Designing the highway is one of the most priority tasks of the modern world, because the constructed roads are arteries along which cars, trucks and public transport move. The modern transport system is a complex organism, all of whose elements are interconnected and directly dependent on each other. The design of the highway at the moment is largely determined by the existing relations between settlements, recreation areas, industrial enterprises and other public centers.
The life of the modern world cannot be imagined without an organized and clearly working mechanism that could ensure the normal transportation of goods or people. Proper design of the road today is especially important for the reason that at the moment the roads are absolutely not adapted to the constantly growing traffic flows and high speed.
Why is this needed?
Carrying out this procedure should ensure safe, convenient, organized and most comfortable movement of vehicles in accordance with the estimated speeds. Also, competent design of the road allows you to achieve uniform driving conditions, full compliance with the principles of visual orientation of drivers, convenient and extremely safe location of various intersections and junctions. That is why it is so important.
Many owners of private territories are thinking about why they need to find and design roads, because it’s enough to just pour the route and lay asphalt on it. But if a person has never encountered such a type of activity, it is better to start at least superficially with a complete list of the work that you will have to face, as well as see the cost of their implementation and possible consequences.
Before you start laying public roads, adjoining or any city street, first you need to get permission to carry out such work, and this requires the search and design of roads. The unauthorized conduct of all work will ultimately result in the call of representatives of the traffic police, who will first write the corresponding order, and if in the near future all the comments are not completely eliminated, the junction or the road will be completely eliminated, and a ban on the operation of the facility will be issued . In this regard, it will be necessary to restore everything to its original state, which will be a waste of a huge amount of money, not to mention the fact that if the path led to some industrial site, gas station, cafe or cottage village, their functioning would also be stopped.
What else could this threaten?
Not everyone understands that, in accordance with SNiP, designing roads is not just laying rubble, asphalt and installing road signs. In the process of this procedure, all designed and existing communications that are located in the construction zone should be taken into account, because it will be extremely unpleasant if, by accident, workers break the gas pipeline, water supply or fiber optic cable during installation. Ultimately, the customer will deal with the restoration and compensation of losses to the owners of communications, and the cost of carrying out these works is very high.
That is why the standards specified in SNiP must be fully respected. Road design should be trusted only by professional specialists, since there are many points that even professional builders may not take into account. Qualified engineers provide for any measures that may be necessary for the long and safe operation of the road, calculate the design of pavement and the bearing capacity of the base under all kinds of loads, and also provide drainage systems to prevent the erosion of the subgrade, and take into account many other nuances .
Kinds
To begin with, it is worth deciding on what types of roads exist in principle:
- A motorway is a transport road along which cars move along a continuous route and access to which is provided once every five kilometers.
- Highway - differs from the first type in that there is a simplified level of access equal to three kilometers.
- Normal use - all other types of roads that do not fall under the definition of the previous two.
Depending on the type of path chosen, the planning features also change significantly. The design process takes into account various features of the terrain, the type of canvas, meteorological conditions, adjacent roads, the approximate life, traffic flow intensity, and strength characteristics.
Planning
The first thing to do in the planning process is to clearly identify the route. The highway should in no case be laid through agricultural territories, urban centers, as well as unique natural landscapes and all kinds of industrial complexes. In the overwhelming majority of cases, engineers during planning first conduct a preliminary survey of the territory along which the path will be laid, and also mark all possible routes on the map. After that, a detailed analysis is carried out with the identification of all the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options presented.
Then a specific route is selected and its detailed analysis is carried out before the design of roads is carried out through the TCH. Next, the creation of design drawings is carried out, but at the same time, owners of land and various organizations through whose territory road routes will be laid have the right to express their suggestions and comments. Basically, an independent project review is organized during the planning process, based on the results of which various adjustments are already being made.
At the final stage, after the project has been approved, a large number of working drawings are created. In addition to the direct route, the drawings also indicate in detail the intersections, exits and entrances from the road, as well as driveways, crossings, bridges and other structures. It is also mandatory to determine which specific special equipment will be used in the process of laying the roadway and clothing.
Stages
Thus, planning can be divided into several main stages:
- Development and approval of the route.
- Drawing up a number of proposals related to the arrangement of the route and subsequent rehabilitation measures.
- Coordination of the project and obtaining support from all interested departments.
- Careful development of documentation, which should also include green space planning.
