UEMX 3813

Highway and
Transportation
Lecture 6
Geometric Road and
Intersections Design

Ir. Dr. Khoo Hooi Ling

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Geometric Road Design

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Highway Functions and
Classification
 Two primary categories of service provided by
roadways systems:
1. Accessibility
 Direct connection to lands and land uses provided by
roadways
 Come in the form of curb parking, driveway access to off-
street parking, bus stops, taxi stands etc
 Allow a driver to depart the transport vehicle to enter the
particular land use in question
2. Mobility
 Through movement of people, goods, and vehicles from
Point A to Point B in the system

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Trip Functions
 According to AASHTO, 6 distinct travel movements:
1. Main movement: through portion of trip making the primary
connection between the area of origin and the area of
destination
2. Transition: when a vehicle transfers from the through portion of
the trip to the remaining functions that lead to access and
termination, ex: ramps
3. Distribution: provide drivers to leave a major through facility and
get to the general area of their destination
4. Collection: bring drivers nearer to destination
5. Access: provide a place for drivers to leave his vehicle and
enter to land use
6. Termination: provide a place for drivers to leave his vehicle and
enter to land use
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Roadway Classification
(REAM, 2002)
2 Groups

Urban (4 Categories) Rural (5 Categories)

1. Expressway
1. Expressway 2. Highway
2. Arterial 3. Primary Road
3. Collector 4. Secondary Road
4. Local street 5. Minor Road

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Highway Classification
 Four major classes of highways:
1. Limited-access facility/Expressways (freeways)
 Provide high level of mobility
 No direct access to land uses is permitted
 Access can be fully controlled or partially controlled
 Example: PLUS expressways
2. Arterials
 Designed primarily for through movement but permit
some access to land
 2 types: Major arterial and minor arterial
 Example: MRR2, Federal Highway
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Highway Classification
(cont’d)
3. Collectors
 Intermediate category between arterials and local
streets
 To “collect” vehicles from a number of local streets
and deliver them to the nearest arterial
 2 types: Major collector and minor collector
4. Local Streets
 To provide access to land uses with minor function of
mobility
 3 types: residential, commercial and industrial

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The need for proper highway
design
 Manual: A Policy on Geometric Design of
Highways and Streets (AASHTO 2001)
 Design elements:
 number of lanes
 lane width
 median type and width
 length of acceleration and deceleration lanes
 steep grades
 Curve radii for vehicle turning

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The need for proper highway
design (cont’d)
 Factor affecting design elements:
 Performance characteristics of vehicles
o Vehicle acceleration and deceleration lanes design
o Highway alignment for adequate passing and stopping
distance
o The need for truck climbing lanes on steep grades
o Number of lanes
 Physical dimensions of vehicles
o Radii required for low-speed turning
o Height of highway overpasses
o Lane widths
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Principles of Highway
Alignment
 Highway design is a 3-D problem
 3 main elements in the geometry of a
highway section:
1. Vertical alignment
2. Horizontal alignment
3. Cross-sectional alignment

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Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Vertical Alignment
 Design of the facility in the profile view
 Straight grades are connected by vertical curves,
which provide for transition between adjacent
grades
 Grade refers to the longitudinal slope of the
facility, expressed as “meter of rise or fall” per
“longitudinal meter” of roadway length, in (% or
decimal)

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Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Vertical Alignment
 Aim to conform to the topography, to reduce the
need for costly excavations and landfills
 Primary design criteria:
 Provision of adequate sight distance at all point along
the profile
 Provision of adequate drainage
 Maintenance of reasonable aesthetics

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Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Horizontal Alignment
 Refer to plan view of the highway
 Include tangent sections and the horizontal curves and
other transition elements to join them
 Important issues for consideration:
 Forecast demand volumes, with known OD patterns

 Patterns of development

 Topography

 Natural barriers

 Subsurface conditions

 Drainage patterns

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Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Cross-sectional elements
 A cut across the plane of the highway
 Within the cross-section, elements like lane
widths, superelevation, medians, shoulders,
drainage, embankments and similar features are
established.

