Improvements in the Horizontal Alignment and Vertical Profile of Balampur Ghat Section in Bhopal-Vidisha State Highway Road (SH-18) using MXRoad Software

Abstract

Geometric design of highway deals with designing of physical visible features of highway those comprise of horizontal alignment, vertical profile, circular and transition curves, superelevation, Summit and valley curves, cross sectional elements, sight distances and other features. From the safety point of view, road geometric features should be well designed as per the IRC recommendation. In this research work, the horizontal alignment and vertical profile have designed of Balampur Ghat section in the Bhopal-Vidisha Road which is in the Madhya Pradesh State of India. The objective of this research work is “Improvements in the Horizontal alignment and Vertical profile of Balampur Ghat Section in Bhopal-Vidisha State Highway Road (SH-18) using MX Road Software”. The design of horizontal alignment and vertical profile have been done for Balampur ghat section approx. 2.0 km in length of State highway no. 18 (SH-18) of Madhya Pradesh. SH-18 is connected to Vidisha from Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh and having heavy commercial traffic. Balampur ghat section is hilly terrain and have two improper horizontal curves along with 6.5% of vertical gradient and because of this reason that section is not safe for deriving therefore it has become an accident-prone area and the accident-prone area have the human and economical losses so it should be improved and re design of the horizontal and vertical alignment for safe design speed. The proposed methodology is on the basis of inventory survey (preliminary survey), topographic survey and MX Road software. In inventory survey take the data of existing road and find the suitable route of alternative alignment if re-alignment is required in the road. Then the topographic survey done on the existing road and alternative alignment. Import the topographic data of the road in MX Road software for generate existing surface of the road for design of horizontal alignment and vertical profile. As per IRC recommendations, there are two alternative alignments designed of the existing ghat section. As per the outputs of this research work, the length of both improved alignments is short as compare to existing road. There are no improper curves at improved alignment and maximum gradient is 4.2% which is less than the existing gradient (6.5%). The minimum design speed is 40-50 kmph which was 20 kmph in existing road. The both two improved alignments are safer as compare to existing alignment and the design speed of the vehicle has been increased. The improved alignment 2 is straighter than the improved alignment The improved alignment has also reduced the human and economic losses.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

For the balanced development of any country, it is essential to provide a well-planned road network connecting all the villages and towns. The development of the infrastructure in India is very fast and there are many developments have been done in last few years. The development in transportation infrastructure plays a vital role in Indian economy. The road network plays an important role for development of the country in steady growth. It is necessary to provide good road links between the villages and market centers. The transport system affected directly to the developing countries. If the economic transport system is available from the villages to other district headquarters and also for commercial stations than the overall economy can be grow easily. For the uninterrupted movement of fast vehicles, the express ways give the full support to make the strong road network in India. In last it will have to say that, for the fast growth of any countries the transportation systems should be strong in both terms of length and quality to meet their demand for the developments.

A. Bhopal - Vidisha Highway Road

The Bhopal-Vidisha State Highway (SH-18) connected to Vidisha from Bhopal. This State Highway is in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The Highway started from Bhanpur square at Ayodhya Bypass (From km 0+000) in Bhopal and terminating at its junction with NH-146 near Sanchi (To km 36+150). The total length of the road is approx. 36.150 km. This State Highway develop a junction with NH-46 (Gwalior – Betul Road) at its km 6+300 and also cross tropic of cancer at its km 24+400. In this research work, the alignment problem of Balampur Ghat section is discussed and the improvements are also done in the horizontal alignment along with the vertical profile of the section from km 13+000 to km 15+000.