One of the most pressing problems of road construction is landscape planning, where the main goal is the inclusion of a laid track in it. In this case, you must pay attention to the following points:
- choice of type of roadway;
- preservation of all green spaces existing at the moment;
- creation of new landings;
- arrangement of slopes;
- development of a full range of restoration work.
Do not forget that such construction should include lengthy, large-scale and painstaking research, especially if you build roads through the TCH. Design standards include many different nuances that need to be considered at each stage of such work. The positive aspects include the fact that at present the current principles of laying tracks with arched junctions of the roadway and soft turns perfectly combine with any landscape features.
Where to start?
If you are faced with the construction of roads, city streets or any junctions, this work should be done in several steps:
- Design of the roadbed of roads.
- Collection of source information.
- Final design and release of all necessary documentation.
- Coordination of the project with the customer and relevant authorities.
The task
At this stage, it is extremely important to determine the staging, as well as the types of work performed. The thing is that depending on the list you specified (major repairs, new construction, reconstruction, etc.), the volume of work performed, as well as the full list of organizations with which all kinds of documents will need to be agreed, will directly change. For example, if you indicate reconstruction in the assignment for the design of the road instead of carrying out major repairs, then in this case you will have to undergo a thorough state examination and bring various geometric parameters to the standards, and carrying out these works will require a lot of time and money.
The assignment should also indicate the exact number of copies and the type of documentation issued, the overall design time, a certain category of the path being laid, and many other nuances. Do not forget that, in accordance with the assignment, preparation, design, construction of roads will be carried out, and any things that go beyond its scope will have to be discussed separately.
Source information
This list of data includes all kinds of engineering surveys, technical specifications from the owners of each of the communications located in the work area, as well as various letters received from coordinating institutions. The amount of source information directly depends on the characteristics of a particular object. For small construction of driveways, junctions or parking lots, urban tablets are quite enough, while the norms for designing roads also include the presence of geological and geodetic surveys.
Design
This stage is the longest and most expensive. After the technical conditions have been obtained, the total amount of work increases significantly, and asphalt and crushed stone turn into far from the most costly expenses.
Often one has to deal with such situations when the administration delicately “asks” to carry out additional landscaping, ensure the design of sidewalks, parking lots and bike paths, as well as perform landscaping. If it comes to arranging adjoining public roads, for example, SOGU and the traffic police will require mandatory design of road intersections, junctions with transition-speed lanes, the arrangement of lighting, various traffic lights and, if necessary, a culvert.
The lighting of the path must be equipped on the territory of settlements, and its main goal is to ensure normal visibility of the road and sidewalks. Sewage can be performed in two different ways - storm sewers or separate drainage ditches. It is extremely important in the process of designing wastewater to take into account and provide for regulatory biases, as well as various points of reception and release. In the process of diverting water to adjacent territories, it is often also necessary to equip local treatment facilities.
If engineering communications fell into the construction zone, then in this case, the owners in any case will require their protection or reconstruction in accordance with the regulatory documentation. Thus, recommendations for the design of roads are no longer limited only to the roadbed, which requires the involvement of engineers as well as many other specialties, which, accordingly, significantly increases the total cost of construction.
How is it carried out?
Starting designing, various strength calculations are initially carried out, and only then, longitudinal and transverse profiles are calculated on their basis. During the design process, the technical and financial side of the project is also calculated, after which detailed design estimates are compiled indicating the assessment of all costs necessary for the construction of the canvas.
Environmental and engineering solutions are selected, with the help of which the road can be harmoniously located in the natural landscape. By analyzing the environmental situation during the development of project documentation, it will be possible to carry out further construction with minimal damage to the environment.
Road design is carried out on the basis of a number of engineering surveys, as well as analysis of soil parameters, taking into account the features of the local topography. In the process of road design, professionals use modern software systems, as well as specialized engineering equipment.
In modern realities, it is simply impossible to imagine the professional development of project documentation without automated systems. Mathematical modeling and computer optimization at each of the design stages can significantly increase the overall quality of the work, as well as reduce the cost, time and total amount of materials needed for construction. Over time, the methods of carrying out design work completely depart from the traditional design principles that were used literally 20 years ago.
Matching
The list of bodies involved in the coordination of project documentation should be reflected in the assignment, in accordance with which the rules for designing roads are established. If you have any comments or questions, designers can always directly contact a specialist and eliminate comments or make various adjustments. An independent or state examination in most cases is noted separately.
After all positive approvals have been obtained, the design of the road section can be considered completed. Then you can already get permission to carry out construction work.