You have probably seen on the news or on specialized websites references to a high-speed road, but you may have wondered what it actually is.
A high-speed road is a generic term used to compare two different categories of roads in Romania, namely express roads and motorways.
A high-speed road can therefore be either an express road or a motorway. The choice between these two categories is made based on the estimated costs resulting from the Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) carried out within the Feasibility Studies (FS) of major projects in our country.
The road category is decided after a meeting of the Technical and Economic Council within CNAIR (National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration).
To understand how an express road should be designed, one can consult Standard AND 589-2013.
To understand how a motorway should be designed, one can consult Standard PD 162-2002.
These are general pieces of information. Depending on your interest in transport infrastructure engineering, additional articles can be updated and/or added to the website.
Update: The National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration issues specific terms of reference for each major investment included in the General Transport Master Plan.
As a case study, the Terms of Reference for the Caransebeș – Lugoj High-Speed Road can be analyzed. Its development involved railway engineers, road and bridge engineers, archaeologists, topography and geodesy engineers.
From the perspective of transport policy, the general objective of the transport strategy is to ensure infrastructure and services capable of supporting economic and social activities, with the aim of improving quality of life.
The current main route that ensures the connection between Caransebeș and Lugoj is DN 6, a road with one lane per direction and very heavy traffic, with sections where maximum traffic capacity has been reached. The construction of the Caransebeș – Lugoj high-speed road, with an approximate length of 50 km, will lead to traffic decongestion on DN 6 and will create a new transport corridor in the western part of the country. This corridor will connect the south-eastern part of Romania to the Pan-European Corridor IV, which is currently under construction.
The purpose of the project is the preparation of the Feasibility Study for the Caransebeș – Lugoj High-Speed Road, with an estimated length of 50 km. The study will be carried out in accordance with technical regulations, current legislation (Government Decisions HG 907/2016 and HG 1116/2023), and the requirements of the beneficiary, CNAIR.
According to CNAIR’s requirements, the project designer must comply with the provisions of the Express Road Design Standard AND 598/2013, and, where applicable, PD 162/2002 – the standard for the design of extra-urban motorways, together with other applicable orders, standards, and technical regulations in force (Order 1295 approving the Technical Standards for determining the technical class of public roads, and Order 1296 approving the Technical Standards for the design, construction, and modernization of roads).
The designed cross-section will have the technical characteristics of a high-speed road (express road or motorway), depending on the outcome of the technical-economic analysis carried out within the MCA. The contractor will prepare a traffic study to clarify the need for additional lanes. Based on the traffic study, the designer will consider the following possible options:
- Development of the high-speed road to motorway profile, with 2 × 2 traffic lanes, or, where applicable, 2 × 3 lanes per direction, and the design of geometric road elements in accordance with PD 162/2002 (horizontal alignment, longitudinal profile, and spatial layout), as well as the transverse sections of engineering structures (bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and overpasses);
- Acquisition of land required for future widening of the road platform;
- Earthworks allowing for the future introduction of an additional lane.
When designing the route of the high-speed road, the use of minimum (limit) values for geometric elements should be avoided as much as possible. It is recommended that the radii of horizontal curves be chosen so that the corresponding maximum superelevation does not exceed 5% on bridges, viaducts, and overpasses. The maximum longitudinal gradient should not exceed 4%, in order to avoid a significant reduction in the travel speed of heavy vehicles. To prevent aquaplaning, the minimum longitudinal gradient should not be lower than 0.3%.