simplifications in the design theory) by modifying the theoretical
value of a parameter to make it more safe.
To give some examples:
a document from Ethiopia, after discussing the problems of identifying representative values for
longitudinal and side friction in the country, says:
“The values used in this manual (....) allow a reasonable safety factor to cater for the wide
range of conditions. For unpaved roads a systematic reduction in the values used for paved
roads has been used.”
(ref. 1978, Ethiopia, 2013)
And
“The values of side friction factor f for use in geometric design are shown in Table 7.4. It is
important to note that the absolute maximum values for f given in Table 7.4 assume
construction and maintenance techniques that will ensure an adequate factor of safety
against skidding”.
And
"It is inappropriate for designers to ‘experiment’ with driver perception-reaction times (t), but
they can use lower figures supported by credible rationale for risk assessment in diffficult
situations. MfS uses 1.5s, this being based on test values with a 67% increase as a factor of
safety. It is over twice the value used for Highway Code distances, but the point is made that
the Code reflects emergency stopping scenarios".
(ref. 2381, UK, 2008)
Unlike this last reference, standards usually do not state what values they use for a factor of safety,
and often do not even say when or where they use them. This presents a problem for the designer.
As another standard says:
“It is essential for the designer to have a thorough understanding of the underlying criteria
and assumptions that have influenced the development of existing design guides or manuals

as a basis for adapting them, where necessary, , to suit the local road environment.
Control lines
A control line is an imaginary line along a design for a new road. For example, (Ref. 2133) says that
“The horizontal and vertical elements of a road are described in terms of control lines.
Control lines are lines mathematically defined in the horizontal and vertical planes”.
(ref. 2133, Canada, --)
There are different types of control line, as for example:

● Vertical alignment control line
● Horizontal alignment control line
● Superelevation axis of rotation
Further, the suggested location of control lines can change with different standards and with the
type of control line; individual standards may even allow different locations of control lines within
one project.
In this document, each type of control line is considered to be a separate design parameter.
Control checks
A search through available standards has produced a number of specific control checks. For
example:
"Check sag vertical curves through underpasses to ensure that the underpass structure does
not obstruct the driver’s visibility. Use the following equation to check sag vertical curves
through underpasses .... "
(ref. 2327, USA, 2016)
Other checks
These parameters represent a number of checks covered by a single procedure. Examples are
● Checklists - A list of things, names, etc., to be checked off or referred to for verifying,
comparing, ordering, etc (Ref.2327, USA, 2016)
● Design briefs, as in:
The client and the design team should establish the design brief jointly. The purpose of the
design brief is to establish the technical aspects and constraints affecting the design.
Further reading
● Road geometric design – control lines blog post dated 10. October 2015

4.3 Horizontal alignment Level 1 parameters
● Acceleration
These are parameters which strongly influence the
design of the horizontal alignment of a road. Some, ● Deceleration
such as parameters related to friction, also influence ● Straights
the design of the vertical alignment. ● Circular curves
● Transition curves
● Other curves
● Friction
● Sight distance
● Sight distance types
● Crossfall
● Superelevation
● 3D design
Discussion
Parameters in this group occasionally give examples of uncertain practice. Discussed in some detail
under "acceleration", there are likely to be examples in parameters in the other sub-groups as well.
Acceleration and deceleration

There are a number of potential problems with these parameters. For example , there are different
types of acceleration (centrifugal, centripetal, vertical etc); and acceleration (and deceleration) may
vary with parameters such as
● Weather
● Type of road surface
● Type of vehicle
● Type of road section (e.g. mountainous, in tunnel)
● Level of comfort
● Design speed (ref. 856 has a table giving minimum levels of acceptable vertical acceleration
for different design speeds)
Table 5.3 in (ref. 1887, Australia, 2010) lists different values for the coefficient of deceleration with
reference to these conditions.

(excerpt from table 5.3, ref 1887, multi-country, 2010)
If there were 3 different values for the 6 conditions in the bullet list above then engineers might
have some 700 values for deceleration to choose from. Few standards relate values of acceleration
or deceleration to all these different conditions.
Where a standard does give a specific value, the value may be out of date, for example:
"British design practice is based on the fundamental assumption that at absolute minimum radius the
99th percentile vehicle should not experience more than the maximum level of centrifugal acceleration
acceptable for comfort and safety, This was established at about 0.22 g some 70 years ago and has not
been changed since".
(1038, --, 2006)
Where the value is not out of date, it may include a hidden factor of safety.
Straights, curves and transitions

As (ref. 856) puts it, the horizontal alignment of a road ".... consists of a series of intersecting tangents
and circular curves, with or without transition curves". Tangents are also known as straights, and
transition curves can have one of a number of forms (parabolic, clothoid,
several step compound arc, etc.). The parameters of curves are related to a measure of speed such
as design speed, and design speed itself is related to other parameters such as vehicle type.
Sight distance
The present list of these parameters has over 50 different types of sight distance parameters.
Some relate a particular type of sight distance to one or more of the following:
● road surface,
● weather (wet or dry roads),
● vehicle type,
● design speed
● road gradient
● deceleration rate
● object height

● driver eye height
It seems likely that these features affect most measures of sight distance, although the standards
available so far do not seem to indicate this.
Crossfall and superelevation

There seems to be a potential disagreement in the standards on the meaning of terms which may
or may not mean the same thing, such as:
• Crossfall
• Cross slope
• Camber
3D Design
Three-dimensional design will probably lead to a holistsic approach to road geometric design. This
could well be an improvement on the current approach, which is on the lines of "design horizontal
alignment, design vertical alignment, check that there is no contradiction between them"
3D design may lead to some existing parameters disappearing, and new ones appearing.

4.4 Vertical alignment Level 1 parameters
● Grade
These are parameters which strongly influence the
design of the vertical alignment of a road. ● Vertical curves
● Vertical clearance
Discussion
There is no level 1 parameter here for "3D design", since it already appears under "horizontal
alignment".
Grade
Here too there may be some confusion of terms in different English-language standards, between
for example
● Gradient
● Grade
● Longitudinal slope
● Vertical tangent
It is likely that different standards make different uses of the same term.
Vertical curves
These notes contain parameters related to vettical curves
Vertical clearance
Different measures related to the clear space above or below a vehicle and to potential
obstructions (such as the underside of a bridge).

4.5 Cross-section parameters Level 1 parameters
● Traffic lanes
These are parameters which make up the width of a
road.Some refer to specific features such as traffic ● Medians
lanes, others to parameters which relate to width or ● Shoulders
horizontal clearance. ● Separators
● Verges
● Edges
● Curbs
● Special use elements
● Horizontal clearance
● Right of way widths
● Overall widths
● Other
● General
Discussion
A road cross-section can be seen as consisting of a number of modules. Adding the widths of the
modules together would give a measure of the overall width of the road. The above level 1
parameters fall into one of two groups, those which represent modules, and those which represent
a measure of width.
A number of standards specifically discuss the features which make up a road cross.section, and so
are one source of this type of parameter. Examples includes
● Transit New Zealand's "State highway geometric design manual chapter 6 - cross-sections",
● Helsinki, Finland's "KATUPOIKKILEIKKAUSTEN SUUNNITTELUOHJEET" - "Street
cross-sections" (ref. 2144) and
● Ireland's "TD27 - cross-sections and headroom" (ref. 1196).
A question of width
It is worth mentioning that sometimes the meaning of “width” is not clear (for example, is the width
of a traffic lane measured from the centres of the lane markings or the inside edges of the lane
markings?). Standards contain different measures of "width", such as
● Acceptable width
● Appropriate width
● Desired width
● Effective width
● Maximum width
● Minimum width
● Standard width
● Sufficient width

Values given by standards for “width” may also vary with other parameters, such as the type of
road, type of vehicle using it, the design speed of the road, the road element (e.g. a tunnel) and so
on.
Standard cross-sections
A number of standards use different ways to present details of the elements which make up a
cross-section, and the widths of the elements. These imply that the figures represent in some way
an approved cross-section, although it is not always clear whether the cross-sections are a required
design or simply suggested as a good idea. Here are two examples:
(ref. 2144, Finland, 2001)
And
(Ref. 1196, Ireland, 2011)

4.6 Junction parameters Level 1 parameters
● Interchange types
These are parameters which describe nodes in a road
network.Some refer to types of node, others to ● Junction types
elements which make up the node ● Junction details
Discussion
Once again, even in English-language standards, there is some confusion and some inconsistency
in the use of terms. For example, one New Zealand document gives alternative terms for the same
element (e.g. Y intersection, Y junction). For the present document,
● A junction is any node in the road network

● An interchange is a grade-separated junction
● An intersection is an at-grade junction
One source subdivides interchanges into free-flow and standard grade-separated interchanges
(ref.1956).
This parameter group needs further development. Also, some parameters are / or could be
included elsewhere - for example, ramp width and ramp gradient under cross-section and vertical
alignment respectively.

