Economics of road design standards

This recently commenced research project will contribute to the development of rational criteria for the selection of road design standards by investigating the influence of terrain type and level and composition of traffic on the appropriateness of different design standards for various categories of rural roads. A case study approach to the examination of six different terrain bands will make use of computer aided route selection across a broad set of combinations of design standards, road cross sections and traffic conditions. The project will also seek to develop terrain classification indices to facilitate application of the study results (a).