ESTHETIC CRITERIA IN FREEWAY DESIGN

THE PRINCIPAL TOPICS DISCUSSED ARE HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT IN RELATION TO VISUAL FIELD AND INTEGRATION OF HIGHWAYS WITH TOPOGRAPHY. PROPER ALIGNMENT IS SEEN AS A CONTRIBUTION NOT ONLY TO DRIVER COMFORT AND SECURITY BUT ALSO TO HIGHWAY SAFETY. FOUR HIGHWAYS ARE USED TO EXEMPLIFY GOOD AND BAD ALIGNMENT FEATURES: THE CONNECTICUT TURNPIKE, THE NEW YORK THRUWAY, THE BALTIMORE--WASHINGTON PARKWAY, AND THE ASCHAFFENBURG--NUREMBERG SECTION OF THE GERMAN AUTOBAHN. AMONG THE ELEMENTS DISCUSSED ARE THE RATIOS OF ROADBED AND SKY IN THE CONE OF VISION, CONTINUOUS VERSUS DISCONTINUOUS ALIGNMENTS, RELATIONSHIPS OF CURVATURE TANGENTS, SPIRAL TRANSITION CURVES, TYPES OF HORIZONTAL CURVATURE, RADIUS OF CURVATURE, COORDINATION OF VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT, AND MEDIAN DESIGN. UNDER THE SECOND TOPIC THE DISCUSSION EMPHASIZES HARMONY WITH EXISTING STREET NETWORKS AND THE HIGHWAY'S NATURAL SETTING. IT IS ALSO SUGGESTED THAT THE HIGHWAY, BEING ITSELF POTENTIALLY AN ARCHITECTURAL FORM, MAY LEND ITSELF TO PLANNED INTEGRATION WITH OTHER NATURAL AND MANMADE FORMS SUCH AS TERRAIN AND SCULPTURE.

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/HRBproceedings/41/41-008.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 41, pp 89-108, 23 FIG. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • PUSHKAREV, B
• Publication Date: 1962

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 8-12, 1962
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 41
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aesthetics; Alignment; Curvature; Curves (Geometry); Drivers; Field of vision; Geometric design; Highway safety; Highways; Medians; Radius; Streets; Tangents; Terrain; Vision
• Uncontrolled Terms: Field of view; Horizontal alignment; Horizontal curvature; Vertical alignment; Vertical curvature
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver vision; Radius of curvature
• Subject Areas: Design; Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00203577
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jan 31 1972 12:00AM