4.7 Parking parameters Level 1 parameters
● Parking types
These are parameters which relate to parking
facilities. ● Parking elements
Discussion
These parameters have been arranged into two groups. They are meant to cover all types of
parking facility except on-street parking, which is covered in the "cross-section" sub-group.
Parking types
The parking types listed here refer to vehicle type, parking purpose etc. They can affect the
dimensions of various parking elements- for example, the width of a parking space. The width has
to be greater for trucks than for cars, and greater for shopper parking than for commuter parking,
Parking elements
The values which standards suggest for the dimensions of a parking element also vary with
expressions such as "minimum", "maximum" and so on. Taken together with the differences
suggested by parking types there should be a set of multidimensional matrices where the values
for e.g. width are listed.

5 Geography Level 1 parameters
● Terrain types
A group of parameters which refers to the changing
physical surroundings which the road is to fitted into. ● Terrain and other parameters
● Development
● Climate
● Climate with other parameters
● Environment
Discussion
Geograhy is widely recognised as having an important influence on road design. For example,
Austroad's "Guide to road design - part 2, design considerations" (ref. 1888) has a checklist for
design considerations has a number of points under the heading "geographical factors".
(ref.1888, multi-country, 2006)
There is even a textbook on the topic, titled "The geography of transport systems" (ref.2047)
Terrain, development
The Delaware DOT manual (ref. 1010) has this to say on terrain and development:
"The selected design speed should be logical with respect to the characteristics of the terrain, adjacent
land use, and functional classification. A highway in level terrain may justify a higher design speed than
one in rolling terrain. A highway in lightly developed or undeveloped (open) areas may justify a higher
design speed than in a developed area " (own emphasis)
(ref. 1010, USA, 2004)
Whilst, the Austroads document referred to above (ref. 1888) says:
“The design speed is probably the most influential factor affecting the geometric design of a LVSR and is
influenced by the following factors:
nature of the terrain

classification of the road

density and character of the adjoining land use
Terrain, definitions
But for both “terrain” and “development” the problem of terms and definitions appears again.
Basically, even in English standards on geometric road design, the same term can mean different
things in different standards - which basically means that they represent different parameters. For
example,
"Level Terrain Is that condition where road sight distance, as governed by both horizontal and vertical
restrictions, are generally long or could be made to be so without construction difficulty or major
expense".
(ref. 857. )
Note that this quotation indicates economics as a separate parameter. An alternative definition for
“level terrain” is:
"Level (terrain). Flat or gently rolling terrain with largely unrestricted horizontal and vertical alignment;
the road line crosses 0-10 five metre ground contours per kilometre"
(Ref. 635, )
Development, definitions
Here there are two difficulties - different definitions for the same term, and different ways of
breaking down development into different, lower level parameters. Engineering design standards
seem to be lagging behind the times, as there are several recent efforts at more formal definitions
of (for example) urban and rural land development, as the following graphic suggests.
(ref. )

Climate
Existing standards may only relate to road design in temperate climate. Even standards for
countries subject to other climates may quote wholesale from these temperate climate standards.
On this point, in "Road engineering for development, 2nd ed".(Ref. 856) Robinson and Thagesen
say that:
"Developing countries in the tropics often have challenging natural conditions and different institutional
and financial institutions than industrialized countries. However, most textbooks on road engineering are
based on experience in industrialized countries with temperate climates, or deal only with specific issues"
And
"Most existing textbooks on road engineering are biased towards the experience and needs of
industrialized countries with temperate climates",
Environment
The direct effect of environment on road standards can be indicated by these quotes
"The level of environmental assessment given to a project is a major consideration in establishing its
design controls and standards since commitments made in these assessments must be fully incorporated
in the design"
(Ref. 1010, USA, 2004)
And
"The design standards adopted must take into account the environmental road conditions, traffic
characteristics, and driver behaviour"
(Ref. 635, UK, 1988)

Detailing "geography" parameters

above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents
List of solutions List of different solutions, with notes
Further reading
● Blog post on terrain classification
● Terrain evaluation manual / by Cliff Lawrance, Rosemary Byard and Peter Beaven

6 Economics Level 1 parameters
● Economics
A group of parameters which refers to the financial
and cost aspects of geometric road design. ● Economics and other parameters
Discussion
Economics is another area which is recognised as having an important influence on road design.
Note that for this discussion, "cost" is taken to be another term for economics. Economics may
affect the overall choice of design standards. For example, one standard says:
"These are roads having many curves with radii less than 150 m. Operating speeds on the
curves generally vary from 50 – 70 km/h. Rural roads usually only have these characteristics
when difficult terrain and costs preclude the adoption of higher standard geometry."
Whilst engineers generally accept the impact of total cost on the approval of a proposed design,
they may not be aware that cost can also directly influence single design parameters. For example,
in a section headed "Economics", one reference says:
"Decisions on alignments, grades, widths, slopes and other items can greatly influence
the construction cost. Geometric and structural standards higher than needed for a
particular type of facility may cause increased expenditures that might be better spent on
improving additional road sections. Use of standards that are too low may be
uneconomical by contributing to early obsolescence of the facility." (own emphasis)
(ref. 1010, USA, 2004)
And
"Generally, it is impractical to design crest vertical curves that provide passing sight
distance because of high cost where crest cuts are involved and the difficulty of fitting the
resulting long vertical curves to the terrain, particularly for high-speed roads"
(ref. 831, USA, 2011)
And
"The frequency and length of passing sections for highways principally depend on the
topography, the design speed of highway, and the cost. "

(ref. 831, USA, 2011)
Detailing "economics" parameters

above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents

7 Engineering Level 1 parameters
● Engineering
A group of parameters which refers to the financial
and cost aspects of geometric road design. ● Engineering and other parameters
Discussion
Engineering considerations can affect the general design and in some cases a specific parameter.
Perhaps an example of the former would be the statement from an Australian standard:
"For construction expediency, superelevation values are normally rounded (upwards) to a

multiple of 1% so that there is a corresponding adjustment of side friction".
An example of an engineering impact on a specific parameter could be the link between road
surface and crossfall, as for example:
"The normal crossfall should be 3 per cent on paved roads and 4 to 6 per cent on unpaved
roads. Shoulders having the same surface as the carriageway should have the same cross
slope. Unpaved shoulders on a paved road should be 2 per cent steeper than the crossfall of
the carriageway. "
(ref. 635, UK, 1988)

above:
General documents

publication
And
Specific documents

8 Aesthetics Level 1 parameters
● Aesthetics
A group of parameters which cover topics such as
visual impact and cultural heritage. ● Aesthetics and other parameters
Discussion
Consideration of aesthetics can affect the general design and in some cases a specific parameter.
A document from Australia says:
“Where possible, horizontal and vertical geometry should be coordinated for appearance
and safety. In principle, co-ordination means that horizontal and vertical curves should
either be completely superimposed or completely separated. The related horizontal and
vertical elements should be of similar lengths, with the vertical curve contained within the
horizontal curve. This arrangement should produce the most pleasing, flowing
three-dimensional result, which is more likely to be in harmony with the natural landform".
And
"In vertical design, attempts are made to conform to the topography, wherever possible,
to reduce the need for costly excavations and landfills as well as to maintain aesthetics".
(ref. 1036, textbook, 2004)
Aesthetics can have an impact on individual parameters as well, for example:
"The minimum rate of (vertical) curvature is determined by sight distance as well as by

considerations of comfort of operation and aesthetics".
(re. 771, multi-country, 2001)
And
"In selection of design speed, every effort should be made to attain a desired combination
of safety, mobility, and efficiency within the constraints of environmental quality,
economics, aesthetics, and social or political impacts"
(ref.831, USA, 2011)


above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents

9 Concepts Level 1 parameters
● Concepts
A group of parameters which cover topics such as
visual impact and cultural heritage. ● Concepts and other parameters
Discussion
Consideration of “concepts” can affect the general design and in some cases a specific parameter.
One problem with concepts is that, a concept which is popular today may be very much out of
favour in a few years time. Since the design life of roads is often said to be 20 years, a road may be
fashionably out of date before it has physically run out of life.
Some concepts influence others, and some can have an impact on individual parameters as well,
for example:
"Smart Transportation is informed by two important concepts that have taken root in
transportation and land use planning: Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) and Smart Growth".
(ref. 2415, USA, 2008)
And
"The concept of desired operating speed, described later in the Guidebook, is key to the
context sensitive roadway"
(ref. 2415, USA, 2008)
The list of concepts includes a few terms taken from a list of "perspectives" in ref. 2416

Detailing "concepts" parameters

above:
General documents
publication
And
Specific documents

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 4 Lists of Parameters
PART 4 - LIST OF PARAMETERS
Lists of parameters are included as follows:
1. Road type 4. Geometrics 5. Geography

2. Vehicle type 4.1. Speed 6. Economics
3. Road users 4.2. Controls 7. Engineering
4.3. Horizontal 8. Aesthetics
alignment 9. Concepts
4.5. Cross-sections
4.6. Parking
4.7. Junctions

