Thing to Remember for the alignment of Highways in Hilly Areas
Highways alignment involves many technical details that an engineer must follow while being on the same work. The content here does not discuss the technical and mechanical perspective of the construction. Rather, it provides the basic information of highways construction that is probably common in this field. It brings out the regular details of the construction instead of the deep theoretical perspectives.
Construction alignment in hilly areas is comparably a tough task than the alignment work in the plan spheres. You may be asking yourself what is alignment? Alignment is the centre line of the highways. There are two types of alignment in the highways construction ? vertical and horizontal. Generally, the yellow line in the centre of the road follows the horizontal line closely.
Horizontal alignment is described through the straight path, the horizontal deviations and curves. The vertical alignment includes the change in the gradient of roads and the vertical curves.
Roads must be aligned cautiously because a single mistake can bring in many disadvantages; some are even more dangerous than you ever thought. Below are few results of improper of alignment of highways.
? Enhances the construction cost, maintenance costs and vehicle operation cost.
? Increases the rate of accidents
A proper plan should be implemented before starting the construction works. Changing the alignment after construction is a more than difficult job as it includes various small things that involve in an increase in the construction costs. Choosing the right alignment is a must-to-do task for engineers. Here some simple factors are described that are attached to the alignment of highways.
Stability: Stability comes first when it comes to aligning the hill roads. Aligning the road with the sides of the hill needs stability measurement since these areas are prone to the landslide. Construction works in hill areas lower the stability of the land. This is why you have to consider the fact while going for a highway construction.
Drainage: For having an adequate drainage system, the road must have numbers of drains. It is also remembered that the cost drainage structure is costly and the road alignment should encourage the minimum cross drainage facility.
Geometric standard must be considered: In hill areas, geometric standard must be taken into consideration for choosing the right alignment. For this construction work, geometric standard includes variables like gradients, curves and speed. These things come in the determination of the sight distance, radius of curve, and others accompanied features. The ruling gradient should rule in length, cutting down the steep gradients and hair pin bends.
Resisting length: The resisting length, in short, is directly linked to the unnecessary falls and rise of the gradients. It should be minimized to curb the length of the road as well as the construction costs.
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