Conclusion

A. Conclusion The objectives of the study were “Improvements in the Horizontal Alignment and Vertical Profile of Balampur ghat section in Bhopal - Vidisha SH-18 (From km 13.000 to km 15.000) in Madhya Pradesh as per IRC recommendations. There are designed two improvements of the existing road from km 13.000 to km 15.000 as per IRC recommendations. Improved alignment-1 is slightly inner side or right side of the existing road and improved alignment-2 is straight from km 13.650 to km 14.050 in inner side or right side. The conclusion of the research work for designing of the horizontal alignment and vertical profile of the existing ghat section are given below- 1) All the improvements are adopted as per IRC recommendations. 2) Desirable minimum radius is adopted in horizontal curves in both improved alignments. Only at chainage km 14.213 in improved alignment – 1, the curve radius is less than the desirable minimum but that is more than the absolute minimum radius values. 3) Ruling gradient values are adopted in improved vertical alignment. 4) The adopted design speeds for mountainous terrain are 60 kmph and 40 kmph for ruling design speed and minimum design speed respectively. 5) The both improved alignments are designed to reduce consistency of accidents as well as delay time at existing road and to increase the safe design speed for road users. 6) After the improvements of the existing alignment, the human and economic losses will be reduced. 7) The travel time will be reduced at the ghat section and the maintenance of the vehicles will also reduce. 8) The goods transport will be easier and faster for the supply of the product. 9) The improved alignment – 2 is the better option for the existing road stretch improvements. 10) High accuracy in the design with saving the time were achieved by using MXROAD. B. Study Benefit After Improvements As per this research study, after improvements in the existing road section many types of benefits will meet to the road users which are given below- 1) The design speed of the ghat section will be > 40 kmph. 2) The alignment will be safer for road users. 3) The delay time due to slow speed of the commercial vehicles at the ghat section will be minimized. 4) The accident-prone area will be over. C. Scope for the Future 1) Further studies need to be traffic studies and design carriageway of the road. 2) Further studies need to be pavement design. 3) Further studies need to be preparation of cost estimate.

References

[1] Highway Engineering by S.K Khanna, C.E.G. Justo & A, Veeraragavan [2] IRC SP 73-2018 “Manual of Specification and Standards for Two Laning of Highways with Paved Shoulder” [3] IRC 38-1988 “Design of Horizontal Curves for Highway and Design Tables”. Indian Road Congress, New Delhi, 1988”. [4] IRC SP 23-1983 “Design of Vertical Curves for Highway”. Indian road Congress, New Delhi, 1983. [5] IRC 52-2019 “Hill Road Manual”. [6] Ministry of Road transport and Highways (MoRTH) Letter no. RW/NH-24036/27/2010-PPP, Dated 25/04/2018 [7] AASHTO, A policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials: Washington, D.C. [8] Bentley, MXROAD Introduction Manual, Bentley System, Inc [9] Ashok Kumar et al [2021], Up gradation of geometric design of sh-131 Maharashtra (ch. 9.35 km - 15.575 km) using mx road software - a study. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), Pp. 67-78. [10] R. D. K. Shallam et al [2018], Operating Speed Modeling for the Rural Highways Passing through Hilly Terrain. J. Transp. Eng., Part A: Systems, 147(5): 04021015. [11] Matthew G. Karlaftis and Ioannis Golias [2020], Effects of road geometry and traffic volumes on rural roadway accident rates. Elsevier Science Ltd. Accident Analysis and Prevention 34: 357–365. [12] George Kanellaidis and Sophia Vardaki [2020], Highway Geometric Design from the Perspective of Recent Safety Developments. J. Transp. Eng., 137(12): 841-844. [13] Clarkson H. Oglesby and H. M. ASCE [2019], Consistency in Design for Low-Volume Rural Roads. J. Transp. Eng., 111(5): 510-519. [14] B. K. Roy [2019], Geometric Design of Compound Horizontal Curves. J. Transp. Eng., 120(4): 674-683. [15] Natacha E. Thomas et al [2019], Revised Design Parameters for Vertical Curves. J. Transp. Eng., 124(4): 326-334

Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Pankaj Raghuwanshi , Dr. Rajeev Jain, Prof. Sanjay Saraswat , Deepti Gangele . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.