1. ROAD TYPES
Note that this table only shows the first three levels of paramaters.
Level 1 parameters Level 2 parameters Level 3 parameters
resource access roads Port roads

Forest roads
Forest tracks
Haul roads
farm to market roads
mining and exploration road
low traffic roads LVSR - low volume sealed roads

LVRR - low volume rural roads
LVR - low volume roads
gravel roads
very low volume local roads
very low volume road
hill roads
low traffic streets
high traffic streets
low speed roads Quiet lanes

Quietways
Greenways
Bridleways
Home zones
shared space 10 km/hr zones
20 km/hr zones
30 km/hr zones
20 mph zones
speed range roads low speed roads low speed rural road
intermediate speed roads intermediate speed rural road
high speed roads high speed rural roads
high speed urban roadway
land use roads Urban centre roads

Urban corridor roads
Suburban corridor roads
Industrial corridor roads

Residential roads
Rural town centre roads
Transitional area roads
Rural connecting corridor roads
special function roads farm road

farm to market road
education road
international road
power tiller road
telecommunications road
tourism road
scenic roads / routes
recreational roads primary access roads
circulation roads
area roads
industrial estate roads approach road
secondary distributor SDR
access road
vehicle type roads high wide load (HWL) routes

emergency vehicles Emergency access roads
buses Busways
bicycles Cycleways
Bikeways
pedestrians walkable urban thoroughfares
off-street shared use path
off-street shared use or pedestrian
only path
Regional Pedestrian Parkways and
pedestrians and functional class Districts
Community Pedestrian Corridors
Local Pedestrian Connectors
walking trails in general
easy
medium
difficult
handicap easy
handicap difficult
trucks truck only roads
other roads culs-de-sac

shared use paths

special section roads Roads in tunnel

Roads on bridges
emergency landing strip sections
underpasses
2+1 roads
weather roads climate resilient roads

winter roads
transport function road rural road arterial road

major arterial
minor arterial
rural arterial
Collector roads
Local roads and streets
other rural
service / frontage road
transport function road urban road arterial road

major arterial
minor arterial
urban arterial
Collector roads
Local roads and streets
other urban
service / frontage road
urban all-purpose road
transport function road Suburban roads open suburban road

1b Primary Freeways in
Metropolitan roads metropolitan areas
2b Primary Metropolitan Arterial
junction links connector road interchange links

connector road link roads
connector road slip roads
connector road loops

Interchange ramps
loop ramps
outer connector ramps
semi-directional ramps

directional ramps
directional roadways
weaving length
two-lane directional roadway
controlled terminals
connector road rural motorway connector road
turning roadway
motorway slip road
streets Boulevards ceremonial boulevards

gateway boulevards
transit boulevards
Terraces village terraces
city terraces
Retail streets high activity retail streets
local activity retail streets
Streets city streets
local streets
village streets
Squares park lands boulevards
park lands park lands avenues
park lands roads
small streets and laneways small streets and laneways
shared small street
service lanes
pedestrian zones
urban local streets local urban street
alleys
cul de sac
driveway
Residential streets
local streets neighbourhood connector A
neighbourhood connector B
access street A
access street B
access street C
access street D
End of table

2. VEHICLE TYPES
MT motorised transport private motorised transport car

recreational vehicles
public motorised transport bus
coaches
trams
taxis
Public service vehicles
Commercial motorised 2W tractor towed trailers - standard
transport
(trucks) 4W tractor towed trailers - standard
B-doubles
design prime mover and semi-trailer
five-axle vehicles
high productivity freight vehicles (HPFV)
light truck up to 2.5 tonnes gross
multi-vehicle combinations
PBS vehicles (performance based standards)
rice truck
semi-trailer WB-15
single unit + trailer SU+T
single unit SU
single-unit trucks
single-unit trucks
truck tractor-trailer combinations
truck tractors with semi-trailers
truck up to 10 tonnes gross
truck up to 15 tonnes gross
Turnpike-Double Combination (WB-33D
[WB-109D]) design vehicle
Type 1 road train
Type 2 road train
other motorised vehicles motorcycle
scooter
motocarros (Peru)
taxi rickshaws
auto rickshaw
power tillers

power tiller trailer

tuk-tuk
Jambo
farm tractor
other categorisations Lao LVRR categories
Non-motorised transport NMT bikes mono-cycles

scooters
conventional bikes
tagalong
trikes
tadpole trikes
recumbent tadpoles
rickshaws
cycle rickshaw
cycle rickshaw
cycle rickshaw
Pedestrians adults
children
physically impaired (disabled) / handicapped
wheelchairs
groups
roller skaters
roller-blading
inline skaters
skateboarders
Other human powered wheelbarrows
transport
sledge
trolleys
hand cart
human drawn cart
head porterage
porters
animal transport horse-riding
mule transport
pack animals and mules
animal drawn cart
dimensions basic dimensions length

width
height
in-use dimensions length

width
height
effective dimensions effective width
inter-vehicle dimensions inter-vehicle lateral gap
inter-vehicle longitudinal gap (gap)
vehicle envelope
clearance envelope
movement width
safety width
turning path dimensions minimum turning radius
minimum design turning radius
centre-line turning radius
minimum inside radius
curb to curb turning radius
wall-to-wall turning radius
swept path width
rear overhang
front overhang
turning path width
wheelbase
acceleration
deceleration
lean angle
vehicle tilt
other dimensions headlight height
elevation angle of headlight beam
Corresponding power to weight ratio of
design vehicle. As per local requirement
off-tracking
acceptable walking distance
End of table

3. ROAD USERS
driver type driver type and time of day norm-day

truck-day
norm-night
truck-night
mean-day
mean-night
skill-day
skill-night
cyclist type primary school children
secondary school children
recreational cyclists
commuter cyclists
sports cyclists
users of specialist equipment
pedestrian type commuter
shopper /leisure walker
disabled person
wheelchair users
child
dimensions driver perception time
driver reaction time brake reaction time
by use of parameter
by typical road condition
driver comfort sag vertical curve
driver discomfort centrifugal acceleration
driver deceleration
driver's view of the road
pedestrian perception time
pedestrian reaction time
eye height pedestrian eye height
cyclist eye height

horse rider eye height
driver eye height

objects object type

object height general
lower object height
upper object height
object height by type of sight distance
traffic flows AADT average annual daily
traffic
2-way AADT design year flow
ADT average daily traffic general
current year ADT
design year ADT
design hourly volume DHV
DHV design year 30th highest hourly traffic
volumes
DHV design year 100th highest hourly
traffic volumes
DRF design reference flow
design hour
design year
K factor
traffic composition
traffic flow by direction
peak hour factor ("peaking
factor")
design year annual average
daily truck traffic (AADTT)
traffic index
peak hour traffic (PH)
protected single equivalent axle
loads (ESALs)
lane distribution factor
bicycle volume (12 hour
two-way)
pedestrian flow as a percentage
of vehicle and pedestrian flow
pedestrian flow (pedestrians /
hour)
other point rating system for
prioritising sidewalks
pedestrian environmental
factor
percent time spent following
(PTSF)
End of table

4. GEOMETRICS
4.1 Speed
design speed general

assumed design speed
average design speed
average running speed
design speed
high design speed
minimum design speed
design speed and road type

design speed by terrain type
design speed, wet conditions
design speed and vehicle type
bicycle design speed
pedestrian design speed
design speed by layout constraint

and bendiness
design speed and posted speed
design speed and 85%ile speed
design speed ranges

percentile speeds 60%ile speed
V50(wet)
V85(wet)
85%ile speed
98%ile speed
speed ranges high speed
intermediate speed
low speed
other speed parameters advisory speed
anticipated operating speed
anticipated speed
anticipated speed limit

approach speed
appropriate speed
assumed speed
average cruise speed
average highway speed

average running speed
average passing speed
average speed
average speed of trucks
average spot speed
average travel speed
average vehicle speed

balance speed
base free flow speed BFFS
closing speed
constant speed
crawl speed
crawling speed
critical speed
cruising speed
desirable speed
desired speed
differential speed
differential speed limit
effective speed factor

entry speed
expected speed
free-flow speed
free speed
harmonic mean speed
highway speed
initial speed
legal speed
link speed
limiting curve speed
macroscopic mean speed
mainline design speed

maximum safe speed
mean speed
mean free operation speed in wet

conditions
mean free speed
microscopic mean speed
midblock running speed

minimum speed
minimum tolerable speed
network speed
operating speed
operating speed of trucks
operational speed
optimum speed
overall speed
overall travel speed
pace
pace speed
passing speed
posted speed
potential speed
progression speed
ramp design speed
recommended speed
regulatory speed
running speed
safe descent speed

safe speed
satisfactory speed
section operating speed
space mean speed
speed choice
speed difference
speed differential
speed environment
speed limit
spot speed
statutory speed

statutory speed limit
time mean speed
target speed
travel speed
truck speed
truck approach speed
turning speed
undesirable speed differential
End of table

