INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION

FACILITIES

The Design Process

There are many ways to describe the design process for transportation
facilities or transportation systems. The overall process of developing a
transportation project is a mixture of technical, legal, and political elements.
When it is carried out by a public agency, it must balance the interests of
users, residents in the immediate vicinity of the project, and the general
public. Many of its features will be spelt out by public laws and regulations
or by agency policy.

These laws, regulations, and policies are intended to ensure that the resulting
facility is safe and economical, that its environmental impacts are
reasonable, and that the interests of different political constituencies are
adequately represented. Among the laws and regulations that govern the
project development process are enabling legislation for transportation
funding, which often establishes minimum design standards and requires
compliance with other laws and regulations.

In this process, there is no clear distinction between what is usually referred

to as planning and the process known as design. Planning refers to the more
general and abstract parts of the process and the design is the more detailed
and concrete, but both involve use of rational processes to decide how to use
available resources to achieve goals.

The overall design process is a coordinated process of information gathering,

analysis, and decision-making. In almost all cases, it is open ended (that is,
there is no one right answer, although some answers may be better than
others in terms of particular goals) and iterative, so that various alternatives
are proposed and evaluated before the final decision is made.

Figure 3.1 is one way of representing the overall transportation facility

design process. In this representation, the overall process is divided into
planning, traffic design, location, and physical design stages, and ultimately
results in construction of the facility. These phases overlap to some extent,
however, and some of them may be repeated several times. Specific steps
include:

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1. Deciding generally what sort of system or facility is needed. A
highway, a mass transit route (or station), an airport, even a whole
system. This step is normally considered to be part of the planning
process and is the responsibility of transportation planning officials
and the political system as a whole; nevertheless, design engineers are
key participants. Intelligent decisions depend on the ability to predict
costs and impacts; these predictions, in turn, often depend on
preliminary designs. In addition to cost and impact information,
decisions at this point in the process often depend on transportation
demand analysis for alternative facilities or systems.
2. Demand analysis for the system or facility to be designed. In this
context, transportation demand analysis is an attempt to predict, as
accurately as possible, the number and types of trips, which will take
place on a particular facility.
3. Traffic performance analysis. In this step, the designer establishes
the relationship between anticipated demand and the design features
of the facility or system. This step is often referred to as capacity
analysis, although it usually involves analysis of more than just
capacity. Also, it is necessary to take into account some of the
physical characteristics of the system in order to perform this step;
consequently, it is usually necessary to reconsider preliminary
performance analyses after the facility or system is located and certain
features of the geometric design are decided.
4. Size the facility or system, based on performance standards and the
traffic analysis. For a highway, for instance, this consists of deciding
the number of lanes to be provided at various locations. For an airport,
it involves determining whether several parallel runways will be
required and, if so, how many. For a railroad, it involves decisions
about whether to provide single or double track.
5. Determine the location of the facility or system. This step ordinarily
requires consideration of several alternative locations. Deciding
between them may further require preliminary designs, cost estimates,
and environmental impact analyses, and will usually involve public
hearings and other public decision processes. In order to carry out
these analyses, detailed physical mapping based on aerial photography
and field surveys, may be required.
6. Determine the configuration and/or orientation of the facility or
system. Orientation refers to such matters as the direction of an
airport runway; configuration refers to things like transit system route
structures or selection of highway interchange types.

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 7. Identify physical design standards. These are often a matter of
policy within a given design organization, but the individual designer
must judge the applicability of given design standards to particular
situations
8. Geometric design. Geometric design refers to establishment of
horizontal and vertical alignments and cross sections, based on
considerations such as operating characteristics of vehicles, design
standards and drainage.
9. Design auxiliary systems, such as drainage, lighting, traffic control,
and power supply (for electrified rail lines)
10.Design surface or guide way. This refers to the design of pavement
or track for land transportation facilities.
11.Estimate construction costs and project impacts. Major cost items
in the design of the transportation facility include land (right-of-way),
earthwork, structures, and control devices. Final cost estimates are
necessary before jobs can go out to bid; it is good practice, however,
for the designer to make rough cost estimates throughout the design
process and to base design decisions on them. It is also necessary to
identify environmental impacts and the cost of environmental
mitigation.
12.Evaluate design. Designs should be evaluated continually throughout
the design process. Evaluations are based on criteria such as physical
feasibility; economy; and social, economic, and environmental
impacts.

Feedback arrows in the diagram represent the process of redesign. This is the
process of mutual adjustment of the various elements of the design. Like
cost estimating and design evaluation, it goes on continuously throughout
the design process.

DESIGN STANDARDS

Responsibility for the establishment of design standards varies, depending

on the type of facility.

