G.

THE HIGHWAY CROSS SECTIONAL ELEMENTS

1.

Carriageway and Lane Width

Carriageway is the portion of the road on which the vehicles are expected to travel. The four

basic types of road layout are Two-lane carriageways, Three-lane carriageways, Dual two-lane
carriageways and Dual three-lane carriageways.
Lane width has an important bearing on highway capacity, and the standard recommended
for classified roads is 3.65m wide lanes. (See Figures below)

2.

Shoulders
A shoulder is the portion of the roadway contiguous with the travelled way for

accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, and for lateral support of base and surface
courses. Well-designed and properly maintained shoulders are necessary on rural highways with
any appreciable volume of traffic.
The standard width of shoulder is 2.75m. Shoulders are sloped to drain away from the
travelled way. The slope adopted for shoulders is usually 1 in 20 or 5%.
With bituminous pavements, shoulders should be constructed of gravel to offer good
contrast to the pavement. As such, the through traffic lanes should be clearly defined at all times,
particularly at night or in inclement weather.
The advantages of shoulder are as follows:
a) Space is provided for stopping free of the traffic lane due to motor trouble, flat tyre, or other
emergency. Vehicles stopped upon the paved surface of the highway introduce a high
accident potential.
b)

Space is provided for the occasional motorist who desires to stop to consult road maps,
to rest, or for any other purpose.

c)

Space is provided to escape potential accidents or reduce their severity.

d)

Some types of shoulders contribute much to the appearance of the highway.

e)

The capacity of the highway is improved. Uniform speed is encouraged.

f)

Space is provided for maintenance operations.

g)

Lateral clearance is provided for signs and guardrails.

h)

Structural support is given to the pavement.

3.

Camber and crossfall

Provision must be made for the run-off of surface water from the carriageway, shoulders,

etc., by sloping the carriageway into the side/earth drain or concrete drains.
For a cambered carriageway, the slope is usually 1 in 40 or 2.5%. while for a shoulder, the
slope is usually 1:20 or 5%.
4.

Kerbs
Kerbs are used for various purposes including;
a)

to control drainage,

b)

to act as deterrents to vehicles leaving the pavement at hazardous points,

c)

to delineate the edge of pavement,

d)

to present a more finished appearance, and

e)

to assist in the orderly development of the roadside.

Often, a kerb serves two or more of these purposes. To be considered a kerb, some raised
aspect or vertical element is required. Kerbs are needed mostly on highways in urban areas.
There are two general classes of kerbs: Barrier and Mountable kerbs.
i)

Barrier kerbs are relatively high and steep faced, designed to inhibit, or at least
discourage, vehicles from leaving the pavement. As shown in the Figures, they
range from 150 to 250mm or more in height and might be a two-step section.

ii)

Mountable kerbs are designed so that vehicles can cross them readily when required.
As shown in the Figures, they are low and have flat sloping faces.

5.

Drainage channels
Roadside drainage channels perform the vital function of diverting or removing surface

water from the highway right-of-way. For drainage channels to be efficient and functional, they
a) should have adequate capacity for the design runoff,
b) should provide for unusual storm water with minimum damage to the highway and
c) should be located and shaped to avoid creating a hazard to traffic.
Where terrain permits, roadside channels built in earth should have side slopes not steeper
than 4:1 (4 horizontal to 1 vertical), and a rounded bottom at least 4 feet wide. The minimum grade
for unpaved channels should be about 0.5 percent to avoid excessive saturation of the roadbed.
In urban areas, roadside drains are usually reinforced concrete rectangular or trapezoidal
open or covered channels.

6.

Side Slopes
Sections of roadway on fill (embankment) or deep cut will usually require proper shaping of

the side slopes. Effective erosion control, low cost maintenance, and adequate drainage of the
subgrade largely are dependent upon proper shaping of the side slopes.
7.

Median
A median is provided primarily to separate opposing traffic streams. To this end, a median

should be highly visible both day and night and it should be as wide as feasible. The general range
of median widths is from a minimum of 4 feet to a desirable dimension of 60 feet or more.
Medians on rural highways preferably should be of sufficient width to perform the following
functions:
a) provide the desired freedom from interference of opposing traffic,
b) minimize headlight glare,
c) include space for safe operation of crossing and turning vehicles at intersection at grade, and
d) to provide a haven in case of emergency.
8.

Walkways
Walkways or sidewalks are provided for safe pedestrian movements.