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 Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Design vehicles:
 The size and dimension of vehicles used in performing the
calculation during the design
 Should be the one with dimensions and minimum turning
radius larger than those of almost all vehicles in its class
Design Dimension in metres Turning radius
vehicles (metres)
Type Wheel Overhang Overall Overall Height Inner
base length Width Outer
Front Rear

Passenger 3.4 0.9 1.5 5.8 2.1 1.3 4.2 7.3

Car
Rigid Truck 6.1 1.2 1.8 9.1 2.6 4.1 8.5 12.8

Semi-trailer 9.1 0.9 0.6 16.7 2.6 4.1 5.8 13.719/107

Principles of Highway
Alignment (cont’d)
 Design Speed
 A speed selected to establish specific minimum
geometric design elements for a particular section
of highway
 Choice of design speed influenced by: terrain,
economic, environmental factors, volume of
traffic, functional classification of highway
 Ex: Expressway at Flat terrain: 110km/hr;
mountainous terrain: 80km/hr (Refer REAM,
2002)
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Principles of Highway
Alignment
 Stationing: Define the location as the
distance along the highway from a specified
origin (station 0+00).
 Measured in terms of stations, each station is
1000m of highway alignment distance.
Example: 4295.3m==4000+295.3==4+295.3

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Vertical Alignment
 Specify the elevation of points along a roadway
 Grade:
 Describe the vertical tangent
 Expressed as percent, relative rise or fall of the facility in
the longitudinal direction
 Expressed as percentage
 Example: 4% grade of 2000m is 80m.
 Upgrades have positive grade, downgrades have negative
grade
 Truck will be affected, hence there is a maximum grade
design criteria
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Vertical Alignment (cont’d)

Equal tangent

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Vertical Alignment (cont’d)
 Define parabolic equation to connect
roadway grades:
 Constant rate of change of slope
 Equal curve tangents

y = ax 2 + bx + c
y: roadway elevation at distance x from the beginning of the
vertical curve (PVC) in m
x: distance from the beginning of the vertical curve in
stations or m
a,b: coefficients
c: elevation of PVC (x=0 at PVC) in m 24/107
 Vertical Alignment (cont’d)
 The coefficients: (unit m)
Final slope Initial slope
G2 − G1 Length of the curve in
a= b = G1 stations measured in
2L a constant-elevation
horizontal plane

 Example: A 200m equal-tangent sag vertical

curve has the PVC at station 3+700.00m and
elevation 321m. The initial grade is -3.5%
and the final grade is +0.5%. Determine the
stationing and elevation of the PVI, the PVT,
and the lowest point on the curve.
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Answer
 Since it is equal tangent,
 stationing of PVI= 3+700+200/2=3+800

 Stationing of PVT=3+800+100=3+900

 Elevation
 PVI: 321-(0.035*100)=317.5m

 PVT: 317.5+(0.005*100)=318m

 The lowest point:dy/dx=0

 B=G1=-0.035

 A-[0.005-(-0.035)]/2(200)=0.0001

 Dy/dx=0x=175m

 Y=0.0001(175)2+(-0.035)(175)+321=317.94m

 The lowest point:

 Stationing: 3+700+175=3+875m
 Elevation=y
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Vertical Alignment (cont’d)
 Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)
 Building of vertical curve is costly.
 To minimize the cost while providing certain level
of safety.
 An appropriate level of safety provides drivers
with sufficient sight distance to allow them to
safely stop their vehicles to avoid collisions

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Vertical Alignment (cont’d)
 Computation:
Perception/
Deceleration rate
2 reaction time (s)
V
SSD
= + V1 × tr1

a 
2g  ± G 
 g  Initial vehicle speed

Gravitational constant,
9.81m/s2
Roadway grade (+ uphill and – for downhill )
in percent/100

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 Stopping sight Distance and
Crest Vertical curve Design
 Minimum length of vertical curve, Lm

Sight distance
Length of curve
Change of slope
if S < L if S > L
AS 2
( )
2
Lm = 200 H1 + H 2
( ) L= 2S −
2
200 H1 + H 2 m
A
Height of driver’s eye Height of object above 29/107
above roadway surface roadway surface
Stopping sight Distance and Crest
Vertical curve Design (cont’d)

 For SSD<L
A × SSD 2
Lm =
658

 For SSD>L
658
2 × SSD −
Lm =
A

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Stopping sight Distance and Crest
Vertical curve Design (cont’d)
 If L>SSD, a simplification of Lm:

Lm = KA
SSD 2
K=
658 (Table 2)
 Reasons for assumption of L>SSD:
 If SSD >L, A and Lm is not linear, K cannot be obtained using the
above formula.
 At a low value of A, will get minimum curve lengths
 This assumption is practical and at safe side
 Very short minimum length difficult to be constructed and may
not be safe, limit range from 30-100m.
 Usually is limited to 0.6 times the design speed (km/hr and m)
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Stopping sight Distance and Crest
Vertical curve Design (cont’d)
 Example:
A highway is being designed to AASHTO guidelines
with a 120-km/hr design speed, and at one section,
an equal-tangent vertical curve must be designed to
connect grades of +1.0% and -2.0%. Determine the
minimum length of curve necessary to meet SSD
requirements.
 Answer: The effect of grade is ignored, G=0, the
SSD is read directly from Table 3.1. For a speed of
120 km/h, the SSD is 250m.
Assume L>SSD, Lm=AxSSD2/658=284.95m
284.95>250, so the assumption is correct
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Stopping Sight Distance and
Sag Vertical Curve Design
 Daytime: Unlimited
 Night time:
 length of roadway illuminated by the vehicle
headlight
 Function of the height of the headlight above the
roadway
 Inclined angle of the headlight beam, relative to
the horizontal plane of the car

