CIVE461: Highway Engineering

Unit B: Highway Location and

Geometric Design

L4 - Geometric Alignment of Highways;

Vertical Alignment

Required Reading: MW 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Supplemental Reading: W 7.4, 7.5
 Outline of Unit B
• Highway alignment:
– Vertical
– Horizontal
• Highway surveys, location, and plans
• Cross-section elements
• Other design controls and elements
• Volumes of earthwork / mass diagrams
• Intersections, interchanges
Today’s lecture 2
Geometric Alignment
of Highways

3
 Principles of Highway Alignment
• In general, highway alignment analysis occurs
in three dimensions

4
 Principles of Highway Alignment
(cont.)

• The analysis is converted from a 3-D to two 2-

D alignment problems
– Horizontal Alignment (plan view)
– Vertical Alignment (profile view)

5
 Horizontal Alignment
• Consider highway: i.e. consider (x, z)
– Along highway centerline coordinates and
ignore changes in
– Across centerline
elevation

• Represented in a PLAN VIEW (~ aerial view)

6
 Vertical Alignment
• Consider highway:
– Along highway centerline
– Account for elevations
• Represented by a PROFILE VIEW
– Elevations of all points along highway centerline (y
coordinates)

7
 Highway Positioning and Length
• Defined as distance along highway centerline (on a
horizontal constant-elevation plane) from a specified
point
• Distance is measured:
– in terms of stations, where each station constitutes 1 km
of highway alignment distance.
e.g: station 1+258.5  1258.5 m from a specified origin point
(0 + 000)
• Stationing concept, horizontal alignment given in
plan view, and elevation corresponding to stations
given in profile view (vertical alignment):
 uniquely identifies all highway points (along centerline) 8
Vertical Alignment

9
 Vertical Alignment

• Objective: determine the elevation of highway points in order

to ensure the following:
– Follow topography and reduce earthwork
– Acceptable grades
– Acceptable safety level
– Roadway drains properly

• Primary task: provide transition of roadway elevations

between two successive grades, relying on vertical curves (vc)

10
 Vertical Curves
Components and Terminology
• G1 = initial roadway / tangent grade
• G2 = final roadway / tangent grade
• A = absolute value of difference in grades
• PVC = point of vertical curve (initial point of the curve)
• PVI = point of vertical intersection (intersection of initial and final grades)
• PVT = point of vertical tangent (final point of vertical curve )
• L = length of vertical curve, measured in horizontal plane

11
 Types of Vertical Curves
• Two types:
– Crest vc:
• Decrease in grade; PVI is above curve
Convention:
– Sag vc
left to right
• Increase in grade

12
 Connecting Roadway Grades
• A parabolic function is used to define roadway
elevations at every point / station along the
vertical curve
• Advantages of parabolic functions:
– Provide a constant rate of change of slope
– Result in equal tangent curves (property of
parabola)
• The horizontal distance from the center (PVI) of the
curve to the end of the curve is identical in both
directions
13
 Parabolic Function Applied to VC’s

y  ax 2  bx  c
where
y  roadway elevation (in m) at distance x from the PVC in stations or m
x  distance from the PVC in stations or m;
xPVC   0; xPVT   L
a, b, c  unknown parameters

14
 Parabolic Function Applied to VC’s (cont.)

y  ax 2  bx  c
When x  0, y 0  c  y PVC 

15
 Parabolic Function Applied to VC’s (cont.)

y  ax 2  bx  c
When x  0, y 0  c  y PVC 
dy
Slope (of tangent to curve)   2ax  b
dx
dy
Slope ( x  0)  ( x  0)  b  b  G1
dx

16
 Parabolic Function Applied to VC’s (cont.)

y  ax 2  bx  c
When x  0 , y 0  c  y PVC 
dy
Slope (of tangent to curve)   2ax  b
dx
dy
Slope ( x  0)  ( x  0)  b  b  G1
dx
d2y G2  G1 G2  G1
Rate of change of slope  2  2a  a
dx L 2L
 G2  G1  2
 y  x  G1 x  y PVC  (Elevation of any point
 2L  on the vertical curve)
17
 Example 1
• A 200-m equal-tangent sag vertical curve has
the PVC at station 3+700.0 and elevation 321
m.
• The initial grade is –3.5% and the final grade is
0.5%.
• Determine the elevation and stationing of the:
– PVI
– PVT
– Lowest point on the curve
18
 Solution
• Equal tangent curve 
– PVI is at 100 m from PVC, and
– PVT is at 200 m from PVC

