THE ECONOMICS OF HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT DESIGN

IN SELECTING THE LOCATION FOR ANY HIGHWAY EXTENSION OR IMPROVEMENT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT SOME METHOD BE DEVELOPED FOR DETERMINING THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF CURVATURE AND/OR CENTRAL ANGLE. THIS PAPER IS A SUMMARY OF RESEARCHES. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE CENTRAL ANGLE INDEX (TOTAL CENTRAL ANGLE PER MILE) FURNISHES A CONVENIENT AND FAIRLY ACCURATE METHOD OF RATING ALIGNMENTS AND OF DETERMINING THE RELATIVE ECONOMIC VALUE OF ALTERNATE LOCATIONS. IT WAS ALSO FOUND THAT THERE IS A DEFINE RESISTANCE TO THE TRANSLATION OF ANY VEHICLE OVER CURVED ALIGNMENT WHICH RESISTANCE MAY BE EXPRESSED IN POUNDS PER TON AND MAY AMOUNT TO AS MUCH AS THAT OVER A 3 PER CENT TANGENT GRADE. CERTAIN CURVES ARE INDICATED WHICH MAY BE EMPLOYED WITH FAIR ACCURACY TO CALCULATE THE EFFECT OF ALIGNMENT ON SPEED AND ON VEHICLE FUEL CONSUMPTION. /AUTHOR/

  • Record URL:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Vol 21, pp 164-178, 11 FIG, 2 TAB. 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:
    • McCullough, C B
    • Moyer, R A
    • Mack, W W
    • Thompson, J T
  • Publication Date: 1942

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, December 2-5, 1941
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00203543
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Sep 6 1971 12:00AM