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Stopping Sight Distance and Sag
Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)
 Minimum length of curve

if S < L if S > L
AS 2 200 ( H + S tan β )
Lm =
200 ( H + S tan β ) L=
m 2S −
A
Inclined angle of headlight
Height of headlight
beam in degrees 34/107
Stopping Sight Distance and Sag
Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)

 To provide adequate SSD

if SSD < L
A × SSD 2
Lm =
120 + 3.5 × SSD
if SSD > L
120 + 3.5 × SSD
2 × SSD −
Lm =
A
SSD 2
K=
120 + 3.5 SSD (Table 3)
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Passing Sight Distance and
Crest Vertical Curve Design
 Factor in crest vertical curve only because for
sag curves, sight distance is unobstructed.
Passing sight distance

if PSD < L if PSD > L

A × PSD 2 864
2 × PSD −
Lm =
Lm = A
864

PSD 2
K=
864 36/107
Passing Sight Distance and Crest
Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)
 PSD is assumed to consist of four distances:
 Initial maneuver distance
 Driver’s perception/reaction time
 Time it takes to bring the vehicle from its trailing speed to
the point of encroachment on the left (right) lane
 Distance that the passing vehicle traverses while
occupying the passing lane
 Clearance length between the passing vehicles and
opposing vehicles at the end of the passing maneuver
 Distance traversed by the opposing vehicle during two-
thirds of the time the passing vehicle occupies the passing
lane

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Passing Sight Distance and Crest
Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)
 Example:
An equal-tangent crest vertical curve is 1200m long
and connects a +2.5% and a -1.5% grade. If the
design speed of the roadway is 90km/h, does this
curve have adequate passing sight distance?
 Answer: To determine the length of curve required to
provide adequate passing sight distance at a design
speed of 90km/hr, L=KA, and K=438 (from Table
3.4), so, L=438(4)=1752m
Since the curve is only 1200m long, it is not long
enough to provide adequate passing sight distance.
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Underpass Sight Distance and
Sag Vertical Curve Design
 The minimum length:

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Underpass Sight Distance and
Sag Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)
if S < L
AS 2
Lm =
 H1 + H 2 
800  H c − 
 2 
Clearance height of overpass
structure above roadway
if S > L
 H1 + H 2 
800  H c − 
 2 
L=
m 2 S −
A
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Underpass Sight Distance and
Sag Vertical Curve Design (cont’d)
 For sight distance,
if SSD > L
if SSD < L
2 800 ( H c − 1.5 )
A × SSD 2 × SSD −
Lm =
Lm = A
800 ( H c − 1.5 )

 Example:
An equal-tangent sag curve has an initial grade of -4.0%,
a final grade of +3.0%, and a length of 385m. An
overhead guide design is being placed directly over the
PVI of this curve. At what height above the roadway
should the bottom of this sign is placed?
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Answer
 Find the SSD
 K=L/A=385/|-4-3|=55
 According to table 3.3, design speed=110km/hr
for K=55
 For design speed =110km/hr, SSD=220m
 Find the Hc
 L>SSD; L=[AxSSD2]/800(Hc-1.5)Hc=2.6m

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Horizontal Alignment
 Horizontal plane: a horizontal curve provides
transition between two straight sections of a
roadway
 Key concern: the ability of the vehicle to
negotiate a horizontal curve
 Vehicle cornering is the factor taken into
account

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Vehicle Cornering
 Superelevation, e
 Highway curves are “superelevated” or banked to assist
drivers in resisting the effects of centripetal force
 e=(total rise in pavement from edge to edge/width of
pavement) x 100
 must be chosen properly as it may cause vehicle steering
problems on the horizontal curve
 Side friction force, fs also affect vehicle cornering. It
changes based on the weather, eg. Rainy or sunny
 General guideline of e and fs on AASHTO: Table 5
V2 Vehicle speed
Rv =
 e 
g  fs +
 100  Number of vertical (m)
of rise per 100m of 44/107

horizontal distance
Vehicle Cornering (cont’d)
 Superelevation (cont’d)
 Maximum e between 4% and 12%
 Only increment of 2% is used due to design purposes
 Some guides for selection:
 12% is maximum. Drivers feel uncomfortable on sections
with higher rates, driver effort to maintain lateral position is
high when speeds are reduced on such curves
 8% maximum for snow and ice prevalent condition
 4%-6% maximum on urban roads, when speed may reduced
frequently due to congestion
 Eliminated on low-speed urban streets or at intersection
 Minimum superelevation is 1.5% high-type surface, 2% for
low type surface on straight open highway for drainage
purposes

