Ex3 Highway
Ex3 Highway
Section Summary
Circular curve
Notations: 𝑅, 𝑅𝑉 , 𝑀𝑠
Equations:
𝑆 = √8𝑅𝑣 𝑀𝑠
𝜋𝑅𝑣 𝑅𝑣 − 𝑀𝑠
𝑆= cos−1( )
90 𝑅𝑣
Relationship between location of sight obstruction (measured from where?), radius of curve (𝑅 𝑜𝑟 𝑅𝑣
is used here?) and sight distance that can be provided.
Review on superelevation
Relationship with minimum radius of curve
45% of centrifugal force can be balanced by superelevation (how about the remaining centrifugal
force?)
Reading:
Mannering (2013), Section 3.4
Roess (2011), Section 3.3.3, 3.3.6
Mannering, F. L. (2013). Principles of highway engineering and traffic analysis (5th ed.. ed.). Hoboken,
NJ: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley.
Roess, R. P. (2011). Traffic engineering (4th ed.. ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Upper Saddle River,
NJ : Pearson.
You do not learn much from reading, pay attention to the common
misconceptions and ask questions!
Sketch:
Δ
(iii) Station of PC = Station of PI – Tangent distance = (22 + 69.77) - 𝑅 tan 2 = 22 + 26.34
Sketch:
Note that 𝑀𝑆 is measured from the centerline of the innermost lane, thus the clearance from the edge
of the carriageway would be (𝑀𝑠 − 3.375/2) = 4.7625m
Revision Exercises
Question 3
A large advertisement board is situated next to the footpath of a horizontal curve. The radius of
curve is 125m. It is a two-lane single carriageway, each lane is 4.0m wide, there are footpaths of 1.8m
wide on both sides of the carriageway, and the advertisement board is right next to the footpath.
Determine the maximum allowable speed (rounded to multiples of 10 km/h) on this section of
carriageway according to design equations.
Question 4 [Difficult]
A horizontal curve on a single 4-lane carriageway (two lanes in each direction with no median) has
a superelevation of 6% and a central angle of 40 degrees. The PT of the curve is at station 9 + 830 and
the PI is at 9 + 756. The road has 3.1m lanes and 2.8m shoulders on both sides with high retaining
walls going up immediately next to the shoulders. What is the highest safe design speed of this
curve (to multiples of 10 km/h), and what is the station of the PC? Your design should follow
TPDM.
In fact, the following relationship between angles and chords holds for all circles. This property is
going to be useful in setting out a circular curve.
Angle a between the tangent and chord AB Reason:
Implies AOB = 2a
Tangent at point A Tangent at point A
B B
a a
A A
C 90o-a C
2a a
O O
Question 3
A large advertisement board is situated next to the footpath of a horizontal curve. The radius of
curve is 125m. It is a two-lane single carriageway, each lane is 4.0m wide, there are footpaths of 1.8m
wide on both sides of the carriageway, and the advertisement board is right next to the footpath.
Determine the maximum allowable speed (rounded to multiples of 10 km/h) on this section of
carriageway according to design equations.
Solution
OR
𝜋𝑅𝑣 𝑅𝑣 − 𝑀𝑠 𝜋 × 123 123 − 3.8
𝑆= cos −1 ( )= cos −1 ( ) = 61.31 m
90 𝑅𝑣 90 123
(Again, either one can be taken as the answer)
𝑣2
𝑆 = 𝑣𝑡𝑟 +
2𝑓𝑔
𝑣2
61.15 = 𝑣 × 2.5 +
2 × 0.45 × 9.81
𝑣 = 14.6871 𝑚/𝑠 or 52.87 km/h
Thus, the maximum allowable speed should be 50km/h (Note the direction of rounding)
A horizontal curve on a single 4-lane carriageway (two lanes in each direction with no median) has
a superelevation of 6% and a central angle of 40 degrees. The PT of the curve is at station 9 + 830 and
the PI is at 9 + 756. The road has 3.1m lanes and 2.8m shoulders on both sides with high retaining
walls going up immediately next to the shoulders. What is the highest safe design speed of this
curve (to multiples of 10 km/h), and what is the station of the PC? Your design should follow
TPDM.
Solution
2 design criteria : sight distance (related to 𝑀𝑠 ) and superelevation (related to minimum radius)
Comparing the max speed according to the two criteria above, the highest safe speed for this curve
should be 50 km/h.
The lowest values among 50 km/h and 60 km/h