GEOMETRICS
4.2 Control elements
factor of safety
control lines grade line

superelevation axis of rotation
profile grade line
vertical alignment control line
horizontal control line
horizontal alignment control line
access control line
tangent profile control line

point of rotation
theoretical grade line
baselines
True control line
Pegged control line
pegged base control line
axis of rotation general

Rotation about the
centerline profile of
traveled way
Rotation about the

inside-edge profile of
traveled way
Rotation about the
outside-edge profile of
traveled way
Rotation about the

outside-edge profile of
traveled way when the
horizontal sightline offset
control checks length/sight distance ratio for horizontal curves
compound curve check do not use
check sag vertical curves through

underpasses

design rules
other checklists
design briefs

4. GEOMETRICS
4.3 Horizontal alignment
acceleration rate of acceleration
acceleration on straights
acceleration due to gravity
acceleration capabilities of overtaking

vehicles
acceleration by vehicle type bicycle acceleration
bus acceleration
car acceleration
truck acceleration
acceleration and weather
acceleration and road surface
acceleration by road type
centrifugal acceleration
centripetal acceleration
rate of increase of centripetal

acceleration
radial acceleration
lateral acceleration
critical lateral acceleration (rollover
threshold)
rate of change of lateral

acceleration
rate of increase of lateral

acceleration
maximum rate of change in lateral

acceleration
vertical acceleration
acceptable vertical acceleration
vertical acceleration varies with

design speed
average acceleration of vehicle in

starting gear
deceleration deceleration longitudinal deceleration

deceleration by vehicle type car deceleration
bus deceleration
truck deceleration
deceleration by road type

deceleration and weather
deceleration and road surface
coefficient of deceleration for comfort
deceleration rate
rate of deceleration
average deceleration
comfortable deceleration
driver deceleration
freewheeling deceleration
minimum deceleration
desirable minimum deceleration
maximum deceleration
maximum deceleration rate
deceleration distance
deceleration on curves
by type of vehicle
straights also known as tangents
length of tangents maximum lengths of straights
length of straights between

circular curves turning in the same
direction
length of straights between the
end and the beginning of reverse
circular curves, with no transition
curve
circular curves
degree of curvature
maximum degree of curvature
curve radius
mimimum curve radius

horizontal curve length
length of a plain circular curve
minimum length of a horizontal

curve

lane widening on curves by type of vehicle
minimum widening
extra width for difficulty of driving
travelled way widening

maximum tangent deflection angle
unit chord
plan transition shift distance
plan transition length
transition curves transition length transition length for alignment
transition length for crossfall
transition length for widening

calculation of.... rate of pavement rotation
reverse transition curves
parabolic curve
spiral curve
clothoid curve
several step compound arc

spiral curves minimum length of spiral
minimum lateral offset between

the tangent and circular curve
maximum length of spiral
desirable length of spiral
length of superelevation runoff
maximum radius
length of spiral
desirable length of spiral
deflection angle (angle of

deflection)
unit chord
spiral ray
tangent runout length of tangent runout
other curves transition curves
successive curves
compound curve
reverse curve
bendiness
deflection angles

overturning criteria
vehicle clearance
friction coefficient of friction for wet

longitudinal friction pavements and average tires
transverse friction (side friction,

lateral friction)
high side friction
low side friction
side friction by vehicle type
side friction by road type

limiting value of side friction
other skid resistance
pavement friction
tyre friction
methods for distributing side

friction and superelevation
sight distance sight distance and vehicle type bicycle stopping sight distance
pedestrian sight distance
minimum sight distance

motor vehicle sight distance
sight distance types anticipatory sight distance (same as

decision sight distance)
approach sight distance
barrier sight distance
centreline barrier sight distance
decision sight distance
emergency stopping sight distance
full overtaking sight distance FOSD
gap acceptance sight distance for

pedestrians
horizontal sight distance
harmonic mean visibility
headlight sight distance
horizontal curve perception sight

distance
horizontal sight distance
horizontal curve sight distance
Intermediate sight distance
intersection sight distance

"x" value
"y" value
intersection sight triangle
approach sight triangle
departure sight triangle
meeting sight distance
merge sight distance by speed and vehicle type
manoeuvre sight distance
meeting sight distance
minimum gap sight distance MGSD
overtaking continuation sight

distance
overtaking establishment sight

distance
overtaking sight distance
passing sight distance
perception sight distance horizontal curve perception sight

distance
visibility at roundabouts forward visibility required at

entrance
visibility to the left at entry
approach visibility
visibility of the circulatory

carriageway
safe intersection sight distance
sight distance to start of auxiliary lane by speed
sight distance and overhead

obstruction
sight distance to the start of an

auxiliary lane
sight distance and lateral

obstruction
sight distance with no line of sight
sight distance at undercrossings
stopping sight distance SSD SSD and limiting values
single lane roads
passenger cars, level grade
passenger cars, downgrade

adjustment
SSD for trucks

SSD and design speed
SSD and deceleration rate
SSD and driver eye height
SSD and grade
SSD and object height

SSD and road surface
SSD and vertical curvature
crossfall (cross slope)
adverse crossfall
normal crossfall by road surface
minimum crossfall by road surface
minimum crossfall by road element (e.g. bridges)
maximum crossfall by road surface
roll-over
maximum roll-over
application of crossfall
crossfall transition length
carriageway crossfall
single crossfall
crossfall and road surface
crossfall and road element
shoulder crossfall
auxiliary lane crossfall
crossfall and level crossings
median crosfall
footpath crossfall
crossfall in urban areas
camber may be the same as crossfall)
negative camber
cross slope may be the same as crossfall)
rate of change of cross slope
cross slope and bridges

cross slope and road surface
differences in cross slope
cross slope and cross-secton cross section and medians

elements
cross slope and shoulders
cross slope and bike paths

cross slope and grade
unidirectional cross slope
superelevation superelevation - limiting values minimum superelevation
limiting value of superelevation
maximum superelevation
adverse superelevation
superelevation by type of road urban road
rural road
superelevation and length superelevation transition length
length of superelevation
development
design superelevation
development lengths
superelevation runoff length of superelevation runoff
adjustment factor for

supererlevation runoff
location of superelevation runoff
superelevation / other rate of rotation of pavement
tangent runout
shoulder rollover
shoulder slope
shoulder direction of slope
horizontal clearance
3D design limit (maximum value) of

pseudogeodesic curvature
the maximum acceptable value

concerning the dynamic
superelevation rate
End of table

4. GEOMETRICS
4.4 Vertical alignment
grade limiting values maximum gradient
maximum relative gradient
max grade by speed, terrain type

minimum gradient
variations with road type or section
grade at intersections
grade by road type
length of grade maximum length of grade
critical length of grade
longitudinal slope
relative longitudinal slope between two edges of travelled way
between median edge and centreline
centreline of each travelled way
outside edges of the travelled way
momentum grade
relative grade
relative gradient
grade change maximum without vertical curve
rate of change of grade
algebraic difference in grade
vertical tangent length
allowable grade breaks
vertical curves types of curve parabolic curves
crest curves
sag curves
reverse curve
compound curve
broken back curve
curve shape Unsymmetrical Vertical Curve
parabolic vertical curve

curve length curve length
minimum curve length
K values crest K value
sag K value
K value by road type and design speed
other VPC (Vertical Point of Curvature)
PRC point of reverse curvature
VPI (Vertical Point of Intersection)
VPT (Vertical Point of Tangency)

distance between vertical curves
vertical clearance limiting values minimum vertical clearance
preferred vertical clearance
static clearance
effective clearance
clearance by road type
clearance by type of utilities
clearance by type of vehicle
clearance by type of structure vehicle bridges
pedestrian bridges
clearance below vehicle
vertical clearance and weather
vertical clearance and road

maintenance
End of table

4. GEOMETRICS
4.5 Cross-section
traffic lanes standard traffic lane

managed lanes HOV lane
ramps emergency escape ramp
vehicle specific lane bus lane
truck only lane
bicycle lane
bicycle path
pedestrian ways
sidewalks
parking lanes parallel parking
angled parking
centre of road parking
truck parking
motorcycle parking
disabled parking
auxiliary lanes speed change lanes
merge lane
diverge lane
overtaking lane
climbing lane
partial climbing lane
slow vehicle turnout
storage lane
passing lane
passing section
descending lane
weaving lane
continuous auxiliary lane
two-way, left-turn lanes (TWLTL)

