Planning Surveys and Interpretation

PLANNING SURVEYS

•Assessment of road length requirement for an area ( it

may be a district, state or the whole country)

•Preparation of master plan showing the phasing of plan in

annual and or five year plans
Planning surveys consists of the following studies

•Economic study

•Financial study

•Traffic or road use studies

•Engineering studies
ECONOMIC STUDIES:

•Population and distribution

•Trend of population growth
•Listing of agricultural and industrial development
•Per capita income
•Existing facilities with regards to communication,
recreation and education etc.
FINANCIAL STUDY:

•Sources of income and estimated revenue from taxation

on road development

•Living standards

•Resources at local level, toll taxes, vehicle registration and

fines

•Future trends in financial aspects

TRAFFIC (OR) ROAD USE STUDIES

Traffic volume (vehicles per day), annual average daily traffic, Peak and
design traffic volume.

•Origin and destination studies

•Mass transportation facilities

•Accidents, their cost analysis and causes

•Future trend and growth in traffic volume and goods traffic, trends in
traffic pattern

•Growth of passenger trips and the trend in choice of modes

ENGINEERING STUDIES:

•Topographic surveys

•Soil surveys

•Location and classification of existing roads

•Estimation of possible developments in all aspects due to the

proposed highway development

•Road life studies

•Traffic studies – O & D

•Special problems in drainage, construction and maintenance of

roads
PREPARATION OF PLANS:

PLAN 1:

General area plan showing almost all existing details viz., topography, existing
road network and drainage structure, rivers, canals, nallahs etc.

Towns and villages with population, Commercial, agricultural and industrial

activities

PLAN 2:

It includes the distribution of population groups in accordance with the

categories made in appropriate plan.

PLAN 3:

Locations of places with their respective quantities of productivity

PLAN 4:

Existing road network with traffic flows and desire lines obtained from Origin
and Destination studies.
Highway alignment

•The position or lay out of centre line of the

highway on the ground is called the alignment.

•It includes straight path, horizontal deviation and

curves.

•Due to improper alignment ,the disadvantages

are,
Increase in construction
Increase in maintenance cost
Increase in vehicle operation cost
Increase in accident cost
REQUIREMENTS OF A HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT

✓Short
✓Easy
✓Safe
✓Economical

•Short
Desirable to have a short alignment between two terminal stations.

•Easy - easy to construct and maintain the road with minimum problem
also easy for operation of vehicle.

•Safe-safe enough for construction and maintenance from the view

point of stability of natural hill slope, embankment and cut slope also
safe for traffic operation.

•Economical-total cost including initial cost, maintenance cost and

vehicle operation cost should be minimum.
Factors controlling alignment
Obligatory points
Traffic
Geometric design
Economics
Other considerations

Additional care in hill roads

Stability
Drainage
Geometric standards of hill roads
Resisting length
Obligatory points
Obligatory points through which alignment is to pass

Examples:-bridge site, intermediate town , Mountain

pass etc…

Obligatory points through which alignment should not

pass.

Examples:-religious places, costly structure,

unsuitable land etc…
Traffic

•Origin and destination survey should be carried

out in the area and the desire lines be drawn
showing the trend of traffic flow.

•New road to be aligned should keep in view the

desired lines, traffic flow patterns and future
trends.
Geometric design

•Design factors such as gradient ,radius of curve and sight distance also
govern the final alignment of the highway.
•Gradient should be flat and less than the ruling gradient or design
gradient.
•Avoid sudden changes in sight distance, especially near crossings
•Avoid sharp horizontal curves
•Avoid road intersections near bend

Economy

•Alignment finalised based on total cost including initial cost,

maintenance cost and vehicle operation cost.

Other consideration

•Drainage consideration, political consideration

•Surface water level, high flood level
•Environmental consideration
Special Consideration while aligning Roads in Hilly Areas
STABILITY
•A common problem in hilly roads is land sliding
•The cutting and filling of the earth to construct the roads on hilly sides
causes steepening of existing slope and affect its stability.

DRAINAGE

•Avoid the cross drainage structure

•The number of cross drainage structure should be minimum.

GEOMETRIC STANDARD OF HILLY ROAD

•Gradient, curve and speed

•Sight distance, radius of curve

RESISTING LENGTH

•The total work to be done to move the loads along the route taking
horizontal length, the actual difference in level between two stations and
the sum of the ineffective rise and fall in excess of floating gradient. Should
kept as low as possible.
ENGINEERING SURVEYS FOR HIGHWAY LOCATION

Map study (Provisional alignment Identification)

Reconnaissance survey

Preliminary survey

Final location and detailed surveys

Engineering Surveys for Highway alignment
MAP STUDY

•From the map alternative routes can be suggested in the

office, if the topographic map of that area is available.

