Geometric design of

Highways
Geometric Design :-
The highway design which deals with the visible
elements of different highways such as
alignment, sight distance is called as ‘Geometric
design’ of highway.
• Objectives of Geometric design
1. It gives maximum efficiency in the traffic operation.
2. It gives the maximum safety to the users.
3. It helps to save time of travel.
4. It increases the speed of vehicles.
5. It increases the number of vehicles on road.
6. It reduces the cost of construction.
7. It reduces the cost of transportation.
8. It gives pleasure of travel.
Road in Embankment
Road in Cutting
Important terms :-
1. Right of way :-
The area of the land acquired for construction and
development of a road along the alignment is known
as ‘Right of way’. The width of this acquired land is
known as ‘land width’.
Factors affecting the land width:-
1. Category of highway, roadway width and road
margin.
2. Height of embankment and depth of cutting.
3. Drainage system and its size.
4. Sight distance on horizontal curves.
5. Reserve land for future widening.
Standards values of Land width recommended
by IRC ( Indian Road Congress )
Sr Road classification Plain & Rolling area Mountainous
no & steep area

Normal Range Normal

1 National highway & state highways 45 30 – 60 24

2 Major district roads 25 25 – 30 18

3 Other district roads 15 15 – 25 15

4 Village roads 12 12 - 18 9
Important terms :-

2. Road margin :-
The portion of land width on either side of the roadway
of a road are known as ‘Road margin’.
It includes parking lane, frontage road, cycle track, foot
path, side slope etc.

3. Road way width :-

The top width of highway embankment or bottom width
of highway cutting excluding the side drains is called
‘Road way width’ or ‘Formation Width’.
 Standards values of Road way width
recommended by IRC ( Indian Road Congress )
Sr Road classification Plain & Rolling area Mountainous &
no steep area

1 National highway & state highways

i) Single lane 12.0m 6.25m
ii) Two lane 12.0m 8.80m
2 Major district roads
i) Single lane 9.0m 4.75m
ii) Two lane 9.0m ----
3 Other district roads
i) Single lane 7.5m 4.75m
ii) Two lane 9.0m -----
4 Village roads – Single lane 7.5m 4.00m
4. Carriage Way :- The portion of road way
constructed for movement of vehicle traffic is called
as ‘carriage way or crust’.
Standards values of Carriage way width
recommended by IRC ( Indian Road Congress )
Sr Class of road Width of carriage way
no

1 Single lane 3.75m

2 Two lane without kerbs 7.0m
3 Two lane with kerbs 7.5m
4 Intermediate carriage way 5.5m
5 Multi lane pavement 3.5m per lane
Important terms :-
5. Shoulder:-
The portion of the road way between the outer edges of
the pavement and edges of the top surface of
embankment or inner edges of the side drains in
cutting are known as ‘shoulder’.
Objectives of shoulders :-
1. Shoulder are provided along the road edge to serve
as an emergency lane.
2. Shoulder acts as service lane for break down vehicle.
3. They provide lateral stability to the carriage way.
4. They serve as parking places for vehicles in case of
emergency.
5. They provide the space for erecting road signals.
Minimum Shoulder width recommended by
IRC ( Indian Road Congress )
Sr Road classification Plain & Rolling area Mountainous &
no steep area

1 National highway & state highways

i) Single lane 4.125m 1.25m
ii) Two lane 2.5m 0.90m
2 Major district roads
i) Single lane 2.625m 0.5m
ii) Two lane 1.0m ----
3 Other district roads
i) Single lane 1.875m 0.5m
ii) Two lane 1.0m -----
4 Village roads 2.25m 0.5m
6. Side slopes :- The slopes given to the sides
of earthwork of a road in embankment or in
cutting for stability are known as ‘side slope’.
Side slopes recommended by IRC
Sr Details Side slopes
no
1 Embankment ( filling )
i) The filling material subsoil strata consists of heavy clay 2:1
ii) The height of embankment is more than 3m 2:1

2 Cutting
i) Ordinary soil 1 : 1 to ½ : 1
ii) Disintegrated rock / clonglomerate ½ : 1 to ¼ : 1
iii) Soft rock and shale ¼ : 1 to 1/8 : 1
iv) Medium rock 1/12 : 1 to 1/16 : 1
v) Hard rock Nearly vertical
Important terms :-
7. Berms :-
The portion of land width left in between the toe of road
embankment and inner edges of side drain is known
as ‘Berms’. Or The portion in between the top edge
of road cutting & the nearest edge of spoil bank on
either side are known as ‘Berms’.

8. Spoil bank :-
The banks constructed from surplus excavated earth on
the side of road cutting parallel to its alignment are
known as ‘spoil bank’.
Important terms :-
9. Kerbs :-
The boundaries between the pavement and shoulders or
footpath are known as ‘Kerbs’.
Types :- i) Low kerbs
ii) Semi – barrier type kerbs
iii) Barrier type kerbs.

