7 Major Cross-Sectional Elements of a Highway Road
Following are the 7 major cross-sectional elements of a highway are
1) Right of way
The area of land acquired and reserved for the construction and development of a road along its alignment is called the right of way or permanent land. The width of the right of way is called permanent land width or road land width.
2) Roadway / Formation width
The top width of a highway embankment or bottom width of highway cutting excluding the side drain is called roadway width or formation width. It is the sum of width of carriageway and the shoulders.
3) Carriageway
The portion of roadway constructed for movement of vehicular traffic is called carriageway or pavement or crust.
4) Shoulder
The portions of the roadway between the outer edges of the pavement and edges of the top surface of the embankment or inner edges of the side drain in cutting are known as shoulders.
Purpose of providing shoulders
i) They provide lateral stability to the carriageway.
ii) They serve as a parking place for a vehicle in case of an emergency.
iii) They provide space for erecting road signals.
iv) They provide space for animal-drawn vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians.
5) Berm
The portions of land width left in between the toe of road embankment and the inner edges of borrow pits or the Portions in between the top edges of the road in cutting and the nearest edges of spoil banks on either side are known as berm.
6) Building Line
It is the line, on either side of the road, between which and the road; no building activity is permitted at all.
7) Control Line
It is the line which represents the nearest limitation of future uncontrolled building activity in relation to a road. This signifies that, although building activity is not totally banded between the building line and control line, the nature of the building permitted here is controlled.
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