Walkways are

accepted as integral parts of city streets but are seldom considered necessary in rural areas. It is
advisable to raise the grade line of walkways higher than that of the vehicle lanes.
Sometimes, the top cover of lined drains in urban areas is made to serve as walkways, to
reduce construction cost.
9.

Rights-of-way
a) Sufficient rights-of-way are acquired, usually before construction, to provide for widening
or the later addition of more lanes to the highway.
b) Wide rights-of-way decrease interference from adjacent property and provide for more
freedom of movement.
c) Rights-of-way should be of sufficient width to include all the cross section elements with
good balance throughout.
d) Minimum width of right-of-way for rural highway is 50 metres on both sides of the highway
centerline but will less within built-up areas.

H.

THE ROAD PAVEMENT

The modern road pavement is usually composed of several layers of material of differing

quality; the strongest material being placed uppermost and forming the actual running surface.
There are basically two types of pavements: Flexible pavement and Rigid pavement.
1.

Flexible Pavement
A flexible pavement can be defined as a structure that maintains intimate contact with and

distributes loads to the subgrade and depends on aggregate interlock, particle friction, and cohesion
for stability. A flexible pavement is usually composed of the subgrade, sub-base, base, and
surfacing. (see Fig. 1).

a. The Subgrade
This is the foundation layer that eventually supports all the loads that come onto the
pavement. In some cases, the subgrade will simply be the natural earth surface. In other
and more usual instances, it will be compacted soil existing in a cut section or the upper
layer of an embankment section.
b. The Sub-base
This is a layer of granular or stabilized material that may or may not be included as part of
the flexible pavement. It will be necessary to use sub-base layer in cases where:
-

the subgrade soil is extremely weak;

frost action in the area is severe; and

suitable sub-base materials are cheaper than base materials of higher quality.

c. The Base
The base is a layer (or layers) of very high stability and density. Its principal purpose is to
distribute or spread the stresses created by wheel loads acting on the wearing surface so
that the stresses transmitted to the subgrade will not be sufficiently great to result in
excessive deformation or displacement of that foundation layer.
d. The Surfacing
It is desirable that the wearing surface should possess the following characteristics:
i.

must be capable of withstanding the wear and abrasive effects of moving vehicles,

ii.

must possess sufficient stability to prevent it from shoving and rutting under traffic
loads,

iii.

must prevent the entrance of excessive quantities of surface water into the base and
subgrade from directly above.

The wearing surface may be bituminous surface treatment used for low-cost, light-traffic roads
with thickness less than 25mm (1 inch). For heavily travelled routes, the wearing surface is asphalt
concrete with thickness of up to 150mm (6 in.) or more.
2. Rigid Pavement
Concrete surfaces and bases are frequently classed as rigid pavements. The term rigid implies
that pavements constructed of this material possess a certain degree of beam strength that permits
them to span or bridge over some minor irregularities in the subgrade or sub-base on which they
rest.

As a result of rigid nature, minor defects or irregularities in the supporting foundation layer may
not be reflected in the surface course. Naturally, defects of this type are certainly not desirable, as
they may lead to failure of the pavement through cracking, breaking, or similar distress.
Rigid pavements are usually made of Portland cement concrete and this may be defined as a
plastic and workable mixture composed of mineral aggregate such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, or
slag, interspersed in a binding medium of cement and water.
When first combined, the materials listed form a plastic workable mass that may be easily
handled and shaped into any desired form. A short time after mixing, the concrete begins to stiffen
or set because of chemical reaction between the cement and water in the mixture, and in a
relatively short time it forms a dense, hard mass that possesses considerable compressive and
flexural strength.
When properly designed and constructed, concrete roads and streets give many advantages:
i.

They are capable of carrying almost unlimited amounts of any type of traffic with ease,
comfort, and safety.

ii.

Surfaces of this type are smooth, dust-free, and skid-resistant.

iii.

Surfaces of this type have a high degree of visibility for both day and night driving.

iv.

They are economical in many locations because of their low maintenance costs and
relative permanence.

The principal use of concrete pavements has been in the construction of heavily travelled roads
and city streets, including those in residential, business, and industrial areas.

I.