The physical performance of a transportation facility, including its comfort

and safety, is a result of the interaction of vehicular characteristics, human
characteristics, and the characteristics of the transportation facility. Physical
design standards link physical performance to design elements such as

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horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, cross section, and various design
details.

Vehicular characteristics include physical dimensions such as length, width,

height, and wheelbase; weight, including gross weight and wheel loads for
various axle configurations; acceleration and deceleration characteristics;
maximum speed and lift.

Table 3.1 summarizes transportation facility characteristics whose design

standards are influenced by these vehicular characteristics. In some cases,
the relationship between the vehicular characteristics and the design standard
is straightforward, as in the case of vehicle height and vertical clearance. In
other cases, relationships between vehicular characteristics and facility
design features are complicated. For instance, the relationship between
vehicle height and minimum length of vertical curve for highways also
depend on acceleration/deceleration characteristics, design speed, and
human characteristics.

Table 3.1 Relationships between vehicular and facility characteristics

Vehicular characteristic Related facility characteristic

Length Parking stall length
Transit station platform length
Width Lane width
Parking stall width
Lateral clearance
Height Vertical clearance
Minimum vertical curve length
Wheelbase (turning Lateral clearance on curves
radius) Intersection edge radii
Weight Structural design of pavement
Structural design of bridges
Acceleration/deceleration Maximum grade
Minimum curve radius
Speed Horizontal curve radius
Lift Runway length

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Human capabilities and characteristics important in setting design standards
depend on acceleration/deceleration characteristics, design speed, and
human characteristics.

Human capabilities and characteristics important in setting design standards

include visual ability, ability to hear, reaction times, gap acceptance
behavior, steering behavior, and comfort standards. In many cases, actual
design standards are based on comfort. For instance, limitations on radial
acceleration on horizontal curves for highways are normally based not on the
coefficient of friction between the tires and the roadway but rather on the
movement of the passenger’s body about the seat.

Similarly, limits on vertical acceleration in vertical curves are normally

based not on the necessity of maintaining contact between the tires and the
pavement, but rather on the feeling in the pit of the passenger’s stomach.
Other important interactions between human characteristic and design
standards have to do with reaction times, which are of major importance in
determining stopping distances and hence sight distance requirements.

Transportation system characteristics (or design elements) to which design

standards apply include the following:

 Minimum radius of horizontal curve. This standard applies to

highways and railways. For a given design speed, minimum curve
radius is limited by maximum allowable side friction, which is usually
based on a comfort standard; maximum superelevation rate (or
banking) for the curve, and the necessity to maintain stopping sight
distance.
 Maximum rate of superelevation. This standard applies to highways
and railways. For highways, maximum superelevation rate is limited
by side friction and by presence of roadside features such as
driveways. The major concern here is to prevent slow-moving
vehicles from sliding to the inside of the curve under slippery
conditions. For railways, it is limited by the need to limit imbalances
in the loads on the rails.
 Maximum grade. This standard applies to highways, railways, and
airport runways. Maximum upgrades are limited by vehicle
power/weight ratios and vehicle traction. Maximum downgrades are
also limited by stopping distances and sight distances. Maximum
grade standards for particular classes of roadway or railway are also

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 influenced by traffic levels and the need to maintain reasonable speeds
on upgrades.
 Minimum grades for some types of highways are limited by the need
to provide drainage.
 Minimum cross-slopes for highways, runways, and taxiways are also
limited by the need to provide drainage.
 Minimum length of vertical curve. This standard applies to
highways, railways, and airport runways and taxiways. For highways
minimum length of vertical curves is limited by stopping or passing
sight distance requirements, vertical acceleration, and appearance
standards.
 Edge radii in roadway and taxiway intersections are limited by
vehicle turning radii. These, in turn, are related to vehicle wheelbase
dimensions.
 Horizontal and vertical clearances apply to all modes of
transportation. These are limited by vehicle dimensions and, in the
case of horizontal clearances for highways, by the need to provide
clear recovery zones for vehicles that run off the road.

DESIGN SPEED AND SIGHT DISTANCE

The driver’s ability to see ahead contributes to safe and efficient operation of
the road. Ideally, geometric design should ensure that at all times any object
on the pavement surface is visible to the driver within normal eyesight
distance. However, this is not usually feasible because of topographical and
other constraints, so it is necessary to design roads on the basis of lower, but
safe, sight distances.

As an example of how design standards are developed, consider sight

distances for highways. There are two types of sight distance. Stopping sight
distance is the distance required to see an object 0.15 m high on the
roadway. It is intended to allow drivers to stop safely after sighting an object
on the roadway large enough to cause damage to the vehicle or loss of
control. Passing sight distance is the distance required to see an on coming
vehicle of a certain minimum size. It is intended to ensure that a passing
maneuver can be completed safely under certain assumptions as to vehicle
speeds and acceleration capabilities.