(flush-type median);
Tram/Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Lanes

left turn lane at junction
right turn lane at junction
dedicated right turning lane
median median type concrete barrier
depressed median
flush median
curbed median
median barrier
raised curb median
traversable median
painted flush median
median width
median slope
median edge strip
median island
median crossovers
central reserve
shoulders hard shoulder
inside shoulder
inner shoulder
outer shoulder
shoulder width by function
shoulder width by speed and traffic

flow
shoulder break point
separators outer separator (for service lane)
outer separations
verges general
verge width verge width by function
verge slope
verge rounding
edges, strips edge clearance
side strip
edge strip
median edge strip
rumble strip
landscaping strip
curbs curbed roadways

uncurbed roadways
curb and channel
type of curb
special use elements rest area
scenic overlook
brake check area
brake rest area
slow vehicle turnout
turnout
passing bay
vehicle specific elements bus stop
tram stop
horizontal clearance clear width for structures
speed reduction clear width
sight distance clear width (line of sight)
clear zone
lateral offset for vertical structures
shy distance
buiilding offset
right of way (ROW) widths right of way lines
right of way width
intersection sight distance ROW
property lines
overall widths travelled way width
roadway
road reserve
road prism
road bed
travelled way
carriageway
clear zone
clear roadway width
side clearance
other shy line
grade break for shoulders
berm
batter batter slope

batter rounding
benches
side slopes
clear zone
buffer area
nature strip
urban border
general width of elements desired width
minimum width
maxmum width
acceptable width
sufficient width
effective width
appropriate width
standard width
widths and road type
widths and road elements tunnels
widths and design speed lane widths

number of elements
End of table

4. GEOMETRICS
4.6 Junctions
interchanges over
under
free-flow interchange
standard grade-separated interchange
diverging diamond interchange
compact grade-separated junction
full diamond
half cloverleaf
full cloverleaf
two-level dumbell roundabout
five-bridge three-level roundabout

two-bridge two-level roundabout
access interchange
cloverleaf interchange
partial cloverleaf
quarter link
systems interchange
trumpet interchange
3-level roundabout
trumpet junction
grade-separated roundabout
single-point junction
mode specific interchanges pedestrian overbridge
pedestrian underpass
Grade-Separated Pedestrian
Crossings
intersections 3-leg intersection
4-leg intersection
T-intersection
Y-type
Scissor type

Cross-type
staggered (left/right)
staggered and skewed (right/left)

multiway
simple T junction
staggered T junction
crossroads junction
roundabout intersections - types normal roundabout
mini roundabout
double roundabout
ring intersection
signalised roundabout
grade-separated roundabout
dumbell roundabout
two-bridge roundabout
signalised intersections - types signal-controlled intersections

signalised intersections
signalised junctions
other intersections - types Restricted Crossing U-Turn

Intersection
Median U-Turn Intersection
Displaced Left Turn Intersection
Diverging Diamond Interchange
accesses
mode-specific intersections pedestrian crossings
priority junction major/minor priority junction
single lane dualling
urban simple junction
rural simple junction
junction details
ghost island junction

turning length
deceleration length
taper length
single lane dualling
roundabout details inscribed circle diameter

entry angle
entry width
approach half width
average effective flare length
entry radius
entry path radius
flare sharpness
average flare length

merging tapers
interchange details interchange ramps
exit ramp
ramp terminal
single lane exit
two-lane exit
lane split length
acceleration distance
other visibility splays
access control
junction spacing
access ramps on ramps
off ramps
junction frequency number of access points / km
ramp junction
left-right staggered junction
right-left staggered intersection
right-left staggered junction
left-right staggered intersection
T intersection
T junction
trumpet interchange
trumpet junction
Y intersection
Y junction
terminal junction
junctions and road types rural motorway junction

urban grade-separated
interchange

rural grade-separated
interchange
weaving length and road type
End of table

4. GEOMETRICS
4.7 Parking
parking types parking and vehicle type car parking
cycle parking
disabled parking
parent and child parking
parking for caravans and trailers

truck parking
parking and pedestrians
parking and purpose airport parking
supermarket parking
commuter parking
residential parking
parking and location on-street
surface parking
multi-storey parking
other parking and comfort
parking and user class
parking elements stalls stall length

stall width
stall angle
aiisles one-way aisles
two-way aisles
parking aisles
circulation aisles
ramps gradient
superelevation
width
ramp types
ramp visibility
turning circles
clearances side clearance

column location
headroom
ramp clearances
ramp transitions
other wheel stops
End of table

5. GEOGRAPHY
terrain types topography
difficult terrain
escarpment
flat terrain
flat rolling
hilliness
intermittent
level
mountainous terrain
rolling terrain
rugged terrrain
steep terrain
undulating terrain
Number of 5 metre contours

crossed per km
terrain and other parameters terrain and maximum

superelevation
terrain and maximum grade
terrain and cost
terrain and design speed
terrain and capacity
terrain and vehicle types
terrain and superelevation
development urban
Central Business Districts (CBD)
Fringe Area/Outlying Business

District (FRNG/OBD)
suburban
open-suburban
closed suburban
rural
unpopulated rural area
semi-rural area

natural corridors
developing corridors
city / town centres (rural main

streets)
rural area natural
village
developed
suburban area high density
town centre
low density
urban area urban park
urban residential
central business district

peri-urban areas
climate types snow and ice conditions hill roads in snow-clad areas
icy conditions
desert regions
monsoon hill roads in monsoon
rainfall
total annual rainfall rainfall class
pavement climate regions
severe winter conditions
semi-arid climate
temperatures
climate with other parameters weather affect on friction

affect on visibility
climate and superelevation
climate and cross-section
environment flora
fauna
noise
air quality
impact on water resources
water quality
ground water quality
soils soil erosion

soil contamination
cultural heritage
tourism and agriculture
End of table

6. ECONOMICS
Economics maintenance cost

capital cost
user cost
vehicle operating cost
Economics and other parameters cost and width of shoulders
cost and median width
cost and object height
cost and overtaking zones
cost and grade
cost and right of way
cost and superelevation
cost and widening
cost and crest vertical curves
cost and lane width
cost and shoulders in tunnels

cost by type of terrain
cost and length of passing sections
End of table

7. ENGINEERING
Engineering
minimum cover over cross-drainage
drainage structure
drainage control
table drains
catch drains
median drains
earthworks height of embankment
utilities type and location of utilities

road pavement road surface
rolling resistance of surfacing materials

Engineering and other
parameters engineering and minimum grade
independent design of carriageways
surface material surface material and crossfall

surface material and rolling resistance
shoulder mateirial and crossfall

surface material and crossfall
cross-section material and side slopes

right of way material and side slopes
End of table

8. AESTHETICS
Aesthetics Coincident Horizontal and Vertical

Curves
rural visual impact

Reducing Earthwork
earthworks Modification
erosion control
urban visual impact

curvilinear alignment
general appearance
cultural heritage factors
Aesthetics and other parameters aesthetics and design speed

aesthetics and axis of rotation
aesthetics and roadway drainage
aesthetics and minimum horizontal

curve length
aesthetics and minimum length of
vertical curvature on ramps
aesthetics and minimum rate of
vertical curvature
End of table

9. CONCEPTS
concepts bicycle network concepts

complete streets
concept of design speed

context sensitive design CSD
context sensitive solutions CSS

criteria-based design
design domain concept

desired operating speed
extended design domain

extended design domain concept
factor of safety concept

flexibility in design
forgiving highway
green streets
level of service concept
main street
managed lanes
multifunctional road
new urbanism
nice road
normal design domain
pedestrian network concepts

performance based practical design
practical design
practical solutions
Road Diets (Roadway Reconfiguration)

self-explaining road
smart growth
smart transportation
speed environment concept
The concept of desired speed

walkable communities
End of table

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 5 Definitions
PART 5 - DEFINITIONS
6.1 Overview
6.2 List of definitions

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 5 Definitions
5.1 Overview
Temporary list of definitions for this document.
5.2 List of definitions
Term Definition Source
Parameter In the context of the geometric design of roads, a parameter is Author

a definable, quantifiable feature or variable which influences or
sets the conditions of the design
Standard A collection of documents, including all the national and local Author
standards identified in the publication "global standards", and
also a large number of technical papers and reports which
cover topics in the road design area.
Definition Either an explanation of the meaning of a parameter, found in Author

a standard or, where an explanation cannot be found, one or
more examples of the use of the term.
Junction A junction is any node in the road network Author
Interchange An interchange is a grade-separated junction Author
Intersection An intersection is an at-grade junction Author

Listing Highway Parameters - Part 6 Annexes
PART 6 - ANNEXES
6.1 Glossary (excerpt)
6.2 List of references (excerpt)
LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017

6.2 List of references (excerpt)
Details of references which are referred to in

the text..
This is a working list which is presently being updated and reformatted.

