Road Patterns

The various road patterns may be classified as:

•Rectangular or Block pattern

•Radial or star and block pattern

•Radial or star and circular pattern

•Radial or star and grid pattern

•Hexagonal pattern

•Minimum travel pattern

Rectangular or block pattern
Junction

Main road
Central
Business Area
In this pattern, the whole area is divided into rectangular blocks of plots, with
streets intersecting at right angles.
The main road which passes through the center of the area should be
sufficiently wide and other branch roads may be comparatively narrow.
The main road is provided a direct approach to outside the city
Advantages:
1.The rectangular plots may be further divided into small rectangular blocks
for construction of buildings placed blocks to blocks having roads on their
front.The construction and maintenance of roads of this pattern is comparatively
easier.
Limitations:
1.This pattern is not very much convenient from traffic point of view, because at
the intersections, the vehicles face each other.
Example:
City roads of Chandigarh has rectangular pattern
Radial or star & block pattern

Radial roads

Central
Business Area

Built-up area

Rectangular
pattern
-n this pattern, the entire area is divided into a networ! of roads radiating from
the business outwardly. In between radiating main roads, the builtup area
may be planned with rectangular bloc!.
Advantages:
1.Reduces level of congestion at the primary bottlenec! location.".Prevents
traffic from accessing local flow routes in the direction of the eventvenue that
operate in favor of egress traffic flow.$.-f one road is bloc!ed, traffic can move
on other.&./ehicles face each other less than bloc! pattern.
Limitations:
1.Proves particularly effective if twolane ramp traffic does not have to
merge atdownstream end of ramp.".#afety appurtenances such as guide rail
transitions, crash attenuators, and postsupport bases have not been
designed to provide ade0uate protection athaardous locations from the
opposite direction of travel.
Eample:
%handigarh has rectangular pattern
 Radial or star & Circular pattern

Central
Ring road
Business Area

Radial road
 Radial or star & Grid pattern

Grid

Central
Business Area

Radial road
Hexagonal pattern
The choice of the pattern very much depends on the

locality, the layout of different towns, villages, industrial

and production centres and on the choice of the planning

engineer. The rectangular or the block pattern has been

adopted in the city roads of Chandigarh. But from traffic

operation point this is not considered convenient. An

example of radial and circular pattern is the road network

of Connaught Place in New Delhi. The Nagpur road plan

formulae were prepared assuming Star and Grid Pattern.