• Stationing of PVI = 3 + 800.0

• Stationing of PVT = 3 + 900.0

• Elevation of PVI = 321 -0.035100 = 317.5 m

• Elevation of PVT = 317.5 +0.005100 = 318.0 m
19
 Solution (cont.)
• To find the minimum point (x*, y*), set first derivative
to zero:
y  ax 2  bx  c
dy
 2ax  b
dx
dy b
 0  2ax  b  0  x  
* *

dx 2a
G2  G1 0.005   0.035
But b  G1  0.035; a    0.0001
2L 2  200
b  0.035
x *
  175 m
2a 2  0.0001
Station of lowest point on curve  3  875.0
y *  y x*   0.00011752   0.035175  321  317.94 m
20
 Notes
• Elevation of the PVI cannot be found from the
equation of the vertical curve.

• Some sag vertical curves will have their lowest

point at PVT since 1st derivative may not
vanish for x between that of PVC and PVT (e.g.
a sag vertical curve with G1= -0.02 and G2 = -
0.01)

21
 Example 2
Curve-Through-a-Point

• An equal-tangent vertical curve is to be

constructed between grades of -2.0% (initial)
and +1.0% (final).
• The PVI is at station 3 + 350.000 and at
elevation 130 m.
• Due to a street crossing the roadway, the
elevation of the roadway at station 3 +
415.000 must be 131 m.
• Design the curve.
22
 Solution
• Need to find the length of the curve such that
station 3 + 415.000 is at elevation 131 m.
y  ax 2  bx  c
G2  G1 0.01   0.02 0.015
a  
2L 2L L
b  G1  0.02

c  y PVC   y PVI   G1   130   0.02  130  0.01L

L L
2 2
Therefore :
0.015 2
y x  0.02 x  130  0.01L
L 23
 Solution (cont.)
Station 3  415.000 at elevation 131 m is a point on the curve.
Since x is measured from the PVC, then :
the given point has x  0.5L  3415.000 - 3350.000  0.5 L  65,
and y  131 m.
Substitute these values of x and y in the curve equation to find L :
0.015 2
y x  0.02 x  130  0.01L
L
 131 
0.015
0.5L  652  0.020.5L  65  130  0.01L
L
 131L  0.00375L2  0.975L  63.375  0.01L2  1.3L  130 L  0.01L2
 0.00375L2  1.325L  63.375  0
24
 Solution (cont.)
L1  296.30 m; L2  57.04 m
Since the distance between the PVI and the given point is 65 m,
L2  57.04 m is infeasible .
Choose L  L1  296.30 m.
Elevation of PVC  c  130  0.01L  130  0.01 296.30  132.96 m
296.30
Station of PVC  3350.000   3201.85 m  3  201.850
2
L 296.30
Elevation of PVT  Elevation of PVI  G2   130  0.01  131.48 m
2 2
296.30
Station of PVT  3350.000   3498.15 m  3  498.15
2
For the given point : x  0.5L  65  0.5  296.30  65  213.15 m from the PVC.
25
Other Properties of Vertical Curves
• Offsets are vertical distances from initial tangent to the curve.
• They are important for vertical curve design and construction

• Y = offset at a distance x from PVC

• Ym is the mid-curve offset
• Yf is offset at end of vertical curve (at PVT) 26
 Offset Formulas
From the properties of equal - tangent parabola :
A 2
Y x (see derivation on next slide)
200 L
where
Y  offset
x  distance from PVC
A  absolute value of difference in grades (expressed in %)
L  length of vertical curve

AL
 Ym  (mid - curve offset)
800
AL
Yf  (offset at the end of vertical curve)
200 27
 Derivation of Offset Formula
At any point x, Y  y2  y1 ,
where
y1  elevation of a point on the curve at a distance x from PVC
y2  elevation of a point on the initial tangent at a distance x from PVC
 G2  G1  2
y1  ax  bx  c    x  G1 x  y PVC 
2

 2L 
y2  G1 x  d ; y2 0  y PVC   d  y2  G1 x  y PVC 
G1  G2 2
Y  y2  y1  x
2L
G1  G2 2 A 2
If G1 and G2 are expressed in %, then Y  x  x
200L 200L
28
 K Values
• The rate of change of grade along a parabolic
curve is constant

• The L/A ratio is the horizontal distance

required to effect a 1% change in gradient and
is, therefore, a measure of curvature.