•The probable alignment can be located on the map from

the following details available on the map.

Avoiding valleys, ponds or lake

Avoiding bend of river
If road has to cross a row of hills, possibility of crossing
through mountain pass.

•Map study gives a rough guidance of the routes to be

further surveyed in the field
RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY

•To confirm features indicated on map.

•To examine the general character of the area in field for deciding the
most feasible routes for detailed studies.

•A survey party may inspect along the proposed alternative routes of

the map in the field with very simple instrument like abney level,
tangent clinometer, barometeretc.

Details to be collected from alternative routes during this

survey are,

Valleys, ponds, lakes, marshy land, hill, permanent structure and

other obstruction.

Value of gradient, length of gradient and radius of curve.

Number and type of cross drainage structures.

High Flood Level(HFL)

Soil Characteristics.

Geological features.

source of construction materials- stone quarries, water

•Prepare a report on merits and demerits of different

alternative routes.

•As a result a few alternate alignments may be chosen for

further study based on practical considerations observed at
the site.
Aerial Reconnaissance Survey:

•An aerial reconnaissance will provide a bird’s eye

view of the alignments under consideration along
with the surrounding area.

•It will help to identify factors which call for

rejection or modification of any of the alignments.

•Final decision about the alignments to be studied

in detail on the ground could be taken on the basis
of the aerial reconnaissance.
Ground Reconnaissance Survey:

In the case of hill sections, it may be advantageous sometime to

start the reconnaissance from an obligatory point situated close
to the top.

Instruments generally used for ground reconnaissance include

compass, Abney level / alti-meter, pedometer, aneroid barometer,
clinometers, ghat tracer etc.

Use of instruments mentioned above to obtain ground slopes,

maximum gradients, elevation of critical summits or stream
crossings and location of obligatory points, serves as a check on
the maps being used.
Reconnaissance Survey Reports:

The report should include all relevant information

collected during the survey and a plan to the scale
of 1:50000 showing the alternative alignments
studied along with their general profile and rough
cost estimate.

It should also discuss the merits and demerits of

the different alternatives to help the selection of
one or more alignments for detailed survey and
investigation.
PRELIMINARY SURVEY

Objective of preliminary survey are:

•To survey the various alternative alignments proposed after the
reconnaissance and to collect all the necessary physical information and
detail of topography, drainage and soil.
•To compare the different proposals in view of the requirements of the
good alignment.
•To estimate quantity of earthwork materials and other construction
aspect and to workout the cost of the alternate proposals.

METHODS OF PRELIMINARY SURVEY:

a)Conventional approach-

Survey party carries out surveys using the required field equipment,
taking measurement, collecting topographical and other data and
carrying out soil survey.
b) Rapid approach-

C)Modern rapid approach- (GPS)

By Aerial survey taking the required aerial photographs for obtaining

the necessary topographic and other maps including details of soil and
geology.

•Finalise the best alignment from all considerations by comparative

analysis of alternative routes

Primary traverse
Topographic features
Levelling work
Drainage Studies and hydrological data
Soil survey
Material Survey
Traffic Survey
Final location and detailed survey

•Thealignmentfinalisedatthedesignofficeafterthepreliminarysurveyistob
efirstlocatedonthefieldbyestablishingthecentreline.

Location survey:
•Transferring the alignment onto ground.
•This is done by transit theodolite.
•Major and minor control points are established on the ground and
centre pegs are driven, checking the geometric design requirements.
•Centre line stacks are driven at suitable intervals, say 50m interval in
plane and rolling terrains and 20 m in hilly terrain.
Detailed survey:
•Temporary benchmarks are fixed at intervals of about 250 m and at all
drainage and underpass structure.
•Earthwork calculations and drainage details are to be work out from the
level books.
•Cross sectional levels are taken at intervals of 50-100 m in Plane terrain,
50-75 m in Rolling terrain,50 m in built-up area, 20 min Hill terrain.
•Detail soil survey is to be carried out.
•CBR value of the soils along the alignment may be determined for design
of pavement.
•The data during detailed survey should be elaborate and complete for
preparing detailed plans, design and estimates of project.
Drawing and Report

Key map
Index map
Preliminary survey plans
Detailed plan and longitudinal section
Detailed cross section
Land acquisition plans
Drawings of cross drainage and other retaining structures
Drawings of road intersections
Land plans showing quarries etc