DESIGN PHILOSOPHY FOR LOW-VOLUME ROADS

Low-volume roads are considered by the author to form the major part of the road network in any country. By accepting the definition of such a road as a road with a low-grade surface, data is presented on Asian and African countries which indicates that 80 per cent of the road systems in those countries falls into that category. In this paper the present design criteria for low-volume roads is examined. Emphasis is placed on design speed and carriageway width as these are considered to be the two most important parameters where costs of construction and vehicle operating costs are concerned. Design speed is considered to be a theoretical value taking into account such physical features of the road as sight distance, curvature and superelevation. In accepting a given design speed it is felt that attention should also be given to network speeds, speeds actually attainable and accident potential. These points are discussed, leading to the conclusion that design speeds of 50 to 70 km/h are acceptable in flat country, with lower values for hilly and rolling terrain. Carriageway width is considered to have a marked effect on construction costs, and as such is closely linked to levels of traffic volume and the need to design for related movements such as passing and overtaking. The author suggests that minimum possible standards should be applied so that available finance is spread over as large a number of projects as is possible, and concludes that the width for feeder roads should be 3 to 3.5M instead of the present standard of 5.5M, and for secondary roads 5 to 5.5M instead of 7.5M. /TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1790571
• Corporate Authors:

  Indian Roads Congress

  Jamnagar House, Shahjahan Road
  New Delhi,   India  110 011
• Authors:
  • SIKKA, R P
• Publication Date: 1976

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 99-106
• Serial:
  • Indian Highways
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 8
  • Publisher: Indian Roads Congress
  • ISSN: 0376-7256

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction; Costs; Curvature; Design; Design speed; Highway design; Highways; Layout; Low volume roads; Motor vehicles; Networks; Operating costs; Pavements; Roads; Secondary roads; Traffic flow; Traffic lanes; Visibility distance; Width
• Uncontrolled Terms: Construction costs; Design criteria; Low cost roads; Road networks
• Geographic Terms: Africa; Asia
• Old TRIS Terms: Pavement width
• ITRD Terms: 8001: Africa; 8005: Asia; 2992: Carriageway; 2870: Degree of curvature; 635: Design speed; 2755: Highway; 2855: Highway design; 2885: Layout; 2986: Low cost road; 671: Traffic flow; 6793: Visibility distance; 6479: Width
• Subject Areas: Construction; Design; Finance; Highways; Pavements; Planning and Forecasting; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00152561
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 17 1977 12:00AM