** high type is used in fhwa to classify the type of pavement: High-Type Flexible- a mixed bituminous or bituminous penetration roadway on a flexible base with
a combined surface thickness of 7" or more; also includes brick, block or combination roadways
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Vehicle Cornering (cont’d)
 Side-friction Factors, f
 Vary with design speed
 Represent wet pavements and tires in reasonable but
not top condition
 Example
A roadway is being designed for a speed of
110km/hr. At one horizontal curve, it is known that
the superelevation is 8.0% and the coefficient of
side friction is 0.10. Determine the minimum radius
of curve (measured to the traveled path) that will
provide for safe vehicle operation.
Answer: 528.982m V2
Rv =
 e 
g  fs +
100 
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
Horizontal Curve
 Types of curve:
1. Simple curve: single, constant radius
2. Reverse curve:
 Two consecutive curves that turn in opposite
directions
 Used to laterally shift the alignment of a highway
 Equal radii
 Not recommended because drivers may be difficult to
stay in lane with the change of the alignment

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Horizontal Curve (cont’d)
3. Compound curve:
 Consist of two or more curves
 Used to fit horizontal curves to very specific alignment
needs: interchange ramps, intersection curves, difficult
topography
 Not to have successive different radii curve->difficult to
maintain their lane position
4. Spiral curve:
 Continuous changing radius
 Used for transition of a tangent section of roadway to a
circular curve
 Used on high-speed roadway with sharp horizontal curves
 To slowly introduce the superelevation of an upcoming
horizontal curve

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 Horizontal Curve (cont’d)
 Degree of curve, D:
 the angle subtended by a 30.5m arc along the
horizontal curve
 Measure of the sharpness of the curve
 Frequently used instead of radius in the
construction of curve
 180 
30.5   5490
 π 
=D =
R πR
Radius, usually measured to
the centerline of the road 49/107
 Horizontal Curve (cont’d)
 The formulas: Tangent length Central angle of the curve
∆
T = R tan
Point of tangent intersection 2
External distance
 
1
E = R 
 2 (
 cos ∆ − 1 
 )
Point of tangent
Point of curve Middle ordinate
 ∆
M R 1 − cos 
=
 2
Length of curve
π
=L R∆
180
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Horizontal Curve (cont’d)
 Reminder:
1. The horizontal curve, curve length, curve radius
measured to the centerline of the road
2. The radius determined on the basis of vehicle
forces (Rv) measured from the inner most
vehicle path, assumed to be the midpoint of the
innermost vehicle lane=> slight correction for
lane width is required

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Horizontal curve (cont’d)
 Example:
A horizontal curve is designed with a 610-m radius.
The curve has a tangent length of 120m and the PI
is at station 3+140. Determine the stationing of the
PT.
 Answer: T=RtanΔ/2; Δ=22.26 degree
L=π*R*Δ/180=236.99m
given tangent length=120m, stationing PC=3+140
minus 0+120=3+020
stationing of PT=station PC+L=3+256.99

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Stopping Sight Distance and
Horizontal Curve Design

Ms: Middle ordinate necessary

to provide adequate
stopping sight distance

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Stopping Sight Distance and
Horizontal Curve Design (cont’d)
Radius to the vehicle’s
traveled path
π Angle (degree) subtended by an arc equal in length
SSD
= Rv ∆ s
180 to the required stopping sight distance (SSD)

180 ( SSD )  90 ( SSD ) 

∆s = M s Rv 1 − cos
= 
π Rv  π R v 

Middle ordinate necessary to provide

adequate stopping sight distance (SSD)

π Rv   Rv − M s  
−1
SSD = cos  
90   Rv 
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Stopping Sight Distance and
Horizontal Curve Design (cont’d)
 Example
A horizontal curve on a two-lane highway is
designed with a 610-m radius, 3.6-m lanes, and a
100 km/hr design speed. Determine the distance
that must be cleared from the inside edge of the
inside lane to provide a sufficient stopping sight
distance
 Answer:
Rv=R-3.6/2=608.2m; referring to table 3.1, the SSD
for a 100-km/hr is 185m, Ms=7.021m
 90 ( SSD ) 
M s Rv 1 − cos
=  55/107

