EN1304 Surveying &

Construction
Construction Lecture 2
HIGHWAYS

Highway requirements

Disperse wheel loads to avoid failure of

underlying layers or foundations
Provide smooth, skid-resistant surface
Good durability
Suitable design lifetime

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Road Pavement Construction

Highway pavements comprise a number of
layers
Flexible pavements
Granular layers overlain by granular layers
bound together with bitumen

Rigid pavements
Granular cement-bonded material overlain by
pavement-quality concrete (may be steelreinforced)
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Pavement types

Flexible and rigid pavements

Layer thicknesses vary with type of road and
sub-grade conditions
Rigid concrete pavement

Flexible pavement
Wearing course

Surfacing

Basecourse
Roadbase

Surfacing +
roadbase

Cement-bound subbase

Subbase (unbound / cement based)

SUBGRADE

Concrete slab

Foundation

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

SUBGRADE

Formation
level

Constructed layers for highways

Surfacing

Wearing course

Basecourse

Primary purpose is to withstand and distribute wheel loads so

materials beneath are not overloaded
E.g. flexible pavements - dense bitumen Macadam (relatively
high proportion of coarse aggregate)

Roadbase

Foundation

Takes direct vertical and horizontal loads

Aggregate used in flexible pavements is smaller than in the
lower layers (may be hot rolled asphalt)
Highly controlled concrete surfacing in rigid pavements
Highest quality material used and is hardest wearing layer
Material tends to be less coarse than for road base in a flexible
pavement, but is often a similar type of material (i.e. dense
bitumen Macadam or high density Macadam)

Sub-base

Subgrade

Well-graded aggregate (particle sizes from 0.075 to 75mm)

Normally compacted with vibrating roller at optimum
moisture content.
Natural soil or rock that provides the foundation for the road
May be imported fill (i.e. ground level raised)
Can be enhanced by capping
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Subgrade strength
In highway design the California Bearing Ratio
(CBR) test measures subgrade soil strength
CBR test:
Cylindrical plunger driven into soil at constant rate
Load measured at displacements of 2.5 and 5mm and
compared with reference very stiff soil
Maximum value of load/ref. load at the two
displacements quoted as percentage
100% matches the reference load

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Capping the subgrade

Capping layer required when subgrade is
very weak. Created by:
importing material with properties better than
those of the subgrade or
lime or cement stabilisation of the subgrade

Thickness of capping layer and subbase

determined by CBR of subgrade

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Sub-base and capping thickness (Rogers)

CBR>30%
No sub-base

CBR>15%
150mm subbase

2.5%<CBR<15%
either
150mm subbase
+ capping
Subbase only
(dotted line)

CBR<2.5%
150mm subbase
+ capping

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

CBR, sub-base and capping - example

TEST DATA

Penetration
(mm)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0

REFERENCE DATA

Load (kN)
0.34
0.43
0.51
0.60
0.68
0.76
0.84
0.91
0.98
1.05

Penetration (mm) Test (kN)

2.5%
0.68
5.0%
1.05

Penetration
(mm)
2
4
6
8
10
12
Interpolate:
2.5
5.0

Load (kN)
11.5
17.6
Two choices:
22.2
1. 220 mm subbase
26.3
30.3 only
2. 150 mm subbase
33.5

+250mm capping
layer

13.03
19.90

Reference (kN)
13.03
19.90

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

CBR (%)
5.2
5.3
9

Flexible versus rigid pavements

More roads flexible than rigid
Rigid considered to be longer lasting
Flexible give better ride quality

Flexible materials comprise binder and aggregate

Binders
Tars (from coal, wood or shale)
Bitumen (dense fractions of crude oil)
Asphalt (naturally occurring, similar properties to bitumen)

Aggregate
Crushed rock, slag or gravel with natural or crushed sand

Macadam
Mix of bitumen/tar + aggregate to form composite road material

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

10

Highway Cross Sections

Standard all-purpose carriageway has 3.65m wide lane
widths and 1m hardstrips at the edge
1.0m
hardstrip

1.0m
hardstrip

7.30m carriageway
3.65m

3.65m

Standard all-purpose
single carriageway

Centre line

Wider lanes used in certain rural 2-lane roads

1.0m
hardstrip

1.0m
hardstrip

10.00m carriageway
5.00m

5.00m

Wide all-purpose single

carriageway

Centre line

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

11

Highway Cross Sections

Crossfalls (slope of road surface)
For effective drainage:
Carriageway must have surface cross-fall of >= 2.5%, either as:
balanced camber (rising to the centre-line of the road)
straight cross-fall

Balanced camber

Straight crossfall

Kerbs and road edges

Highways with adjacent footpaths must have kerbs (minimum
height 100mm above carriageway)
Flexible pavement normally has concrete edging kerb
Prevents spread of flexible pavement material
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Highway Cross Sections

Example of highway cross-section (residential distributor
and industrial roads):
Industrial footway crossing

Carriageway

Footway (1.8m)
2.5% (1 in 40)