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Passing sight distances are normally of concern only on two-lane roadways,
and need not be maintained everywhere on them, rather, the usual
consideration is that passing sight distance exist for a sufficient fraction of
the highway’s length to prevent driver impatience. Stopping sight distance,
on the other hand, should be maintained at all points on the roadway.

Sight distance, like several other transportation facility design features, is

related to the design speed of the facility. Design speed is defined as the
maximum safe speed that can be maintained over a specified section of
highways when conditions are so favorable that the design features of the
highway govern. Put another way, it is the maximum safe speed when
weather conditions are favorable and traffic volumes are so low that there is
no significant interaction between vehicles.

As a general rule, the stated design speed for a highway section establishes
the minimum standard for design features related to it (such as horizontal
curve radius and vertical curve length), and the same design speed will be
used for each of these, so as to provide a “balanced” design.

The selection of the design speed is influenced by the following factors:

(a) The nature of the terrain

(b) The classification of the road
(c) The density and character of the adjoining land use
(d) The traffic volumes and composition expected on the road

A road carrying a large volume of traffic may justify a higher design speed
than a less important road in similar topography. However, the design speed
should be consistent with the speed a driver is likely to expect, and a low
design speed should not be assumed for a secondary road, where the
physical limitations and the traffic are such that a driver is likely to drive at
high speeds.

Calculation of passing sight distance is somewhat more complicated, in that

it depends on the relative speeds of leading, overtaking, and oncoming
vehicles, and on the minimum gap between the oncoming vehicle and the
vehicle being passed that the driver of the passing vehicle will accept. For
purposes of analysis, AASHTO defines four distances:

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d1=distance traversed during perception and reaction time and during the
initial acceleration to the point of encroachment on the left lane
d2=distance traveled while the passing vehicle occupies left lane
d3=distance between the passing vehicle at the end of its maneuver and the
opposing vehicle
d4=distance traversed by opposing vehicle for two-thirds of the time the
passing vehicle occupies the left lane, or 2/3d1

The total passing sight distance is given by

S=d1+d2+d3+d4

DESIGN DOCUMENTS

Required design documents for transportation projects will vary somewhat,

depending on the type of facility. In most cases, the agency owning the
facility will contract out its construction. In order to solicit bids from
potential contractors or enter into a contract, it is necessary to document the
design, allowable materials, and required construction techniques in detail.

Bid documents are often spoken of as including plans, specifications, and

estimates. Plans refer to drawings, usually accompanied by notes, of various
aspects or components of the design. In the case of transportation projects,
plans will document the basic geometric features of the facility as well as
many details. Specifications are written instructions detailing how the
facility is to be constructed. They include such things as allowable materials,
allowable construction techniques, and performance standards for various
components of the project. Estimates include cost estimates for various parts
of the project and are used to evaluate the acceptability of bids and the
financial feasibility of the project.

Construction plans for linear transportation projects (highways, railways,

runways e.t.c) consist of four basic elements, which together document the
geometry of the facility. In addition, there will usually be plan sheets
documenting various details. In many cases, these detail sheets will be
reproduced from sets of standard plans, which are maintained by most
design agencies. The four basic elements are

1. The plan view. This is a drawing of the facility as it would look to an

observer directly above it.

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 2. The profile. This drawing has elevation as its vertical axis, and
horizontal distance, as measured along the centerline of the facility, as
its horizontal axis.
3. The geometric cross section. This view has elevation as its vertical
axis and horizontal distance, measured perpendicular to the centerline,
as its horizontal axis.
4. The superelevation diagram. This applies to curved facilities, such as
highways or railways, only. It consists of a graph with roadway or
railway cross-slope (vertical axis) versus horizontal distance
(horizontal axis). The cross-slope is measured relative to the
centerline or some other axis of rotation for the facility.

Locations along the centerline are identified by stations. Depending on the

design organization, stations may be either 1000 m or 100 m apart.
Distances along the centerline may be measured either in meters or in
stations. A distance of 1024.5 m, for example, would be expressed as
10+24.5 stations (or 1+024.5, if 1000 m stations are used.

Elevations are in meters above some datum; usually this datum is mean sea
level, but it may be any arbitrary scale.

Grades (longitudinal slopes) are expressed in decimal fractions (m/m) or as

percentages (m/station).

Specifications consist of standard specifications, which apply generally to all

construction projects undertaken by a particular agency and special
provisions, which apply to individual projects only. In many cases, most
specifications applying to a particular project will be standard specifications,
and will be incorporated in the contract documents by reference.