10. Formation level :-

The reduced level of finished surface of earth is known
as ‘Formation level’.
 IRC specifications for camber

Sr Types of Road surface Camber

no

1 High type bituminious surfacing or 1 in 50 to 1in 60

cement concrete surface
2 Thin bituminious surfacing 1 in 40 to 1in 50

3 Water bound macadam, 1 in 33 to 1in 40

Gravel road surface
4 Earth road, footpath etc 1 in 25 to 1in 33
 IRC specifications for Design Speed

Sr Type of Design speed in km/hr

no Road
Plain area Rolling area Hilly area Steep area
Ruling Min Ruling Min Ruling Min Ruling Min

1 NH & SH 100 80 80 65 50 40 40 30

2 MDR 80 65 65 60 40 30 30 20

3 ODR 65 50 50 40 30 25 25 20

4 VR 50 40 40 35 25 20 25 20
Types of Gradient :-
1. Ruling gradient
2. Limiting gradient
3. Exceptional gradient
4. Average gradient
5. Floating gradient
6. Minimum gradient
1. Ruling gradient :- The gradient usually adopted
while making the alignment of a road is called ruling
gradient. It is fixed in such a way that all vehicles can
overcome long distance without uneconomical fuel
consumption. It is also known as ‘Design gradient’.
2. Limiting gradient :- Gradient steeper than the ruling
gradient is called as limiting gradient. It is also
known as ‘Maximum gradient’ or ‘Momentum
gradient’.
Demerits :- 1) very inconvenient for the pedestrians and
animals.2) Load carrying capacity of vehicles will be
reduced. 3) The road surface will wear out quickly
due to high velocity of surface water
4) The wear & tear of vehicles will increase due to
breaking action.
3. Exceptional gradient :- The gradient steeper than
the limiting gradient is known as ‘Exceptional
gradient’. It is used in extraordinary situation for
shorter length.

4. Floating gradient :- The gradient on which a motor

vehicle, moving with constant speed without any
application of power or break.

5. Minimum gradient :- The minimum slope essential for

effective drainage of rain water from road surface is
called as ‘Minimum gradient’.
 IRC specifications for Gradient

Nature of area Gradient

Ruling Limiting Exceptional

Plain / Rolling 1 in 30 1 in 20 1 in 15
(3.3%) (5%) (6.7%)
Mountainous area 1 in 20 1 in 16.7 1 in 14.3
(5%) (6%) (7%)
Steep area 1 in 16 1 in 14.3 1 in 12.5
(6%) (7%) (8%)
Sight distance :- The distance along the centre line of a
road at which a driver has a visibility of an object
(stationary or moving) above the carriage way is
known as ‘Sight Distance’.
Factors affecting sight distance :-
1. Speed of the vehicle.
2. The fractional resistance of the road surface.
3. Height of the driver eye.
4. Slope of the road surface.
5. Perception time and break reaction time.
Types :- 1. Stopping or non-passing sight distance.
1. Overtaking or passing sight distance.
2. Intermediate sight distance.
3. Lateral sight distance.
Stopping Sight distance :- The clear distance ahead
needed by a driver to bring his vehicle to a stop
before meeting a stationary object on the road is
called as ‘Stopping Sight distance’.
SSD = V2 + ( 0.278 Vt )
254 f
Crossing Sight distance :- For road with single lane
highway permitting two way traffic movements, two
vehicles coming in opposite directions, on seeing
each other, will have to reduce their speed to enable
each other for avoiding head to head collision. The
sight distance provided for this purpose is known as
crossing sight distance.
CSD = 2 x SSD
Overtaking Sight distance :- The minimum distance open
of the driver on a two way road to enable him to overtake
another vehicle ahead with safety against the traffic from
opposite direction is called as ‘Overtaking sight distance
or Passing sight distance.
Factors affects the OSD:-
i) Speed of overtaking, overtaken and the speed of vehicle
coming from the opposite direction.
ii) Distance between the vehicles.
iii) Rate of acceleration of the overtaking vehicle.
iv) Skill and reaction time of the driver.
Lateral Sight distance :- The sight distance needed by
the driver of a vehicle who see another vehicle
approaching the intersection, reacts and applied
breaks to bring his vehicle to dead stop at the
intersection without any accident is called ‘Lateral
sight distance’.
Super-elevation :- When the fast moving vehicle on a
horizontal curve, the centrifugal force acts on the
vehicle from inside towards the outside of the curve
and hence lateral stability is affected. In order to
avoid such situation, the outer edge of the
pavement is raised with respect to the inner edge.
i.e the inclination provided to the pavement surface
throughout the length of the horizontal curve it is
known as ‘Super-elevation’ or ‘cant’ or ‘banking’
e + f = V2
127R
Object of Super-elevation:-

1. To counteract the effect of centrifugal force acting

on moving vehicle.
2. To help a fast moving vehicles to negotiate a curved
path without overturning and skidding.
3. To ensure smooth and safe movements of
passengers and goods on the road.
4. To prevent damaging effect on the road surface due
to improper distribution of road.
5. The maintenance cost of road on curve is reduced.
Minimum and Maximum Super-elevation:-

If the super-elevation is less than the camber is

known as Minimum super-elevation, it should
be kept equal to the camber of the road for
drainage purpose.
Maximum value of the super-elevation in plain
and ruling area roads has been fixed by IRC as
6.7% (1 in 15) for hilly roads it is upto 10%
(1 in 10).
Method of providing super-elevation :-
First stage second stage

Method 1 Method 2