1. Design Speed and Target Speed
Norman W. Garrick
Lecture 3.1
Street and Highway Design

2. Notes on HW 1 Question 1 Question 2 Question 3
It is important to note that the timeline did not stop after 1992 – the changes in the 2000s in street design have been revolutionary.
Question 2
Showing the land use correctly is very important
Use the same scale for all x-sections
One goal was to get you thinking about the various elements in the cross-section and the relative scale of these elements.
A second goal was to show how a given road can change in response to the land use context.
Question 3
Visually compare the roads. Look at the network context. Measure elements such as widths and setbacks.
As with Question 2, the goal was less about getting the right answer and more about getting you to think about the elements of the road and the factors that affect different categories of road users.

3. 15 mph 20 mph 25 mph 30 mph NACTO / VISION CONE
This great composite from the National Association of City Transportation Officials shows one of the most important things that happens when you slow cars down: The circle at the top represent the cone of vision of a driver going 15 miles per hour. Second from the bottom shows the same thing at 25 miles per hour. You can see that the driver going 15 sees more than twice as much as the driver going 25.
Two more important things happen when you slow the cars down:
The driver has more time to react, more time to avoid an accident, and more chance of slowing down even below 15 miles per hour.
And cars that are going more slowly don’t kill the pedestrian, if they do hit him or her.
30 mph
NACTO / VISION CONE

4. Americans were once as good as anyone in the world at making streets
Americans were once as good as anyone in the world at making streets. If we can get good at it again, we can grow the best cities ever, and live happily ever after.

5. AASHTO Definition Design Speed
A selected speed used to determine the various geometric design features of the roadway
To understand what design speed is, we need to look into
how it is selected
what it is used for
how it is used
It is a deceptively complex concept that is essential to parse in order to understand how AASHTO design works

6. Selecting the Design Speed
According to AASHTO the guideline for selecting design speed is as follows: The assumed design speed should be a logical one with respect to the topography, anticipated operating speed, the adjacent land use, and the functional classification of the highway Every effort should be made to use as high a design speed as is practical to attain a desired degree of safety, mobility, and efficiency within the constraints of environment quality, economics, aesthetics, and social or political impacts, except for local streets where speed controls are frequently included intentionally The selected speed should fit the travel desires and attitude of nearly all drivers that are expected to use a particular facility

7. What is Design Speed Used For?
The guideline from AASHTO for using design speed is as follows:
Once the design speed is selected, all of the pertinent highway features should be related to it to obtain a balanced design. Above-minimum design values should be used, where practical.
Features Directly Affected by Design Speed
Curvature
Superelevation
Sight distance
Features Indirectly Affected by Design Speed
Lane and Shoulder Widths
Lateral Clearances

8. Using the 1/R Plot Visualizing the Alignment
Curve 1
0.0005
27+00
35+00
12+00
22+00
Station
Curve 2

9. How is Design Speed Used in Practice? An Example
What is the design speed of the two roads shown? We know that both of these alignments are freeways Therefore they most likely have DS of 60 or 70 mph (lets assume 60 mph for this exercise)
Highway A
Highway B

10. How is Design Speed Used in Practice? An Example
Under the AASHTO procedure, the design speed is used to determine the minimum radius of curvature for the roadway section. For a design speed of 60 mph, the minimum radius of curvature is 1300 feet The designer can then choose to use any radius larger than this value. We can assume that this was the procedure that was applied to these two sections of highway

11. R = 1300
Highway A
R = 1300
Highway B

12. 10-mile section of alignment
Alignment of Highway A
In the case of highway A, all the radii used are significantly larger than the minimum. In fact, the smallest radius used is 5,500 ft, using the AASHTO formula; this radius would be equivalent to a design of speed of about 120 mph. We perhaps might not expect an operating speed of 120 mph, but it is clear that this entire section of road could be comfortably traversed by most drivers at speeds well in excess of the design speed.
Highway A
10-mile section of alignment
11 curves
Maximum Radius = 20,000 ft
Minimum Radius = 5,500 ft
Average Radius = 10,200 ft

13. 10-mile section of alignment
Alignment of Highway B
The alignment for Highway B is quite different: the smallest radius here is 1,432 ft and the average is 4200 ft - less than that the smallest radius for Highway A. But again the result is the same, the operating speed would be higher that would be expected, given the design speed.
Highway B
10-mile section of alignment
12 curves
Maximum Radius = 11,500 ft
Minimum Radius = 1,400 ft
Average Radius = 4,200 ft

14. What does this example tell us about Design Speed?
The first question it raises is whether or not the DS speed process results in a maximum or minimum limit on actually operating speed The second point to note is that DS approach can produce very different types of facility for the same design speed
Highway A
Highway B

15. Is Design Speed a Maximum or a Minimum limit?
This example illustrates a very important feature of the design speed approach that is not always appreciated by all designers.
The design speed sets a minimum level for the potential operating speed on a roadway. The operating speed will be higher than the design speed.
This is not a major problem on the two roads that are used as examples here.
In both cases we have high-speed freeways where there is no risk of conflict between human activities along the road and the speed of the vehicles on the road.
This becomes, however, a big issue when designing roads in a context where high speeds affect livability and safety of other road users - including pedestrians.

16. Is design speed a maximum or a minimum limit?
The problem is that the design speed approach gives no guidance to the designer on how to design for an upper limit on speed for a given project. The result is that many newer roads and streets have the look and feel of roads that are designed for 50 or 60 mph, but are sign-posted for 25 or 35 mph.

18. This looks and feels like a 40 mph road

19. Variation in design for the same design speed
In some ways, the design speed approach affords too much flexibility – this is illustrated by the two very different design solutions that are represented by Highway A and Highway B. Both highways are designed using more or less the same criteria, but the choices made about the alignments are very different. Of the two roads, Highway A is more continuous, since the discontinuities between curves and tangent sections are not as sharp and the alignment is more curvilinear. Highway A is also more consistent, since all the curves are about the same radii. However, Highway A also has the potential for much higher operating speeds because the curve radii are so large. (The actual operating speeds will depend to some extent on other design factors such as the vertical alignment and the width.)
Highway A
Highway B

20. The Problem of Using Design Speed in Urban Areas
Under the AASHTO approach to design, the design speed influences the choice of a host of design parameters, and not just alignment design. These include features such as lane-width, shoulder width, median width, and the so called clear zone. Design speed is also used to help decide whether or not a specific element should be part of the design for a given roadway. As the design speed increases the scale of these features also tends to increase The problem is that these are the very features that we found in speed surveys that help to control speed. Therefore, there is a conflict between the DS process and the need to control speeds in most urban and some rural environments

21. The Problem of Using Design Speed in Urban Areas
Many have pointed out that design speed is only useful for the design of freeways and other high speed highways The concept of design speed is misapplied when used for urban streets or other streets that should operate in context time Recently the concept of TARGET SPEED has taken hold for design and has been used in such documents as the ITE/CNU manual and the NACTO manual

22. Target Speed Context Time versus System Time
The idea of target speed is to select an appropriate speed for the context and then to design to ensure that most drivers will chose to go no faster than the target speed

23. Target Speed Context Time versus System Time
Where should target speed be used? In most urban situations
Target Speed Approach
Design Speed Approach

24. Design Speed versus Target Speed for the design features
Design features affecting or affected by speed
Curvature
Superelevation
Sight distance
Lane and Shoulder Widths
Lateral Clearances
Design Speed determines the design features
Design features are used to indicate the Target Speed
These are two fundamentally different approaches
to design