 π Rv 
Combination of Horizontal and
Vertical Alignments
1. Curvature and grades should be proper balance
 Examples of poor alignment designs:
 Flat curvature with steep or long grades
 Excessive curvature with flat grades
2. Vertical curvature superimposed on horizontal curvature
generally results in a more pleasing facility, but efforts on traffic
must be analyzed
3. Sharp horizontal curve should not be introduced at or near the
top of a pronounced crest vertical curve. This can be overcome
by:
 Make the horizontal curve longer than the vertical curve
 Use design speed well above the minimum design speed
4. Sharp horizontal curve should not be introduced near the
bottom of a steep grade approaching or near the low point of a
pronounced sag vertical curve
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Combination of Horizontal and
Vertical Alignments (cont’d)
1. On 2-lane roads and streets, the need for passing
sections at frequent intervals often supersedes the
general guidelines for combinations of horizontal
and vertical alignments. Long tangent sections are
necessary to assure sufficient passing sight
distance in design
2. Both horizontal and vertical profiles should be
made as flat as practicable at intersections to
improve sight distances
3. On divided roads, independent vertical and
horizontal alignments for the separate one-way
roadway are sometimes desirable

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Cross-section Elements
Design
 Cross-section view of highway is a 90 degree cut
across the facility from roadside to roadside
 Important features are:
 Travel lanes
 Shoulders
 Side slopes
 Curbs
 Medians and median barriers
 Guardrails
 Drainage channels

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Travel lanes
 Provide the space that moving vehicles occupy
during normal operations
 Standard width is 3.6m, minimum is 2.7m.
 Lanes wider than 3.6m are provided on curves to
account for the off-tracking of the rear wheels of
large trucks
 Narrow lanes acceptable only on low-volume, low
speed rural roadways
 Delineation of travel lanes can be accomplished by
using longitudinal and traverse pavement markings
(yellow and white lines), raised medians and islands
curbing, and guardrails
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Shoulders
 A shoulder is the portion of the roadway contiguous with the
traveled way that accommodates stopped vehicles, emergency
use, and lateral support of sub-base, base, and surface courses
 Width ranges from 0.6m to 3.6m
 Some low-volume rural roads in difficult terrain, no shoulder is
provided
 Shoulders are important for all freeways, and on some types of
urban highways, minimum of 3m
 Functions of shoulders:
 Provide a refuge for stalled or temporarily stopped vehicles
 Provide a buffer for accident recovery
 For ease and driver confidence
 Increase sight distance on horizontal curve
 Improve capacity and operations on most highways
 Provision of space for maintenance operations and equipment
 Provision of lateral clearance for signs, guardrails, and other roadside objects
 Improved drainage on a traveled way 60/107
Guardrails
 To prevent vehicles from entering a dangerous area of the
roadside or median during an accident or a cross-slope steeper
than 4:1; or to collide with trees, lighting etc
 If median is 6m or wider and no dangerous object, guardrail and
curb not provided
 Different types of guardrails:
 “W” section
 Box beam
 Concrete median barrier
 Aluminum strong beam
 The major differences are the flexibility of guardrail impact and
the strength of the barrier in preventing a vehicle from crossing
through the barrier

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Highway Intersections Design

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Introduction
 A highway intersection is used to control conflicting
and merging streams of traffic so that delay is
minimized.
 3 main types of intersections:
1. Junctions (minor/major)
2. Interchanges
3. Roundabouts
4. Signalized intersections
 Start point:
 Determination of the volume of traffic flow
 Various turning, merging and conflicting movement
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Introduction (cont’d)
 Design reference flow/service flow:
 Hourly flow rate
 Use thirtieth or fiftieth highest=> road congestion
may be expected
 If use highest hourly flow rate, economically
undesirable

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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections
 Major road is the one assigned a permanent priority
of traffic movement over that of the minor road
 The minor road must give priority to major road and
only entering the major road when appropriate gap
appear
 Major road usually have heavier traffic flow and
must not be delayed
 Visibility is a crucial factor in the layout of this type of
intersection

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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections (cont’d)
 Three forms of priority intersections

Simple T-junction Staggered T-junction Crossroads junction

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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections (cont’d)
 Simple junction: without any ghost or physical
islands in the major road and without
channeling islands in the minor road
approach

Simple Junctions
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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections (cont’d)
 Ghost island junctions: an area is marked on
the carriageway, shaped and located so as to
direct traffic movement

