National Academies Press: OpenBook

Geometric Design of Driveways (2010)

Chapter: Front Matter

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Geometric Design of Driveways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/17637.
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Web-Only Document 151: Geometric Design of Driveways National Cooperative Highway Research Program J. L. Gattis University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR Jerome S. Gluck AECOM New York, NY Janet M. Barlow Accessible Design for the Blind Asheville, NC Ronald W. Eck West Virginia University Morgantown, WV William F. Hecker Hecker Design, Ltd. Birmingham, AL Herbert S. Levinson Transportation Consultant New Haven, CT Contractor’s Final Report for NCHRP Project 15-35 Submitted July 2009 NCHRP

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, and was conducted in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), which is administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies. COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, Transit Development Corporation, or AOC endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. DISCLAIMER The opinion and conclusions expressed or implied in the report are those of the research agency. They are not necessarily those of the TRB, the National Research Council, AASHTO, or the U.S. Government. This report has not been edited by TRB.

TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF EXHIBITS ................................................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................................... x ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ xi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. ES-1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and Context .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Scope ....................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research Plan ................................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2 State of the Practice .......................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Survey of Current Practices ............................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 6 2.3 Additional Sources ......................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 3 Identify Driveway Research Needs .............................................................................. 69 3.1 Identify Elements and Develop Performance Measures .............................................................. 69 3.2 Evaluate the Current State of Practice .......................................................................................... 88 3.3 Propose and Select Research Activities ....................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 4 Data Collection and Analysis ......................................................................................... 93 4.1 Driveway Grades and Measured Vehicle Ground Clearance ...................................................... 93 4.2 Driveway Grades and Signs of Inadequate Ground Clearance .................................................... 97 4.3 Driveway Grades and Speeds of Entering Vehicles ................................................................... 99 CHAPTER 5 Research Findings ....................................................................................................... 119 5.1 Driveway Grades and Measured Vehicle Ground Clearance .................................................... 119 5.2 Driveway Grades and Signs of Inadequate Ground Clearance .................................................. 119 5.3 Driveway Grades and Speeds of Entering Vehicles .................................................................. 121

5.4 Summary of Findings .................................................................................................................. 134 CHAPTER 6 Summary and Recommendations ............................................................................... 137 6.1 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 138 6.2 Recommended Revisions to the Green Book ............................................................................. 140 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 145 APPENDIX A-1 Survey of Current Practices ..................................................................................... A-1 APPENDIX A-2 Survey of Current Practices: Agency Design Documents ...................................... A-11 APPENDIX B Survey of Current Practices: Additional Responses ................................................ B-1 APPENDIX C Additional Sources: Stakeholder Groups and Organizations .................................. C-1 APPENDIX D Additional Sources: Automobile Dimensions ......................................................... D-1 APPENDIX E Additional Sources: Examination of Crash Data ..................................................... E-1 APPENDIX F Profiles of Driveways with Scrape Marks ................................................................. F-1 APPENDIX G Photographs of the Speed Study Sites ...................................................................... G-1

LIST OF EXHIBITS Exhibit page number number 1-1 Driveway interactions ...................................................................................................................... 1 2-1 List of reviewed documents ............................................................................................................. 7 2-2 Walking speed by age and gender ................................................................................................. 11 2-3 Cumulative distribution of walking speeds .................................................................................... 11 2-4 Average walking speeds for disabled pedestrians .......................................................................... 12 2-5 Special considerations for pedestrian subgroups ........................................................................... 12 2-6 Wheeled mobility eye height ......................................................................................................... 13 2-7 Pedestrian gap acceptance .............................................................................................................. 14 2-8 Circular driveway design ............................................................................................................... 19 2-9 Upstream speed of vehicle turning into driveway ......................................................................... 21 2-10 Speed and path attributes of vehicles entering the driveway ......................................................... 22 2-11 Flora and Keith driveway design elements .................................................................................... 23 2-12 Effect of turning radius on speed ................................................................................................... 24 2-13 Nomograph for lateral encroachment ............................................................................................ 25 2-14 Effects of centerlines on lateral position ........................................................................................ 26 2-15 Critical vehicle dimensions and angles .......................................................................................... 28 2-16 Recommended vertical geometry limits in TTI report ................................................................... 28 2-17 Minimum length of Type-II crest vertical curve to accommodate low-clearance vehicle ............. 30 2-18 Distribution of pedestrian crash types ............................................................................................ 34 2-19 Pedestrian crash types .................................................................................................................... 35 2-20 Pedestrian crash locations .............................................................................................................. 35 2-21 Driveway crashes by maneuver ..................................................................................................... 38 2-22 Driveway-related crashes in Texas ................................................................................................ 39 2-23 Explanation of codes to describe crash patterns ............................................................................ 40 2-24 Proportion of crossing path crashes in various relation-to-junction categories ............................. 41 2-25 Non-interchange locations of pedalcyclist and pedestrian crashes ................................................ 41 2-26 Percent of driveway crashes in which obstructed vision was a factor ........................................... 42 2-27 Comparing driveway related collision studies ............................................................................... 42 2-28 Example figure from 1960 driveway guide ................................................................................... 44