Typical dimensions:
40mm stone mastic asphalt wearing course
60mm dense basecourse Macadam
150mm dense roadbase Macadam
Granular sub-base material
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Horizontal alignment of road sections

Transition from straight road to
circular arc
Transition curve needed to
gradually introduce centrifugal forces
Allows time to adjust steering, speed
Without it, inertial (centrifugal) force
from moving on circular curve would
(theoretically) be felt instantly

Change between different radii

curves never instantaneous
Must also be designed with
adequate sight distance
Important if roadside obstructions
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

Transition curve

14

Horizontal curve radii vs. design speed

Highways often superelevated (at inclined
angle) for corners provides centripetal force.
Allows lower safe curve radii

b
a

Superelevation
e = 100*b/a

Design speed (km/hr)

Horizontal curvature (R) in metres
Minimum R with e = 2.5%*

120 100 85 70 60 50
2040 1440 1020 720 510 360

Minimum R with e = 3.5%*

1440 1020 720 510 360 255

Desirable minimum R with e = 5%

1020 720 510 360 255 180

Absolute minimum R with e = 7%

720 510 360 255 180 127

One step below absolute minimum with e = 7%

510 360 255 180 127 90

* Not recommended for single carriageways

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

After M Rogers
15

Vertical Alignment
Roads normally comprise a series of sections with
straight-line gradients, between which are parabolic crest
and sag curves
Standard maximum gradients:

4% for motorways
8% for all-purpose roads
Exceptions agreed as special cases with the Highways Authority
Minimum gradient of 0.5% maintained for drainage purposes

If p and q are gradients (in %) before and after a vertical

curve (downhill is negative) length of vertical curve is
given by:

L K pq
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

16

Vertical curve transition factors

Design speed (km/hr)
120 100 85
182 100 55

70
30

60
17

50
10

Absolute minimum K value crest curves

100 55

30

17

10

6.5

Absolute minimum K value sag curves

37

20

20

13

Desirable minimum K value crest curves

(not recommended for single carriageways)

26

L K pq

After M Rogers

p = +3% and q = -3%

Speed = 100 km/hr
K taken from table
Desired curve length = 600 m
Minimum curve length = 330 m
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Cut and fill: Mass-Haul diagrams

One aim of designing vertical alignment of a road:
To minimise amount of cut and fill necessary
Minimises movement (hauling) of excavated material

Rural highways will generally pass sequentially from

embankment to cutting
3
1

1
3

Embankment cross-section

Cutting cross-section

Whilst 1 in 3 is a standard slope for cuttings and embankments sideslopes, much steeper slopes may be achieved with reinforced earth

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Cut and fill: Mass-Haul diagrams

Mass-Haul diagram plot of cumulative
cut and fill volumes
Cut volumes taken as negative
Fill volumes as positive

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Mass-Haul Diagram (after Bannister et al.)

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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References
Highways: The location, design,
construction & maintenance of pavements
C A OFlaherty, Butterworth, 2002

Highway Engineering
Martin Rogers, Blackwell Science, 2003

Surveying (7th Edition)

A Bannister, S Raymond, R Baker, Prentice
Hall 1998

http://www.pavingexpert.com
http://www.highwaysmaintenance.com
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Field Course Preparation

Drawings for Tasks 1 & 2

22

DRAWINGS
Drawings should be prepared before field course
In pencil on A4 paper
NOT CAD

Opportunity to correct/amend drawings during field course

It is not practicable to give individual help on drawings

before field course
Questions - email me (harbottlem@cf.ac.uk)
Will try to provide answers in Week 7 lecture

Whats required?
Details given in lectures and Task Details document
Basis for all drawings is in the construction lectures
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

23

TASK 1: PIPELINE
Prepare an outline drawing of a suitable
precast concrete manhole at the start of
the sewer run
Sketch the bedding detail required for
such a pipe
Cover to pipe crown is 1 metre
Single lane highway runs above pipe

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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EN1304 Surveying & Construction

25

Pipe Bedding Details

NOTES:

Formation level

1. Pipes laid within highway limits concrete bed &

surround is to be used where cover to pipe crown is less
than 1.2m, or less than 1.0m below road formation level.
2. Pipes laid outside highway limits (e.g. gardens, fields)
concrete bed & surround is to be used where cover to
pipe crown is less than 0.9m.

Suitable
backfill
material
Varies

Note: flexible pipes can be protected by bridging slab,

min 150mm thick of mix ST4 concrete.

3. Dimensions in millimetres.

Granular bed &

surround material

Formation level
300

Standard strength
pipes of concrete,
clayware etc
100

Suitable
backfill
material
Mix ST2
concrete
bed &
surround

Varies
150

100
As small as practical but not < 150

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

26

TASK 2: ROAD SCHEME

Draw cross-section of all-purpose single
carriageway road. Show:
Lane and hardstrip widths
Pavement construction
Kerbs and drainage details

Assume:
Land cross-slope of 5%
Top of subgrade/capping layer 1m above existing
ground level
Flexible pavement construction
CBR of formation subsoil is 8%
Any fill used will be taken from the formation subsoil
EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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Capping + subbase

EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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EN1304 Surveying & Construction

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