Listing Highway Parameters / Annex 1 DRAFT
Parameter NMT Non-motorised transport (NMT) includes all forms of

Group vehicle type transport that are human- or animal powered. Examples of
NMT for personal mobility include walking, cycling, per-
ambulating, rollerblading, skateboarding, bicycle taxiing
Reference details
rickshaw riding and horse riding. There are also NMT
Year 2009 Number. 2335 modes for transport of goods, including wheel barrows and
carts drawn by donkeys, horses or humans. Importantly,
Country South Africa NMT modes include wheelchairs, and hence must be a
Name Non-motorised transport in the Western Cape consideration when planning and designing transport
related facilities for special needs persons
Parameter Urban expressway Urban expressways are generally high-speed, limited

Group road type access facilities whose function is to move both inter-urban
and intra-urban traffic. Mobility is a high priority.
Expressways may often serve as major freight corridors as
Reference details
well as being designated as an OHP Freight Route. They
Year Number. 861 are often part of the National Highway System (NHS).
Private property access is discouraged in favor of through
Country mobility importance. Access is normally restricted to at-
Name grade signalized and unsignalized public road intersections
or interchanges. At-grade signalized intersections may
provide full access. However, at-grade, unsignalized
intersections should be considered carefully and for safety
Parameter Design speed Design speed is a selected speed used to determine the
Group speed various
geometric design features of the roadway.
Reference details
Year 2016 Number. 2327
Country USA
Name Illinois BDE Manual
Parameter Rural area Urban areas. Those places identified by the US Bureau of
Group geography Census as having a
population of 50,000 or more (urbanized areas) or 5,000 or
more but less than 50,000 (small urban areas); all places
Reference details
outside of urbanized and small urban areas are rural
Year 2016 Number. 2327 areas.
Country USA
Parameter Urban area Urban areas. Those places identified by the US Bureau of
Group geography Census as having a
population of 50,000 or more (urbanized areas) or 5,000 or
more but less than 50,000 (small urban areas); all places
Reference details
outside of urbanized and small urban areas are rural areas.
Country USA
Parameter Design speed A speed fixed for the design and correlation of those
Group speed geometric features of a carriageway that influence vehicle
operation. Design speed should not be less than the
intended operating (85th percentile) speed. If the operating
Reference details
speed varies along the road, the design speed must vary
Year 2010 Number. 1887 accordingly.
Country multi-c / Austroads

Name AGRD part 3: Geometric design
Parameter Design vehicle A compilation of the 85th percentile values of the various
Group vehicle parameters of the vehicle type being designed for, e.g.
length, width, wheelbase, overhang, height, ground
clearance, etc
Reference details
Country South Africa

Name GDG - Geometric design guidelines, published
by CSIR
Parameter Design vehicle A compilation of the 85th percentile values of the various
Group parameters of the
vehicle type being designed for, e.g. length, width,
wheelbase, overhang, height, ground clearance, etc., and
Reference details
not a commercially available vehicle.

Name Geometric design of roads handbook
Parameter Rainfall assessment The climate of a region affects the design of a road, from
Group geography the materials that can be used to the need to seal a gravel
surface on a hill. Although there are many aspects of
climate – total rainfall, duration of wet season, rainfall
Reference details
intensity, etc – in this manual climate is represented by the
Year 2009 Number. 728 total annual rainfall.
Country Lao
Name Laos, low volume rural road environmentally
optimised design manual
Parameter Flat terrain Terrain with minimal gradient and minimal restriction on
Group geography horizontal and
vertical alignment. Number of 5 metre contours crossed per
km = 0 to 10
Reference details
Country Lao
Parameter Rolling terrain Terrain with low hills and some restrictions on horizontal
Group geography and vertical alignment.
Number of 5 metre contours crossed per km = 11 to 25
Reference details
Country Lao
Parameter Mountainous terrain Terrain with steep hills and substantial restrictions on
Group geography horizontal and
vertical alignment. Number of 5 metre contours crossed per
km > 25
Reference details
Country Lao
Parameter Environmentally Optimised Design The Environmentally Optimised Design (EOD) approach.
Group With this approach, the road is designed to suit a variety of
task and environmental factors such as rainfall, available
materials, construction capacity, gradient, flood risk and so
Reference details
on.
Country Lao
Parameter Low volume rural road This appears to be (a) where the sum of the final year
Group AADTs of traffic categories 3 and 4 is < 150 and there are
no vehicles in category 5. Category 3 is light 4-wheeled
motor vehicles, category 4 is medium 4-wheeled motor
Reference details
vehicles and category 5 is heavy 4-wheeled motor vehicles
Country Lao
Parameter Low volume roads The criteria for defining a “Low-volume road” varies
Group significantly in various parts of the world. In the SADC
region, such roads may be primary, secondary or
tertiary/access roads. They typically carry less than 200
Reference details
vehicles per day, including up to 20% commercial vehicles,
Year Number. 1100 and often include non-motorised traffi c, particularly near
populated areas.
Country
Name
Parameter Wide Single 2+1 (WS2+1) road A Wide Single 2+1 (WS2+1) road consists of two lanes of
Group road type travel in one direction and a single lane in the opposite
direction. This provides overtaking
opportunities in the two lane direction, while overtaking in
Reference details
the single lane direction is prohibited.
Country UK
Name DMRB 6 section 1 part 4 (TD 70/08 Design of
Wide Single 2+1 Road)
Parameter Cycle lane A portion of the roadway which has been designated by
Group geometrics - cross-section road markings, striping and signing as being exclusively for
the use of cyclists
Reference details
see also bicycle lane, bike lane

by CSIR
Parameter Design speed A speed fixed for the design and correlation of those
Group speed geometric features of a carriageway that influence vehicle
operation. Design speed should not be less than the
intended operating (85th percentile) speed. If the operating
Reference details
speed varies along the road, the design speed must vary
Year 2010 Number. 1887 accordingly.

Parameter Operating speed (85th percentile speed) The term Operating Speed in this guide refers to the 85th
Group speed percentile speed of cars at a time when traffic volumes are
low, and drivers are free to choose the speed at which they
travel. In effect, this means that designs based on the 85th
Reference details
percentile speed will cater for the majority of drivers.

Parameter High vehicle speed For design purposes, the following definitions of high,
Group speed intermediate and low vehicle speeds will apply for both
urban and rural areas:
Reference details
High speed: 90 km/h or greater
- Intermediate: 70 km/h to 89 km/h
Country multi-c / Austroads - Low speed: 69 km/h or less

Parameter Intermediate vehicle speed For design purposes, the following definitions of high,
Reference details
- High speed: 90 km/h or greater
Parameter Low vehicle speed For design purposes, the following definitions of high,
Reference details
- High speed: 90 km/h or greater
Parameter Freeways These are roads that are intended to provide a high quality
Group of service for high traffic volumes, and need not be
designated as freeways (some road authorities refer to
these roads as motorways).They are characterised by
Reference details
having full control of access, median divided multi-lane
Year 2010 Number. 1887 carriageways, grade separations and interchanges. Vertical
alignments tend to have flatter grades in order to
Country multi-c / Austroads minimise the difference in speed between cars and trucks.
Parameter Stopping sight distance SSD Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) is the distance to enable a
Group normally alert driver, travelling at the design speed on wet
pavement, to perceive, react and brake to a stop before
reaching a hazard on the road ahead.
Reference details

Parameter Design speed A speed selected to establish specific minimum geometric

Group speed design elements for a particular section of highway or bike
path.
Reference details
Country USA
Name California highway design manual 2016
Parameter Limiting curve speed The limiting curve speed is the speed at which a vehicle
Group speed travelling on a curve of
given radius and superelevation, will have a side friction
demand equal to the absolute maximum recommended
Reference details
value given in Chapter 11 (Horizontal Alignment), for that
Year 2007 Number. 2362 speed.
Country Australia
Name Queensland RPDM 1st edition / chapter 6 -
speed parameters
Parameter Design speed A fundamental consideration in the design of a road

Group speed section is the design speed to be used.
Notwithstanding the apparent simplicity of the term
'design speed' there is still argument over its exact
Reference details
definition. In practice, however, it simply means the speed
Year 2006 Number. 1038 value used as a guide by road designers when
determining radii, sight distances, superelevations, and
Country UK transition lengths.
Name textbook
n most design guides, the selection of design speeds for
road sections of a particular classification is primarily
influenced by the nature of the terrain (e.g. whether level,
Parameter Traffic flow Traffic flows vary both seasonally and during the day. The
Group designer should be familiar with the extent of these
fluctuations to enable him or her to assess the flow
patterns. The directional distribution of the traffic and the
Reference details
manner in which its composition varies are also important
Year 2002 Number. 148 parameters. A thorough understanding of the manner in
which all of these behave is a basic requirement of any
Country South Africa realistic design.
by CSIR
Parameter Thirtieth highest hourly flow If hourly flows are ordered from highest to lowest, it is
Group customary, in rural areas, to design for the thirtieth
highest hourly flow, i.e that flow which is exceeded in
only 29 hours of the year.This is because rural roads have
Reference details
very high seasonal peaks and it is not economical to have
Year 2002 Number. 148 a road congestion-free every hour throughout the year. In
urban areas, seasonal peaks are less pronounced and the
Country South Africa 100th highest hourly flow is considered a realistic flow level
Name GDG - Geometric design guidelines, published for design purposes.
by CSIR
Parameter peak hour factor ("peaking factor") To predict hourly flows, it is necessary to know the ADT
Group and the peaking factor, ß. The parameter, ß, is a descriptor
of the traffic flow on a given road and depends on factors
such as the percentage and incidence of holiday traffic, the
Reference details
relative sizes of the daily peaks, etc. The peaking factor
Year 2002 Number. 148 can fluctuate between -0,1 and -0,4.

