Highway Design Engineering

Highway designs are dictated by the physical characteristics and limitations of the motor-vehicle driver and of the vehicle that he operates. Good designs will be efficient and safe in daylight and dark and in good and bad weather. They will be consistent, so that the driver is not confronted unexpectedly with different and serious situations. Most important of all, they will be adequate for the present and future traffic.

The designer in planning a highway facility is concerned among other things with capacity, or how many vehicles the road can and will carry, with roadway and lane widths, with vertical and horizontal alignment and their effects on sight distances and speeds, and with intersection and speed layout. These and many other aspects of the problem must be weighed in terms of first cost, over-all economy, convenience, and safety before the design of the project is finally completed.

Highway design should always consider the potential for proper maintenance. Good design, both urban and rural, will provide good drainage, erosion control facilities, slopes which can be mowed with modern equipment, storage of ploughed snow, adequate spacing for sign erection, space for required lighting facilities, and median cross overs on divided roadways for circulation of maintenance equipment. The service rendered to the general public will only be as good as the maintenance; consequently, maintenance should be a major consideration of the design process.

MEConsult's staff include civil engineers with specialized experience in highway design engineering. The projects have included planning and design of more than 200 kilometers of primary and secondary highways in both flat and rolling terrains. Pre-design phases have normally been preceded by detailed traffic and topographic surveys to establish base parameters for the facility under consideration. The designs have conformed to the best of AASHTO standards.