• The quantity L/A is termed ‘K’

29
 K Values (cont.)

L
K
A
where
A  absolute value of difference in grades G1  G2 expressed in %
L  length of vertical curve
K  horizontal distance in m required to effect a 1% change
in slope of vertical curve

30
 Use of K Values
• The K-value can be used directly to compute the high/low
points for crest/sag vertical curves (provided the high/low
point does not occur at curve’s end, PVC or PVT, i.e. provided
G1 and G2 have opposite signs) as follows:
Let x*  xhl denote distance from the PVC to the high/low point of the curve
b G1 G1 L
x 
*
 
2a  G2  G1  G2  G1
2 
 2L 
G1 L
Since G1 and G2 have oppositesigns, x  *

G2  G1
Let A  G1  G2 expressed in %, then :
L
x*  xhl  G1  K  G1 , where G1 is also expressed in %.
A 31
 Use of K Values (cont.)
• Additionally, K-values have important
applications in the design of vertical curves
– Minimum lengths of vertical curves for various
design speeds

32
 Example 3
• A curve has initial and final grades of +3% and
-4% and is 210 m long.
• The PVC is at elevation 100 m.
• Compute the K-value and use it to locate the
high point of the curve (distance from the
PVC)

33
 Solution
L 210
K   30 m (needed to effect a 1% change of grade)
A 3   4
High point of the curve :
x*  K  G1  30  3  90 m
Elevation of high point of curve :
y *  a90  b90  c
2

  0.04  0.03 
   90  0.03  90  100
2

 2  210 
 101.35 m

34
Solution (cont.)

35
 Stopping Sight Distance
and Vertical Curve Design

36
 Stopping Sight Distance and VC
Design
• When designing a vertical curve, consider
both cost and safety

• An appropriate level of safety means providing

sufficient sight distance to allow drivers to
safely stop their vehicles without hitting an
object on the road

37
Stopping Sight Distance (cont.)

V2
SSD  V  t 
 a  
2 g     G 
 g  
Distance traveled during
P-R time (brake reaction distance) Braking distance

38
Design Guidelines for Stopping Sight Distance
Level Road (G = 0)
(AASHTO 2004 – Exhibit 3-1)

Deceleration rate of 3.4 m/s2 used to determine

calculated braking distance.

39
Design Guidelines for Stopping Sight Distance
Accounting for Grade
(AASHTO 2004 – Exhibit 3-2)

Equation for braking distance Stopping sight distance

+ G for uphill
- G for downhill

(Note: considered for wet pavement conditions with same speeds

40
and brake reaction times as level roads in Exhibit 3-1)
 Consideration of Slopes in SSD
Calculation for VC’s
• If positive slope, smaller SSD (compared to
level road) is required because uphill
• If negative slope, larger SSD is required
because downhill
• Which slope to use in calculation of SSD?
– If we know exactly when vehicle begins to brake,
we could use first derivative of parabolic curve to
get G and then apply SSD equation.

41
 Consideration of Slopes in SSD
Calculation for VC’s (cont.)
• In practice, policies vary as to how grade issue
is handled:
– Since sight distance is greater on downgrades
(which require longer SSD), a self-correction is
generally provided
– Some design agencies ignore the effect of grades
completely
– Some assume G = 0 for grades less than 3%
• We will ignore the effect of grade in
calculation of SSD for VC’s 42
 How to Provide Sufficient SSD on
VC’s?
• Curves of longer lengths L provide more SSD, but are
more costly to construct
• Shorter curves are less expensive to construct but
may not provide adequate SSD
• We need an expression for minimum curve length L
as a function of required SSD’s (basically a function of
speed)
– Consider crest and sag vertical curves separately
• Passing sight distance is rarely used as the design
sight distance, because it demands long, gentle
curvatures that are expensive to construct 43