Highway Planning: Width of carriage way

Width of carriage way

Width of the carriage way or the width of the pavement depends on the width of the traffic lane and number of lanes. Width of a traffic lane depends on the width of the vehicle and the clearance. Side clearance improves operating speed and safety. The maximum permissible width of a vehicle is 2.44 and the desirable side clearance for single lane traffic is 0.68 m. This require minimum of lane width of 3.75 m for a single lane road .However, the side clearance required is about 0.53 m, on either side and 1.06 m in the center. Therefore, a two lane road require minimum of 3.5 meter for each lane The desirable carriage way width recommended by IRC is given in Table