Ghost Island Junctions

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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections (cont’d)
 Signal lane dualling: central reservation
islands are shaped and located so as to
direct traffic movement

Single lane dualling

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Minor/Major Priority
Intersections (cont’d)
8000

7000 Roundabout
Minor road flow (2-way AADT)

Single lane
6000
dualling
5000

4000
Ghost Island
3000

2000
Simple
1000

5000 10000 15000 20000

Major road flow (2 way AADT) 71/107
Channelization
 Separate or regulate conflicting movements
 Define paths of travel
 Use traffic islands or pavement markings
Channelization
Islands
 Used at intersections to facilitate the safe and
orderly flow of vehicles and pedestrians
 Purposes of islands:
 Separation of conflicts
 Control of angle of conflict
 Reduction of excessive pavement areas
 Regulation of traffic flow in the intersection area
 Arrangements to favor a predominant turning movement
 Protection of pedestrians
 Protection and storage of turning and crossing vehicles
 Location of traffic control devices

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Islands (cont’d)
 3 types of islands:
1. Directional islands
 To guide motorists
through intersections
2. Divisional islands
 Used on undivided
highways approaching
intersections
3. Refuge islands
 Located near
crosswalks to aid and
protect pedestrians
crossing the roadway
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Interchanges
 An interchange is a grade separation in which vehicles moving in one
direction of flow may transfer to another direction by the use of
connecting roadways, called ramps
 Interchanges could eliminate more severe crossing conflicts in favor of
the less severe merging and diverging conflicts
 Necessary to construct grade-separated facilities (i.e. underpass,
overpasses)
 Provide auxiliary lanes (acceleration or deceleration lanes) to allow safe
speed changes and reduce the speed differences between conflicting
vehicles
 Warranted:
 As part of an express highway system designed to carry large volumes of
traffic
 To eliminate bottlenecks
 Prevent crashes
 Required/limited by the topography
 Volumes catered for an intersection is of unreasonable size
 The road user benefit of reducing delays exceeds the cost of improvement
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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Types of interchanges:
1. T and Y interchanges
2. Diamond Interchanges
3. Single-point urban interchanges
4. Partial and full cloverleaf
5. Directional interchanges

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Interchanges (cont’d)
 T and Y Interchanges
 For three-legged junctions
 Example: trumpet and 3-leg directional

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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Diamond Interchange
 Used where a freeway crosses a minor road
 Major flow is grade separated, with turning
movements to and from the minor flow achieved
by diverging and merging movements with
through traffic on minor flow

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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Single-point Urban Interchanges
 A variation of diamond interchange
 Allow opposing left turn (drive on right side)
simultaneously by compressing two intersections
of a diamond into one single intersection

This picture shows driving on the

right side (US convention)
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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Full Cloverleaf Interchange
 Two-level four-way interchange where left turn
(drive on right side) is handled by ramps
 Major advantage is that it requires only 1 bridge-
economical
 Disadvantage is the traffic safety problem due to
weaving of traffic

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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Partial Cloverleaf Interchange
 Modification of the full cloverleaf interchange
 Has 2 types: A and B
 Aim to minimize weaving areas

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Interchanges (cont’d)
 Directional Interchanges
 Used whenever one freeway joins or intersects
another freeway
 Has the characteristics of high design speed
throughout, with curved ramps and roadways of
large horizontal curve radii.
 Most costly to construct as it requires larger land
area

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Roundabout
 Two functions of roundabout:
1. Define the priority between traffic streams
entering the junction, based on traffic wanting to
join the circulatory flow must give way to traffic to
their right already circulating in the roundabout
2. Cause the diversion of traffic from its preferred
straight-line path, requiring drivers to slow down
as they enter the junction

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Roundabout (cont’d)
 Difficulties of roundabout:
1. Unbalanced flow
2. The number of arms exceeds four
3. Drivers fail to understand junction layout
 Applicable whenever there is:
1. Significant change in road classification
2. Major alteration in the direction of the road
3. Change from an urban to a rural environment

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 Roundabout (cont’d)

Types of roundabout:
1. Mini-roundabout:
 Consist of 1-way
circulatory carriageway
around a reflectorised,
flush/slightly raised
circular island less than
4m in diameter, which can
be overrun with ease by
the wheels of heavy
vehicles
 Maximum height is
125mm at the centre for a
4m diameter island
 Used in urban area with
speed limit less than
48km/hr. 86/107
Types of roundabout
2. Normal roundabout
 Having a 1-way circulatory carriageway around a
kerbed central island at least 4m in diameter
 An inscribed circle diameter of at least 28m, with
flared approaches to allow for multiple vehicle
entry
 The number of entry arm is three or four