by CSIR
Parameter ADT average daily traffic The ADT is defined as the total volume during a given time
Group period (in whole days), greater than one day and less than
one year, divided by the number of days in that time
period..
Reference details
Country USA
Name AASHTO, A policy on the geometric design of
highways and streets 2011
Parameter Lane distribution factor Truck/bus traffic on multilane highways normally varies by
Group lane with the lightest volumes generally in the median
lanes and heaviest volumes in the
outside lanes. Buses are also typically found in HOV lanes.
Reference details
For this reason, the distribution of truck/bus traffic by lanes
Year 2016 Number. 2360 must be considered in the engineering for all multilane
facilities to ensure that traffic loads are appropriately
Country USA distributed.
Parameter Traffic index (TI) The Traffic Index (TI) is a measure of the number of ESALs
Group expected in
the traffic lane over the pavement design life of the facility.
Reference details
Country USA
Parameter AADT The annual average daily traffic (AADT) is the total volume
Group of traffic for the whole year divided by the number of days
in the year.
Reference details
Country Australia
Name Queensland RPDM 1st edition / chapter 5
(superceded)
Parameter Local streets The "Australian Model Code for Residential Development
Group (AMCORD), November 1990 .... defines local streets as
having traffic volumes up to 2,000 vpd.
Reference details
Country Australia
Name Queensland RPDM 1st edition / chapter 5
(superceded)
Parameter High speed rural roads These are roads that are designed for operating speeds in
Group speed excess of 90 km/h. This may include freeways, which are
intended to provide a high quality of service for large traffic
volumes.
Reference details

Parameter Intermediate speed rural roads Minimum operating speeds on these roads are generally
Group constrained by the geometry to about 70 – 90 km/h. Drivers
will however, accelerate whenever the opportunity arises,
such as on any straight or large radius curve. Speeds will
Reference details
increase up to the desired speed where possible, which
Year 2010 Number. 1887 may be up to 110 km/h (Table 3.2). Horizontal curve radii
on these roads are generally in excess
Country multi-c / Austroads of 160 m, and the vertical alignment usually has little effect
Name AGRD part 3: Geometric design on operating speeds.
Parameter Low speed rural roads These are roads having many curves with radii less than
Group speed 150 m. Operating speeds on the curves generally vary from
50 – 70 km/h. Rural roads usually only have these
characteristics when difficult terrain and costs preclude the
Reference details
adoption of higher standard geometry. The alignments
Year 2010 Number. 1887 provided in these circumstances could be expected to
produce a high degree of driver alertness, so those lower
Country multi-c / Austroads standards are both expected and acceptable. These roads
Name AGRD part 3: Geometric design often have a reduced
speed limit (typically 60 to 80 km/h), which helps to lower
the desired speed (Table 3.2). As with intermediate speed
rural roads, drivers will slow down for horizontal curves
Parameter Operating speed of trucks The term ‘Operating Speed of Trucks’ is the 85th percentile
Group speed speed of trucks at a time when traffic volumes are low. In
many places, the operating speeds of cars and trucks will
be different due to their performance characteristics,
Reference details
especially on grades.

Parameter Section operating speed Vehicle speeds on a series of curves and short straights
Group speed tend to stabilise at a value related to the range of curve
radii. This speed is called the ‘Section operating speed’.
Reference details

6.1 Glossary (excerpt)
Collection of definitions of terms / parameters

related to the geometric design of roads.
Definitions may or may not be accepted, up-to-date, or correct. The glossary in the following pages
is an excerpt from a more extensive document, and refer to the “Speed” sub-group of parameters.
They are taken from English-language standards only at this stage.

Ref. Country Year Title Publisher
57 Australia 2002 Queensland RPDM 1st edition / chapter 5 (superceded)
59 UK 2002 Design recommendations for multi-storey and underground car parks (3rd ed) Institute of Structural Engineers
61 UK 1973 "Roads in urban areas (3rd edition)", London, HMSO 1973
74 New Zealand 2005 Transit, State highway geometric design manual part 4 - horizontal alignment Transit New Zealand
80 New Zealand 2003 Transit, State highway geometric design manual part 2 - basic design criteria Transit New Zealand
93 India 1991 IRC: 86 (1983 / 1991) - geometric design standards for urban roads in plains
112 Bangladesh 2000 Geometric design standards for RHD
112 Bangladesh 2000 Bangladesh:Geometric design standards for RHD; draft version 4, October 2000
138 New Zealand 2005 State highway geometric design manual - glossary of terms Transit New Zealand
148 South Africa 2002 GDG - Geometric design guidelines, published by CSIR CSIR
157 USA 2010 Texas roadway design manual
167 UK 1974 Hobbs- Traffic planning and engineering (1974)

255 UK 2002 DMRB 6 section 1 part 1/ TD 9/93 highway link design
293 India 2000 IRC: 73 (1980 / 1990) - geometric design standards for rural (non-urban) highways.
294 Tanzania 2001 Tanzania, "Road geometric design manual, 2011 edition", Ministry of Works, Dar es Salaam; Ministry of Works
2012
408 Iraq 1982 Iraq, Highway design manual, published by the road and traffic division of the Ministry of
Housing and Construction.
508 Nepal 2012 Nepal, DoLIDAR, "Nepal Rural Roads Standards 2012-1st revision"; Nepal 2012
584 USA 2012 Roadway design guidelines, Arizona DoT
585 Australia 2011 VicRoads supplement part 3 - geometric design VicRoads
587 Ireland 2003 Highway engineering Blackwell Science
635 UK 1998 "Overseas road note 6, A guide to geometric design” England, TRL 1988 TRL
636 Laos 2008 Seacap 3: Laos, low-volume rural road standards....
713 USA 1994 AASHTO - A policy on geometric design of highways and streets 1994
714 Italy 2001 Ministro delle Infrastruture e dei Trasporti, "Norme funzionali e geometriche per la costruzione
delle strade", Decreto Ministeriale 5, November 2001
726 multi-c UNECE 2002 UNECE "Trans European Motorway standards and recommended practice third edition",
Poland 2002
727 Romania 2005 "Design manual for low cost rural roads in Romania" IBRD February 2005
728 Lao 2009 Laos, low volume rural road environmentally optimised design manual
732 Switzerland 1991 VSS 640-080 Projektierung, Grundlagen (basics of road design
734 Italy 1980 CNR - Bolletino Ufficiale (Norme tecniche) A XIV - N 78
744 UK 2005 DMRB UK TA 90-05 geometric design of pedestrian, cycle and equestrian routes
756 Asia 2003 Asian highway handbook, full version 2003
762 Canada 2011 Canada, " December 2011 Updates to the Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads", TAC
2011
763 Malaysia 1986 Malaysia, "A guide on geometric design of roads", 1986 Roads Branch, Public Works Department
769 Nepal RAIDP technical manual vol.1, downloaded July 2013
771 multi-country 2001 SATCC "Draft code of practice for the geometric design of trunk roads", CSIR, South Africa CSIR
2001 (SATCC = Southern African Transport and Communications Commission)
777 USA 2013 University of Idaho, webpage with notes on "superelevation and side friction", downloaded July
2013
778 2011
779 Malaysia 2002 Malaysia, REAM "A guide on geometric design of roads" (2002 update); 2002
781 USA 2003 The Civil Engineering Handbook, Second Edition; edited by W . F . Chen and J . Y . Richard
Liew, CRC Press 2002
782 USA 2002 Banks, "Introduction to Transportation Engineering, chapter 4 - geometric design", McGraw Hill McGraw Hill Education
Education, 2002
783 Colombia 2010 Henao, John Jairo and others, "The policy on highway geometric design in Colombia", 4th
ISHGD, 2010
802 USA 2012 CHRP Synthesis 432 - recent roadway geometric design research
827 USA 2001 A policy on the geometric design of highways and streets 2001
829 USA 2004 Highway engineering handbook McGraw Hill
831 USA 2011 AASHTO, A policy on the geometric design of highways and streets 2011 AASHTO
833 USA 1996 Highway design manual
834 UK 2007 'Flaherty, Highways (4th edition) Butterworth-Heinemann
837 Yemen 1986 Yemen Highway Authority, Development of National Highway Master Plan, "Design
Standards", prepared by Dar al Handasah, 1986
843 Singapore 2010 Civil design criteria for road and rail transit systems
850 Philippines 2011 Road Safety Design Manual
854 Yemen 2004 Yemen, Ministry of public works and highways, rural roads design manual, section 3:
geometric standards
856 textbook 2004 Road engineering for development, 2nd ed. Spon Press
857 Australia 2003 Austroads, "A guide to the geometric design of rural roads (8th ed.)" Austroads
859 Ireland 2013 Design manual for urban roads and streets (published by the Department of transport, tourism
and sport).
891 USA 2012 Highway design manual chapter 2 - design criteria, NYSDOT
892 multi-c SICA 2011 Manual Centroamericano de Normas para el Diseño Geométrico de Carreteras, 3ª. Edición,
2011
894 Bolivia 2007 Manual de carreteras, vol. 1 / Manual de diseno geometrico
899 Peru 2001 DG-2001: Manual de Diseño Geométrico de Carreteras (DG-2001) Published by the MTC.
900 Colombia 2008 Manual de Diseno Geometrico de Carreteras from the Ministerio de Transporte
903 Peru 2008 Manual de diseno de carreteras no pavimentadas de bajo volumen de transito
917 USA 2011 Los Angeles 2010 bicycle plan, technical design handbook
922 Norway 2008 Hb265: Linjeføringsteori, from the Statens vegvesen NPRA Norwegian Public Roads
Administration;
929 Germany 2001 Introduction of a new approach to geometric design and road safety 20 th South African Transport
Conference
943 USA 1995 Changes in horizontal alignment standards in Australia and Canada, presented at the
International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design Practices, TRB 1995
962 USA 1998 Highway capacity manual, 3rd edition
985 USA 1999 AASHTO Guide for the development of bicycle facilities
1005 Ethiopia 2011 Design manual for low volume roads, part-A Ethiopian Roads Authority
1010 USA 2004 DelDOT Road design manual 2 - design controls Delaware DOT
1024 Austria 2010 Anlagen für den nichtmotorisierten Verkehr
1035 Bosnia & HG 2005 Guidelines for road design, construction, maintenance and supervision volume 1.1.3 (volume
1: designing section 1: road designing part 3: geometrical road elements)
1036 USA 2004 Traffic engineering, 3rd edition Pearson Education International
1038 UK 2006 textbook Elsevier