2-29 Recommended unsignalized driveway design with auxiliary right-turn lane ................................ 46 2-30 Suggested higher-volume driveway width and radius ................................................................... 47 2-31 Recommended maximum change in driveway grade .................................................................... 47 2-32 Driveway entry treatments ............................................................................................................. 48 2-33 Driveway radius, width, and vehicle turning path ......................................................................... 50 2-34 Residential driveway design detail ................................................................................................ 51 2-35 Island to restrict driveway turns ..................................................................................................... 52 2-36 Driveway channelizing island treatment ........................................................................................ 52 2-37 Example before-and-after retrofit treatment for sidewalk-driveway crossing ............................... 54 2-38 Five means of treating sidewalk and driveway crossings .............................................................. 55 2-39 Problem with a full-width flare ramp design ................................................................................. 56 2-40 Bus stop location with respect to driveway ................................................................................... 58 2-42 Recommended basic driveway dimension guidelines ................................................................... 59 2-42 Chicago driveway dimension requirements ................................................................................... 59 2-43 Example vertical profile regulations .............................................................................................. 60 2-44 Maximum changing in grade between the roadway cross slope and the apron slope .................... 60 2-45 Examples of edge clearance from utility ........................................................................................ 62 2-46 Guidelines for locating school driveways ...................................................................................... 63 2-47 School driveway entry treatments .................................................................................................. 64 3-1 Factors often beyond the control of the driveway designer ........................................................... 70 3-2 Factors often within the control of the driveway designer ............................................................. 71 3-3 Driveway design elements depicted ............................................................................................... 73 3-4 Driveway plan-geometry design considerations ............................................................................ 77 3-5 Indicators of problems with driveway entry geometry ................................................................ 77 3-6 Driveway throat design issues ....................................................................................................... 79 3-7 A seemingly-unrelated design factor can render the pedestrian space less usable ........................ 80 3-8 Driveway island types .................................................................................................................... 81 3-9 Excessive sidewalk cross slope at driveway .................................................................................. 82 3-10 Examples of vertical alignment design problems .......................................................................... 83 3-11 Examples of roadway-driveway threshold treatments ................................................................... 84 3-12 Summary of project research objectives ...................................................................................... 92

