Size

Weight & axle

configuration
Power-to-weight
ratio
Turning radius
Turning path
Vehicle pollution
Design vehicle

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Surface conditions
Slopes
Curves

Size
Weight & axle configuration
Power-to-weight ratio
Turning radius
Turning path
Vehicle pollution
Design vehicle

Size
The size of vehicle (Length,height & width) need to be in
design limits
Length and width of vehicles are important for designing on
street or off street parking facilities.
The height of vehicles are important for placing signs,
designing underpass and overpasses.
Weight
Weight 0f vehicle( especially heavy vehicles) play important
role in design of flexible & rigid pavements

Axle configuration
As weight of vehicle is transferred to pavement
through axle and wheel their configuration has
important role
Number of axles (not Vehicles) of standard weight
is considered as a variable in the pavement design.

Power-to-weight ratio
It is a parameter which characterizes the ease with which the
vehicle moves
Cycles or Rickshaws have very low power-to-weight ratio and
their operating characteristics (acceleration capability,
sustainable speeds on slopes, etc.) are very poor.
Automobiles, motor bikes etc. have high power-to-weight
ratios and hence good operating characteristics.
Heavy vehicles have poor power-to-weight ratios owing to the
heavy weight of the vehicles.

Turning radius
The minimum radius of circular path traced by front
wheels of vehicle when the steering is turned to its
maximum extent.
It is dependent on the design and class of the
vehicles.
Bus has larger turning radius than that of smaller
vehicles.

Turning path

Another important feature

As the rear wheels are fixed they follows different path
from that of front ones and hence the path of vehicle
movement is combine effect of both and i.e., turning
path.
Effective width of a vehicle on a turn increases.

Vehicle pollution
It represents the amount of pollutants released into
atmosphere by various vehicles which need to be
limited as per environmental recommendations
Vehicles releases
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Design vehicle
Various types of vehicles will be moving on a pavement
which have distinct properties;
An engineer should design a vehicle which will summarize
the combined effect of all vehicle the design for which
completes the need of all the vehicles
Vehicle classes includes:
i)Motorized two- wheeler, ii) Motorized three wheelers,
iii)Pasenger cars or automobiles, iv) Buses , v) Single unit
trucks, vi)Semi trailers vii)Truck trailer combination,
viii)Slow non motorized vehicles

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The major role neglecting which cause loss of life and money.
Extra factor and importance need to be considered in every
design

Comfort
Uncomfortable journey makes driver too loose interest on
driving leading to accidents, delay, vehicle efficiency, etc
Causes of discomfort to drivers are
1) Excessive deceleration rates: maximum value of
comfortable deceleration is 3 m/s2 .
2) Excessive jerk: limited to 0.7 m/s3
3) Glare: it is defined as an intense blinding light. Mostly
it occurs from headlights of oncoming vehicles.

Vision
Proper lightening and sight distance need to be provided
according to design speed & reaction time to avoid
accidents specially at crossings & intersections.
The important aspects are:
1. Visual acuity: refers to how well a person can see. A person with
normal vision is having 6/6 vision.
2. Field of Vision: information on field of vision is important for
placement of road signs
3. Colour perception: based on discernibility considerations and
consideration of classification of signs codes in various countries
specify the color combination for various types of sign.

Design driver
Various driver have individual habits and hence the designer
should provide comfort to maximum drivers
A driver who has the characteristics chosen by the designer
is referred to as design driver.
For a design driver
1. Perception-reaction time:2.5 seconds
2. Comfortable deceleration rate: 3m/s2
3. Allowable jerk : about 0.7 m/s3
4. Visual acuity: 6/7.5

Surface conditions
Slopes
Curves
Control Mechanisms
Terminal facilities

Surface conditions
The surface friction, drainage conditions,
permeability water retention characteristics ,pot
holes etc play major role during rainfall ,etc.
Road surface should provide sufficient friction to
enable vehicles to move and stop effectively.
A very smooth road surface causes hindrance to
flow of traffic.
Co-efficient of rolling friction offered by dry paved
surface should be 0.5 and for wet surface it reduced
to 0.3 .

Slopes
Attention must be paid to the slope and length of the
uphill section at the time of designing road.
Extra slope during curves, drainage slopes, etc. need
to be provided perfectly to avoid slipping or
skidding of vehicle.
Braking distance: Another important matter related
to slopes and friction of roads is braking distance
requirement of vehicle.

The figure given below shows a vehicle moving at a

speed of vi m/s on a road inclined at an angle with
the horizontal.
The rolling friction co-efficient of the road surface
is fr..
The vehicle will have to travel the minimum
distance x along the inclined to reduce its speed
from vi to vf .

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vi2 v 2f
2 g cos (tan + f r )

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d b = x cos =

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Curves
Roads often have curves either in the horizontal plane
(when road turns) or in the vertical plane (when road
has varying gradients.
Curves always pose a restriction on the distance over
which the driver can see the road.
This factor is taken into account in the design of curves.
Horizontal curves usually create considerable
centrifugal force on the vehicles moving along them. It
also should be taken into account for design.
Banking, extra widening, field of vision, etc need to be
taken care while designing curves