Determination of Sight Distance on a Combined Crest and Circular Curve in a Three Dimensional Space

ABSTRACTThe sight distance (SD) on a two-dimensional (2-d) curve, namely, a vertical curve or a horizontal curve, has been well understood and documented for roadway geometric design in literature. In reality, three-dimensional (3-d) curves can be found along ramps, connectors, and often mountain roads. The sight distance on these 3-d curves, which may vary with driver's location, has not been tackled in literature on an exact analytic setting. By integrating human-vehicle-roadway interaction, the formulas for computing the SD on a 3-d curve are derived the first time on an analytic framework. The crest curve SD that has been used in various literatures, can be deduced from these derived formulas as special limiting cases. Practitioners can easily apply theses user-friendly formulas or equations on a Microsoft Excel spread sheet to calculate 3-d SD on a roadway with sufficient roadside clearance. In addition, this framework can be extended easily to cope with various scenarios in which obstacles partially blocking driver's sight are present in a roadway environment.