1042 Multi-country 2003 SADC / SATCC Guideline on low volume sealed roads SADC / SATCC
1062 Netherlands 2007 Nieuwe Ontwerprichtlijn Autosnelwegen (NOA)
1063 Ethiopia 2002 Ethiopia, geometric design manual 2002 (version 2); Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA).
component parts downloaded from ERA website and combined on 21.10.2013.
1076 South Africa 2003 Pedestrian and bicycle facility guidelines
1083 Peru 2008 "Manual para el diseño de carreteras pavimentadas de bajo volumen de tránsito", published by
the MTC.
1088 SIECA 2004 Manual Centroamericano De Normas Para El Diseño Geométrico De Las Carreteras
Regionales
1103 Chile 2009 Manuale de vialidad urbana
1115 Estonia 2000 Estonia Norms and Requirements of Road Design
1155 Albania 2007 ARDM 2 Road design manual vol. 2 / geometric design
1159 Finland 2013 Finland standard 30/2013: Road alignment design (Tien suuntauksen suunnittelu)
1196 Ireland 2011 NRA
1252 USA 2002 Flexible design of New Jersey's main streets

1370 Abu Dhabi 2013 Abu Dhabi, road geometric design manual (manual A9) (3rd ed)
1388 Dubai 2001 Geometric design manual for Dubai roads
1389 Georgia 2009 SST Gzebi:2009 / Georgia road design standards
1396 multi-country 2008 ECE European agreement on main international traffic arteries
1409 UK 2008 DMRB 6 section 1 part 4 (TD 70/08 Design of Wide Single 2+1 Road)
1505 Nigeria 2013 Highway manual part 1 Design / vol. I: geometric design (Federal Ministry of Works)
1555 India 2012 RC / SP: 84 - Manual for standards and specification for four laning laning of state highways on
PPP Basis.
1573 USA 2002 Design Speed, Operating Speed, and Posted Speed Limit Practices TRB 2003 Annual Meeting
1597 Afghanistan 2013 Afghanistan Rural Roads Manual
1615 Germany 2008 FGSV, "RAA Richtlinien für die Anlage von Autobahnen"; hardcopy, purchased 2014.
1617 Germany 2013 Wolf et al, Strassenplanung, Werner Verlag 2013
1623 USA 2014 Caltrans highway design manual California department of transportation
1627 Sweden 2004 Sweden 2004-80 alignment (Vägar och gators utformning Linjeföring)
1635 Australia 1990 Handbook of road technology (2nd edition) vol. 2 "traffic and transport"
1654 Peru 2005 P
1656 India 1976 IRC-66-1976 - recommended practice for sight distance on rural highways
1670 Ecuador 2003 Normas de Diseño Geométrico-2003 MOP
1689 Kenya 1979 Road design manual part 1: geometric design of rural roads
1711 Saudi Arabia ? Saudi Arabia : HDM 1.2 design of roadways
1738 UK 1990 New metric handbook - planning and design data
1783 USA 1997 "Stopping sight distance and decision sight distance"; Oregon State Uni, TRI
1822 Sri Lanka 1998 Geometric Design Standards of Roads -RDA-1998
1830 France 2000 ICTAAL - Autoroutes (motorways)
1840 multi-c TAH 2013 TAH Annex II Basic Guidelines for Road classification standards (TAH = Trans-African
Highways)
1860 Argentina 2010 Normas y Recomendaciones de Diseño Geométrico y Seguridad Vial
1884 multi-country 2003 ASEAN highway standards
1885 Multi-country 2010 AGRD part 1: Introduction to road design Austroads
1887 multi-c / Austroads 2010 AGRD part 3: Geometric design Austroads
1888 Multi-country 2006 AGRD part 2: Design considerations Austroads
1919 USA 2012 California Highway Design Manual 2012 California DOT
1956 Qatar 2013 QHDM Intersections and Interchanges Qatar
1978 Ethiopia 2013 Geometric Design Manual with appendices Final - Appendix ERA
2133 Canada Geometric Design Manual Part 2 Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada
2144 Finland 2001 Helsinki, street cross-sections Helsinki transport planning department
2211 Geometric design and safety for LVRR AFCAP /UKAID
2247 South Africa 2015 Geometric design of roads handbook CRC Press
2326 Netherlands 2015 Insight in horizontal curves
2327 USA 2016 Illinois BDE Manual Illinois DOT
2335 South Africa 2009 Non-motorised transport in the Western Cape
2351 Philippines 2000 Design standards for tourism and farm to market roads
2352 UK 2000 Industrial & commercial estate roads TAP Transport Advice Portal
2353 UK 2001 Industrial roads design guide
2357 Canada 2004 Waterloo region, active transportation master plan
2360 USA 2016 California highway design manual 2016
2362 Australia 2007 Queensland RPDM 1st edition / chapter 6 - speed parameters
2371 USA 2006 Massachusetts Project development and design guide
2380 Australia 2016 MRWA supplement to Austroads guide to road design - part 3 MRWA
2381 UK 2008 Kent design guide - supplementary-guidance-visibility Kent CC

2382 USA 2013 A Sample of Green Streets Definitions
2383 South Africa 2010? Complete Streets Design Guideline Manual
2385 USA 2010 Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach
2386 USA 2015 Evolving Geometric Design Decision-Making in the United States
2387 USA 2009 Rule-Based Road Design using AutoCAD Civil and AutoCAD Civil 3D
2395 USA 2013 Florida green book, FDOT
2396 USA Glossary of road design and construction terms, Nebraska DOT
2415 USA 2008 Smart transportation guidebook 2008 New Jersey DOT
9001 Canada 2016 TDM Encyclopedia (online document)
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Listing highway parameters

Book · April 2017

Simplification of road design standards View project

Listing highway parameters View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Towards the development of a common methodology in international

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-2

About the author

Countries he has worked in include: Albania, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Hong

Email comments to : roadnotes2@gmail.com

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-2

About Global Transport Atlas

Global Transport Atlas​ is a research project which looks at aspects of

Sources of information include formal and informal design standards and

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-3

About the author

Table of contents 1-4

1.1 Aim of this document

1.2 General structure of this document

1.3 Associated documents

1.4 Version history

Part 2 - Discussion 2-1

2.1 Introduction 2-2

2.2 What are “parameters” 2-3

2.3 Identifying parameters 2-5

2.4 Listing parameters 2-12

Part 3. Notes on the parameters 3-1

4.3 horizontal alignment

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-4

4.4 vertical alignment

Part 4. Lists of parameters 4-1

4.3 horizontal alignment

4.4 vertical alignment

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-5

Part 5 - Definitions 5-1

Annex 1 Glossary (excerpt)

Annex 2 List of references (excerpt)

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-6

Contents of this section:

1.1 Aim of this document

1.2 General structure of this document

1.3 Associated documents

1.4 Version history

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-7

1.1 Aim of this document

Suggests there should be a simpler way to

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-8

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-9

1.2 General structure of this

Lists the groups into which parameters

The groups and sub-groups are:

Structure of this document

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-10

Part 5​ - list of definitions for this document

Part 6​ - annexes, with details from a glossary and details of references

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-11

1.3 Associated documents

This document is one of a wider series of

Solutions Documents with detailed information on one specific solution. Usually

Other related documents

LHP- Highway Geometrics - pre-release 8 March 2017 Page 1-12

Road Design Standards Country-by-country listing of important and interesting documents on

Global Transport Atlas is a research project which looks at aspects of

Part 5 - list of definitions for this document

Part 6 - annexes, with details from a glossary and details of references

● University of Michigan (Parameters affecting stopping sight distance)