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88/107
Types of roundabout (cont’d)
3. Double roundabout
 An individual junction with two normal/mini roundabout
either connected by a central link road or kerbed island.
 Appropriate for following circumstances:
 Improve existing staggered junction where it avoids the
need to realign one of the approach roads
 To join two parallel routes separated by a watercourse,
railway or motorway
 At existing crossroads intersections where opposing right-
turning movements can be separated
 For junctions with more than four entries and overloaded
single roundabouts where overall capacity can be
increased by reducing the circulating flow traveling past
critically important entry points
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90/107
Signalized Intersections
 Advantages
1. Reduce some types of crashes
2. Provision for pedestrians to cross the street
3. Provision for side-street vehicles to enter traffic
stream
4. Provision for progressive flow of traffic
5. Improvement in capacity
6. Reduction of delay

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Signalized Intersections
 Poorly designed signalized intersections
can cause following disadvantages:
1. Increase vehicle delay
2. Increase vehicle crashes rate
3. Diversion of traffic to neighborhood area
4. Costly installation
 Need warrants to judge the need for
installation of traffic signal

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Signalized Intersections
(cont’d)
 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
(US Federal Highway Administration 2000)
1. Eight-hour vehicular volume
2. Four-hour vehicular volume
3. Peak hour
4. Pedestrian volume
5. School crossing
6. Coordinated signal system
7. Crash experience
8. Roadway network
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Signalized Intersections
(cont’d)

US convention
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 Types of traffic signals:
1. Fixed time: signal timing same throughout the
day
2. Pretimed: signal timing are fixed for some period
of time. Peak period vs off peak period timing
3. Actuated/responsive: signal timing changes with
traffic flow
 Semi-actuated: signal timing on some approaches
affected. Ex: green time is allowed to the major street
until vehicles are detected on the minor street.
 Fully-actuated: signal timing on all approaches is fully
affected by traffic flow volume. Used at intersections
of main traffic where substantial variation of flow
4. Adaptive: signal timing changes based on the
predicted traffic flow volume. Aim to minimize
delay
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Basic Timing Elements
 Traffic movements are grouped and allowed to
move in phases

Two-phase signal

Three-phase signal

Four-phase signal
Basic Timing Elements
 Elements within a phase:
 Green interval: the period of the phase during which the
green signal is illuminated.
 Yellow/amber interval: the portion of the phase during
which the yellow light is illuminated.
 All-red interval: the period during which the red light is
illuminated for all approaches
 Intergreen interval: the interval between the end of green
for one phase and the beginning of green for another
phase Street A

Street B
All-red
Intergreen
Analysis
 Saturation Flow Rate, S
 Maximum hourly volume that can pass through
an intersection, from a given lane or group of
lanes, if that lane were allocated constant green
over the course of an hour.
3600
S= Saturation headway
h seconds/vehicle

 A maximum of 1900 passengers cars per hour

per lane is possible

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 Saturation Flow
Number of vehicles that would pass through the
intersection during an entire hour of green

Saturation
Given h, S=?
Flow S
Flow Rate (vphpl)

Time (sec)
G Y
Saturation Flow

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Saturation Flow (cont’d)
 Factors affecting:
 Lane width
 Grade
 Curbside parking maneuvers
 Distribution of traffic among multiple approach lanes
 Roadside development
 Distribution of traffic among multiple approach lanes
 Need adjustment for the base saturation flow rate
(refer Highway Capacity Manual 2000)
 Can be measured from the field
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 Effective Green Time
Time during which the flow is assumed to take
place at saturation flow
Effective Green G’
Saturation
Flow
Flow Rate (vphgpl)

Time (sec)
G Y
 Lost Time
Time during which no flow takes
place
(G + Y ) − G′ = l1 + l2
Effective Green G’
Saturation
Flow

Lost Time Lost Time

Flow Rate (vphgpl)

l1 l2

Time (sec)
G Y
 Lost Time
(G + Y ) − G′ = l1 + l2
Effective Green G’

