Page 35 - RoadCem Manual - PCT BV

3.Design criteria
When you know what you want, you get what you want
3.1 General
Road Design and Construction is a unique part of civil engineering. Every road serves two main groups of users:
1. People and the economy – the users
2. Proponent of the road – the client.
The client has demands that are articulated to represent the needs of the users. A good design for a road is therefore one that meets the needs of the two main groups: the client and the users, while at the same time meeting additional requirements that the other stakeholders might have. The requirements of the users and the client are typically reflected in the design and other criteria that the designer and the implementing agent (the contractor) have to meet. The designer and the implementing agent (the contractor) will consider the user and client requirements and the associated criteria and make sure that their design and the end product – the road - are in accordance with the requirements and the criteria previously defined.
In doing this the intention should always be to come up with the optimum (quality, economic factors, environmental factors, etc.) solution for any given road project. Defining the optimum will involve answering many and diverse questions:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
What is the cheapest option for a given road?
What is the best option from the O&M point of view? Which option is fastest to implement?
Which option has a smallest environmental footprint? Which option will last longest?
Which option is acceptable to the people?
Which option is acceptable to the economy?
Which option is acceptable to the client?
Is the option technically feasible?
And many more...
In this Chapter we consider the basic user and client requirements before we begin with consideration of other technical and design aspects of road construction.
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