HIGHWAY ENGINEERING I

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Instructor: Burka I.

1 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Transportation Engineering (TE)
 The application of technology and scientific principles to the
planning, functional design, operation, and management of
infrastructure for any mode of transportation in order to
provide for the safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient,
economical, environmentally compatible movement of people
and goods.
 An infrastructure which serves to move
people and good is known as
transportation system

2 Introduction April 17, 2022

 TE…
 Components of Transportation system

3. Control component: highway administration, local

transportation agencies, transportation engineering

3 Introduction April 17, 2022

TE…
 Mode of transportation
o Land : highway, rail
o Air: domestic, international
o Water: inland, coastal, ocean
o Pipelines: oil, gas, other
o Belt conveyors
o Ropeways
o etc
 Highways are the most dominant mode of
transport in most countries of the world including Ethiopia.
 Highways are vitally important for economic growth of a country
especially for developing countries like Ethiopia.
4 Introduction April 17, 2022
 Highway Engineering
 Engineering discipline branching from civil
engineering that involves the planning, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance of roads,
bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe and effective
transportation of people and goods.

5 Introduction April 17, 2022

Areas of highway transportation engineering

 Planning of streets and highways

 Geometric design of road facilities

 Traffic operations and control

 Traffic safety

 Maintenance of road facilities and controls

6 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Highway Engineering Division

 Basically divided into four parts, namely

o Geometry of highway

o Pavement engineering

o Highway maintenance

o Transportation planning

7 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Geometry of Highways
 The dimensions and layout of visible features of the highway
 It includes:
o Road cross-sections
o Horizontal alignment
o Vertical alignment
o Intersections
o Interchanges
o Earthwork estimations
o Drainage structures
o Sight distance
o etc

8 Introduction April 17, 2022

Pavement Engineering
 The design and maintenance of the surface and foundation layers
of any part of a roadway
 It includes:
o Material design
• Material selection
• Material testing (material quality)
o Thickness design
• Selection of layer type & thicknesses (SC & traffic
load)
• Architecture of roadway (user information)
o Material survey
• Search for quarry site
9 Introduction April 17, 2022
Highway Construction, Operation, Maintenance
and Rehabilitation
 Construction-construction of roadway systems
 Operation-the construction of any part of the authorized
works which will involve interference with a highway or the traffic
in a highway
 Maintenance-the action of keeping a road or highway in a
state of good repair
 Rehabilitation-needed to restore the pavement surface to
the required level of service

10 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Transportation Planning
 Planning required in the operation, provision and management of facilities
and services for the modes of transport
 It includes effective use of transportation system, determination of overall
level of service (LOS)& mathematical solution using optimization techniques

11 Introduction April 17, 2022

History of Highway/Road Engineering
 Traces of early roads have been found since the recorded history of
the man kind.
 The first and oldest mode of travel is obviously was foot path.
 Before the invention of wheel, people used to move on foot, thus creating foot
paths.
 Men and material must have been transported either on backs of men or
animals.
 The historical road development can be divided into the following era:
o Ancient roads
o Roman roads
o French roads
o British roads
o Modern roads

12 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Ancient Roads
 The first mode of transport was by foot.
 The next major mode of transport was animals for transporting both men and
materials.
 Because of the loaded animals require more horizontal and vertical clearances
than the walking man, track ways emerged.
 The invention of wheel in Mesopotamian civilization led to the development
of animal drawn vehicles.
 Then it became necessary that the road surface should be capable of carrying
greater loads.
 These have led to the development of foot-paths.

13 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Roman Roads
1. The roads were straight and durable,
built on hard stratum.
2. Total thickness was as high as 0.75-1.2
m
3. They mixed lime and volcanic
pozzolona to make mortar & they
added gravel to this mortar to make
concrete.
4. Concrete was a major Roman road
making innovation.
5. Roman are a pioneer of road
construction.
6. The applon way was constructed for
580km length

14 Introduction April 17, 2022

French Roads
 Occurred during the regime of
Napoleon.
 Piere-Tresaguet developed in France in
1964
 Thickness of construction was 30cm.
 Sub-grade prepared by hand laying large
foundation stones.
 Submerged kerb stones were given.
 Broken stones were filled at the center
and compacted.
 Top wearing course was smaller stones
for 5cm at edge and increasing at center.
 Slope 1:45 was provide for drainage.
 Shoulders with crown drain.

15 Introduction April 17, 2022

British Roads
 John Macadam in England in
1827.
 Sub-grade drainage was
improved.
 Heavy foundation was not
necessary.
 Cross slope 1:36
 Total thickness is 25cm.
 Uniform thickness for
subbase and base course

16 Introduction April 17, 2022

Modern Road
 In 18th century, improved construction methods for road again began to
develop. Mr. Pierre Tresaquet developed an improved method of construction in
1764 in France.
 At the time when Mr. Pierre Tresaquet was busy in developing his
construction method, Mr. John Metcalf was engaged in his development in
England.
 Metcalf constructed about 290km road in Northern region of England. Since
Metcalf was blind, his work was not recorded and thus got lost.
 Telford and Macadam were the pioneers in road development in England.
Telford believed in using heavy foundation stones over
the soil subgrade, while Macadam advocated the use
of compacted crushed aggregate layer at the bottom.
 Macadam’s method of road construction
is still in use and is named after his name.

17 Introduction April 17, 2022

Cont’d.…
 The famous road designers in 18th century
o Pierre Tresaquet
o John Metcalf
o Thomas Telford
o John Macadam

18 Introduction April 17, 2022

Road in Ethiopia
 Ancient period (17th and 18th century)
o Traditional shoulder porter age
o There were a number of small roads trails
 2nd Italian occupation period (1896-1936)
o Eritria to Addis Ababa road (1903)
o Addis to Addis-Alem road
o 1st asphalt road in Addis
o Total road built 6500km in length and 2500km of them are single asphalt
surface treatment (after 5 year occupation)
o Drainage structures
o Stone masonry
o Three tunnels
 Free Ethiopia (1947 onwards)
o ERA establishment (1951)

19 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Cont’d…
 Paved and gravel road (2009)
oAsphalt: 90,336km
ogravel,: 11,023km
 1st expressway (2006)
oAddis Ababa ring road
• Four lane limited access divided highway
 2nd expressway (2014)
oAddis to Adama
oSix lane limited access divided highway
oLength 80km and width 30m
 3rd expressway (currently under construction)
oMojo-Hawassa

20 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Classification of Highways
 Depending on legal control
oPrivate road
oPublic road
oCombined road
 Depending on surface types
oPaved
oUnpaved
 Depending on geometric design
oDivided
oUndivided

21 Introduction April 17, 2022

Cont’d…
 Depending on service function
o Freeways and arterials
o Local roads
o Collector roads
 Depending on traffic volumes
o high and low
o Freeways and arterials
o Local and collector
 Depending on Location
o Urban highway
o Rural highways

22 Introduction April 17, 2022

 ERA road classification
 Depending on function and AADT
o A Class: Trunk Roads
o B Class: Link Roads
o C Class: Main Access Roads
o D Class: Collector Roads
o E Class: Feeder Roads.
 Other considerations
o Demography,
o Agriculture including livestock, mines and quarries,
o Industry and international borders

23 Introduction April 17, 2022

 Question

24 Introduction April 17, 2022