Saturation
Flow

Lost Time Lost Time

Flow Rate (vphgpl)

l1 l2

Time (sec)
G Y
Condition at Start-up

Observed
Queue Saturation Difference
Avg.
Position Headway (Obs.-Est.)
Headway
1 3.14 2.14 1.00
2 2.74 2.14 0.50
3 2.52 2.14 0.38
4 2.37 2.14 0.23
≥5 2.14 2.14 0.00
Start-up Lost Time 2.11
Lost Time
1. Start-up lost time
 occur because when a signal indication turns from red to
green, drivers in the queue do not instantly start moving at
the saturation flow rate
 The formula: l1 = ∑ ∆ i
Clearance lost time, l2
i
2.
 Is defined as the time interval between the last vehicle’s
front wheels crossing the stop line, and the initiation of the
GREEN for the next phase
 Vehicle’s queue must be long enough to consume all the
GREEN time provided to observe this
3. Total lost time (per phase) li = l1 + l2
 The summation of start-up lost time and clearance lost
time
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Critical Approach or Lane
 The approach or lane for a given phase that requires the
most green time (highest flow ratio)
 Flow should be in straight-through passenger-car
units per hour (e.g. 1 HV = 1.75 PCU)
Cycle Length Determination for
Pretimed Signals
 Long enough to serve all critical movements,
but no longer
 If too short: high lost/green time ratio
 If too long: lengthened queues

Optimum cycle length

Delay

Cycle Length
Webster’s Method
 Most prevalent
 Minimizes intersection delay
1.5 L + 5
Co =
1 − ∑ Yi
Co = Optimum cycle length (sec)
L = Total lost time per cycle, usually taken as the sum of
the total lost time (start-up and clearance) and all-red
intervals (sec) (i.e. total intergreen intervals)
Yi = Ratio of the observed flow rate (in straight-through
passenger cars per hour) to the saturation flow rate for
the critical approach or lane in each phase
Allocate Green Time to Phases
 Split according to critical flow ratios across
phases
Yi
Gi = (Co − L )
∑ Yi
Co-L= Available green time
Yi = As before

 Displayed green
d
Amber time/ yellow time
g = Gi + li − ai
i
Intersection Timing Design
(cont’d)
 Provision must be made for pedestrians to
cross the intersection
 Pedestrians are permitted to move in parallel
with the through movement
 If pedestrian is present, the displayed green
plus amber must be longer than the time for
pedestrian to walk across the road

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Intersection Timing Design
(cont’d)
 According to US ITE, the minimum displayed
green for vehicle movement that allows a
pedestrian to cross an intersection is:
d di
g =5 + − ai
i
sp

112/107
 Intersection Timing Design
(cont’d)
 Example:
Phase 1 2 3
Allowed NB L, SB L NB T/R, SB EB L, WB L EB
Move- T/R T/R, WB T/R
ments
Analysis 330, 365 1125, 1075 110, 80 veh/hr
flow rate veh/hr veh/hr 250, 285 veh/hr
Saturation 1700, 1750 3400, 3300 650, 600 veh/hr
flow rate veh/hr veh/hr 1750, 1800
veh/hr113/107
Intersection Timing Design
(cont’d)
 Assume no start-up lost time
 All red time of 1s is allocated after each
phase
 Amber time is 3s

Design the signal timing of the intersection

114/107
Answer
 Y1=0.209; y2=0.33;y3=0.169; total y=0.708
 L=1*3=3s
 C0=32.53s=33s 6 9 33

Phase 1
 G=C0-L=33-3=30s
10 21 24 33
 g1=9s; g2=14s;g3=7s Phase 2

 Gd1=6s;gd2=11s;gd3=4s 25 29 32 33
Phase 3
 Traffic signal plan:
Drawing not to scale
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Average Control Delay
 The basis for LOS determination
 For a given lane group:
Aggregated Delay Estimates
Delay for an Approach

Delay for an Intersection

Determine LOS
 measure of the acceptability of delay levels to
motorists
 Use the total control delay for the given
intersection:
Interpretation of Results
 A critical v/c ratio of greater than 1.0 indicates that the signal and
geometric design cannot accommodate the combination of critical
flows at the intersection. The condition may be ameliorated by
increased cycle length, changes in the phasing plan, and basic
changes in geometrics.
 When the critical v/c ratio is acceptable but the v/c ratios for critical
lane groups vary widely, the green-time allocation should be
reexamined, because disproportionate distribution of available green
is indicated.
Interpretation of Results
 LOS measure is somewhat subjective: what might be acceptable in
a large city is not necessarily acceptable in a smaller city or rural
area
 When delay levels are acceptable for the intersection as a whole but
are unacceptable for certain lane groups, the phase plan, allocation
of green time, or both might be examined to provide for more
efficient handling of the disadvantaged movement(s)
 When delay levels are unacceptable but v/c ratios are relatively low,
the cycle length may be too long for prevailing conditions, the phase
plan may be inefficient, or both.
 When both delay levels and v/c ratios are unacceptable, the
situation is critical. The full range of potential geometric and signal
design improvements should be considered.