Paved Shoulders

Road Shoulders, properly built and well maintained, not only land structure of support to various layers of payment, but also provide additional space for overtaking maneuvers, parking of disabled vehicles and movement of low moving vehicles such a scooters two wheeler three wheelers and bicycles. In this manner shoulder help to reduce accidents and increase Road safety.

Criteria for Paved Shoulders

Depending on availability of funds, 1.5 m wide paid shoulder maybe provided on either side of two lane national highways in plain/rolling Terrain. It is already the policy of the ministry to construct paid shoulders in conjunction with four laning.

While initiating proposals, keep the following in view:

1. Present traffic should be generally around 10,000 PCUs or more.
2. Traffic should consist of a sizable percentage of slow-moving vehicles.

Additional Considerations

A. Sections located in/near urbanized areas with local traffic.

B. Stretches that are accident-prone due to lack of width.

Thickness of Paved Shoulders

Fig. A - New/ Existing Road

Fig. B - Existing Road

Paved shoulders constructed simultaneously with central pavement should have the same thickness as the main carriageway. For older highways with variable crust, thickness can be fixed in an ad hoc manner (Fig B).

Notes:

1. Cross fall shall not be less than 2.5–3% on granular shoulders and 3–4% on earth shoulders.
2. On super-elevated sections, shoulders should have the same cross fall as the pavement.

Design Components

i) Granular sub-base (bottom 150mm extended for drainage).

ii) Base course of W.B.M. or W.M.M. (3 layers of 75mm each).

iii) Bituminous wearing course (surface dressing, premix carpet, or bituminous concrete). Texture must contrast with the main carriageway.

General Considerations

Construction should be taken up in homogeneous sections. Narrow cross-drainage structures must be widened to full formation width. Carriageway and shoulders must be distinguished by a continuous yellow edge line.