4-1 Two modes of vehicle underside dragging ................................................................................. 93 4-2 Vehicle ground clearance geometry ............................................................................................ 94 4-3 Measuring vehicle ground clearance ............................................................................................ 95 4-4 Measured coordinates of vehicle underside's ................................................................................ 96 4-5 Example of a driveway with visible vehicle underside scrape marks .......................................... 97 4-6 Driveways with visible scrape marks that were measured ........................................................... 98 4-7 Driveway grade groups .............................................................................................................. 103 4-8 Driveways selected for speed and elapsed time studies ............................................................. 104 4-9 Examples of speed data collection sites ....................................................................................... 105 4-10 Profile of Arvest driveway ......................................................................................................... 108 4-11 Sensor layout diagrams .............................................................................................................. 110 4-12 Width available 70° through a 90° right turn ............................................................................. 112 4-13 Position of blocking vehicle ....................................................................................................... 112 4-14 Installing contact closure switches ............................................................................................. 113 4-15 Data collection in progress ......................................................................................................... 113 4-16 Driveway throat traffic patterns at study sites ........................................................................... 116 4-17 Speed and elapsed travel time from individual sites .................................................................... 117 5-1 Computed profile changes to induce vehicle underside dragging ............................................. 120 5-2 Outer lane width and right turn speeds ........................................................................................ 121 5-3 Right turn speed vectors at Sensor 3 and different right turn radii ............................................ 122 5-4 Throat length and speeds at Sensor 4 ........................................................................................... 123 5-5 Right Sensor 2 data ...................................................................................................................... 124 5-6 Right 2 to 3 elapsed time ............................................................................................................. 125 5-7 Right Sensor 3 data ...................................................................................................................... 126 5-8 Right 3 to 4 elapsed time ............................................................................................................. 127 5-9 Right Sensor 4 data ...................................................................................................................... 128 5-10 Left Sensor 2 data ........................................................................................................................ 129 5-11 Left 2 to 3 elapsed time ................................................................................................................ 130 5-12 Left Sensor 3 data ........................................................................................................................ 131 5-13 Left 3 to 4 elapsed time ................................................................................................................ 132 5-14 Left Sensor 4 data ........................................................................................................................ 133 5-15 Average values for vehicles turning right into driveways ......................................................... 135 5-16 Average values for vehicles turning left into driveways ............................................................ 135

7-1 Recommended maximum grades for a driveway designed for P-vehicle .................................... 139 7-2 Suggested changes to the AASHTO Green Book ........................................................................ 140

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research reported herein was performed under NCHRP Project 15-35 by the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas (UA), prime contractor, and by AECOM, subcontractor. Subcontractors to AECOM include Accessible Design for the Blind, West Virginia University, Hecker Design, Ltd., and Herbert S. Levinson. Dr. James L. Gattis, Professor of Civil Engineering at UA, was the Principal Investigator. Jerome S. Gluck of AECOM was the Co-Principal Investigator. Janet M. Barlow (Accessible Design for the Blind), Ronald W. Eck (West Virginia University), William F. Hecker (Hecker Design, Ltd.) and Herbert S. Levinson were special consultants for the project. We wish to acknowledge the following individuals and companies whose generous cooperation contributed to the data collection and reduction effort for this research project. Best Buy Here Pay Here, Fayetteville, AR Frank Fletcher Chevrolet, Springdale, AR McBride Distributing Company, Fayetteville, AR McGaugh RV Center, Springdale, AR Meineke Car Care Center, Broken Arrow, OK Robert Mills, Wells Cargo, Inc., Waco, TX and the transportation agencies of the following states and city: Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Springfield, Mo. Also, we wish to acknowledge the following people who worked on the project. Statistician - Lynnette Duncan University of Arkansas, Mulitmedia Resource Center video support specialist - Sarah Moore University of Arkansas technician, vehicle ground clearance measurement device - Dennis Rogers University of Arkansas technicians, speed and elapsed time measurements - Scott Higginbotham, Mark Kuss University of Arkansas students - Nick Braddy, Trent Ellis, Tymli Frierson, Jon Nolan, Ashly Pervis, Robert Reese, Ryan Reynolds, Krishna Timmasamudram-Reddy, Danny Xiao

ABSTRACT Geometric Design of Driveways Driveways are private roads that provide access (both ingress and egress) between a public way and abutting properties, and any facilities on those properties. The roadway engineers’ focus is often on a part of the driveway, the area where the driveway intersects the public highway or street. Since these connections form the link or interface between public streets and highways and the activities they serve, driveways are an integral part of the roadway transportation system. There has been relatively little comprehensive research on or national guidance for the geometric design of driveways in recent decades. The objective of this project was to develop recommendations for geometric design of driveways that will be useful to state departments of transportation, local governments, and consultants in preparing driveway design standards and practices. The project included an extensive review of related literature, a survey of transportation agencies, a listing of almost 100 factors that can affect the design of a driveway, a list of needed research topics, and research on issues related to driveway vertical alignment. The project produced two documents, the project report and a driveway design guide.

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 151: Geometric Design of Driveways includes material related to and supporting contents of NCHRP Report 659: Guide for the Geometric Design of Driveways.

NCHRP Report 659 explores guidelines related to the geometric design of driveways. The report includes driveway-related terms and definitions, an examination of basic geometric controls, a summary of access spacing principles, and detailed discussions of various geometric design elements.

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