EARTHWORK QUANTITIES
In the geometric design of a highway, it is almost always certain that the final grade line will

definitely not follow the existing ground level in order to satisfy certain design controls and criteria.
Thus, there will almost always be areas of cutting away portion of the existing ground and areas of
filling up some portions. The process of cutting and filling portions of the existing ground is called
earthwork operations in highway.
Since earthwork operations form a substantial part of any rural highway project and
probably represent the largest variable factor in constructional costs, detailed attention must be paid
it.
There are basically two standard methods of calculating earthwork quantities namely
Average End Areas (Avgendarea) method and the Prismodial method.
End Areas Method
Generally, road cross-sectional profiles at specified interval (e.g. 25m) are plotted to a scale
of, say, 1 : 250 using spot levels taken along the center-line and at offsets of 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m
and 25m to either side, or wherever there is a marked change of slope. The cross-sectional areas are
calculated using planimeter.
Earthwork volumes are then calculated from the areas using the formula:
V

1
L A1 A2
2

where A1 and A2 are the cross-sectional areas distance L apart.

Prismoidal formula
If it is assumed that the faces o the earth solid between adjacent cross-sections are planar (Fig. ),
then the solid so formed is a primoid and the true volume is obtained by using the primoidal
formula:
V

1
L A2 4 M A2
6

where A1 and A2 are the cross-sectional areas distance L apart, and M is the area of a section midway between the two ends (Note: M is not necessarily the mean of A1 and A2)

J.

MASS HAUL DIAGRAM

1.

Bulking and shrinkage of material

Some materials such as rock and chalk increase in volume when excavated and subsequently

compacted to form an embankment and this phenomenon is termed bulking. Other materials such
as gravel, sandy soils, and clays show a decrease in volume as a result of more thorough compaction
and this is termed shrinkage.
The shrinkage factor is the term used to describe the relationship between the excavated
volume and the volume of fill. Excavated quantities can therefore be converted to volume of
compacted fill by the use of this shrinkage factor, which could be taken as 1.2, thus:
Vexcv. = 1.2 Vfill
2.

Haulage of Material
The cost of any earth-moving operation depends not only on the volume and nature of the

materials to be handled but also on he distance which these materials have to be carried from the
point of excavation to the point of tipping and compaction.
In road schemes, the earthworks are usually planned so that, where suitable, material
excavated from a cutting can be used to form an embankment further along the road. As this may
entail carting (or hauling) the material over a considerable distance, the cost of haulage is taken into
account by the contractors making allowance for haulage in the rates quoted for the item(s) covering
excavation in cutting and forming of embankments.
3.

The Mass Haul Diagram

The mass haul diagram (Fig. ) is related to the longitudinal profile of the road and shows

the net cumulative volume, adjusted for bulking and shrinkage, up to any chainage along the centerline. Excavated volumes in cutting are positive while volumes of embankments are negative.
The diagram has the following characteristics:
a.

If at any chainage the diagram is above the base line, then the net volume up to that
section is positive; i.e. a surplus of cut. Below the base line denotes a deficit of fill.

b.

A rising gradient on the diagram means that the road is in cutting at that section. A
falling gradient denotes embankment.

c.

A maximum point occurs at the end of a cutting and a minimum point occurs at the end
of an embankment.

d.

The vertical distance between any two points on the diagram is measure of the net
volume of earthworks between these sections.

e.

Any horizontal line on the diagram, including the base line, cuts the diagram at sections
between which earthworks are balanced.

f.

The length of any such balance line represents the maximum haulage distance between
the sections.

4.

Earthwork Terminologies
a)

Haul This is the volume of material multiplied by the distance through which it is
moved. It is usually expressed in station metre. (Haul = Volume X Distance)

b)

Freehaul and Overhaul On certain road contracts, the Bill of Quantities may be
drawn up so that the items relating to general excavation and compaction of material
include haulage only within a specified distance, called the freehaul distance. Haulage
over and above this distance is paid for under an additional item, and the extra distance
is termed the overhaul distance. The amounts of material involved under these items are
termed the freehaul and overhaul respectively, and these volumes can be ascertained by
reference to the mass haul diagram.

c)

Economic Haul When the contractor is faced with large haul distances, it is more
economical for him to waste material within the entire area of construction and borrow
material from nearby areas than to pay for the expensive overhauling. On any given
scheme, the economic haul distance will vary considerably as it depends both on the
availability of suitable borrow material and of nearby sites where excavated material can
be wasted.
The economic distance of haulage is termed the Economic Haul and can be determined
by equating the cost of roadway excavation plus overhaul and tipping in embankments
with the cost of borrow pit material (include original cost as well as cost of excavation,
hauling and tipping borrow in embankment) plus excavation, haul and wasting of
roadway material within the freehaul distance.

d)

Waste and Borrow Materials excavated from cuts along the roadway but not used for
embankment fill are called waste. Borrow, on the other hand is the material used for fill,
which is not obtained from roadwork excavation but excavated elsewhere.