EFFECT OF SHOULDERS ON SPEED AND LATERAL PLACEMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES

IN ORDER FOR SHOULDERS TO BE EFFECTIVE AND SAFE, THEY MUST BE OF A DESIGN WHICH WILL ENCOURAGE VEHICLES TO TRAVEL CLOSE TO THE PAVEMENT EDGE, THEREBY ALLOWING THE MAXIMUM LATERAL CLEARANCE BETWEEN VEHICLES MEETING ONE ANOTHER. WHEN TWO- LANE PAVEMENTS ARE 20 FT. IN WIDTH OR LESS, SHOULDERS SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTED WITH AT LEAST 4 FT. OF STABILIZED MATERIAL ADJACENT TO THE PAVEMENT, PLUS ADDITIONAL WIDTH OF GRASS OR GRAVEL. THE SPEED OF MOVING VEHICLES IS NOT SUBSTANTIALLY AFFECTED BY THE WIDTH OF SHOULDER, PROVIDING THE SHOULDER IS MORE THAN 4 FT. IN WIDTH. THE LATERAL POSITION OF FREE- MOVING VEHICLES AND THE CLEARANCE BETWEEN MEETING VEHICLES BEARS NO SIGNIFICANT RELATION TO THE SHOULDER WIDTH ABOVE 4 FT. WELL-MAINTAINED GRASS SHOULDERS HAVE THE SAME EFFECT ON THE SPEED AND LATERAL POSITION OF MOVING VEHICLES AS WELL- MAINTAINED GRAVEL SHOULDERS. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/32/32-028.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 32, pp 371 - 382, 3 FIG, 3 TAB, 45 REF, 1 APP. 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:
  • Taragin, A
  • Eckhardt, H G
• Publication Date: 1953

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 13-16, 1953
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 32
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Design; Lateral placement; Motor vehicles; Road shoulders; Soil stabilization; Speed; Two lane highways
• Old TRIS Terms: Shoulder stabilization
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223515
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 23 1971 12:00AM