Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
A hill road is one which passes through a terrain with a cross
slope of 25 percent or more.
A terrain can be classified into four groups based on the cross
slope of the country i.e slope approximately perpendicular to
the centre line of the highway alignment
o
o
o
o
Ref: IRC:SP:48-1988
Design Speed
Ref: IRC:SP:48-1998
Sight Distance
Two types of sight distance are considered in design of hill roads, these are
a)
Note:
The roadway widths are exclusive of parapets (0.6m width) and side drain (0.6m
width)
In hard rock stretches or unstable locations where excessive cutting may lead to
slope failure, width may be reduced by 0.8m on two lane and 0.4m on other roads
On horizontal curve extra width should be provided on curve
On roads subject to heavy snow fall, where snow clearance is done over long
periods, roadway width may be increased by 1.5m
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Camber/Cross Fall
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Horizontal Alignment
General
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Set-Back Distance
Vision Berms
Where there is a cut slope on the inside of the horizontal
curve, average height of sight line can be used as an
approximation for deciding the extent of clearance.
For stopping sight distance , this may be taken as 0.7m.
Cut slopes should be kept lower than this height at the
line demarcating the set-back distance envelope, either by
cutting back the slope or benching suitably. Such a
provision is generally known as better benching or vision
berms.
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Blind curves
Blind curves are those on which sight distance available is less than the
safe stopping sight distance i.e. absolute minimum from safety point of
view.
While clearance of obstructions within the minimum set-back distance
is expected to ensure the minimum sight distance required as per
standards, in hill roads it may not always be possible to ensure this due
to terrain conditions.
In such cases certain curves will have sight distance less than minimum
as per standards and hence blind.
In a blind curve there is always the danger of a vehicle not being able to
come to stop before reaching danger point or a vehicle coming from the
opposite direction which is likely to collide with it, due to lack of
adequate sight distance.
It has to be ensured that blind curves are accepted only where it is un
avoidable and that also rarely in any stretch of road since trafficability
and safety of a hill road considerably reduced by blind curves.
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Hair-Pin Bends
This is three-centered compound curve which is designed
as a circular curve with transition curves at each end.
A hair pin bend is located on a hill side having minimum
slope and maximum stability.
Inner and outer edges of roadway of hair-pin-bend should
be concentric with respect to centre line of the pavement.
It is recommended by IRC that where a number of a hairpin-bend have to be introduced a minimum intervening
length of 60m should be provided between the successive
bends to enable driver to negotiate the alignment
smoothly.
At hair-pin-bends, preferably, the full roadway width
should be surfaced.
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Compound
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Passing Places
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Passing Places
Passing places are required on single lane hill roads to
facilitate crossing of vehicles approaching from the
opposite direction and to tow aside a disabled vehicle so
that it does not obstruct traffic.
They should be provided at the rate of 2-3 per km.
Normal size of passing place is 3.75m wide, 30m long on
inside edge and 20 m long on the farther side.
The exact location of passing places should be judiciously
determined taking into consideration the available extra
width and visibility.
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