Car Park Design - Essay Example

Topic: Car Park Design Introduction: This assignment basically focuses on the importance and practice of good highway design. Well planned and accurate designs are very essential whether we talk about any ordinary roadwork or highway. Importance of good design cannot be underestimated and undervalued in any way. If we want the proper operation and working of any road, we should plan it properly remembering aftermaths and its functional requirements. Remember, there are many other aspects when we talk about good highway designs. This includes the storm water drainage and other utility services that are installed and distributed. So, in this assignment we will focus these aspects along with several car parking designs and detail layouts. Formal drawings, calculations and specifications according to standards are also discussed here. Importance of Good Highway Design: First of all, I would like to explain briefly the highway and its functioning. Basically, it is a road pavement that allows various vehicles to travel. Its functioning is to offer friction for the vehicles at one hand as well as the transfer of stresses to underlying soils. So, it should be carefully designed to achieve ultimate objectives of smooth traveling. Obviously, a well planned highway will attract more people to travel. On the other hand, badly designed roads create deterrence between the road and its users. There are several highway designs available. However, developers can choose the one that best suits to their finances and economy. Remember, designs should be adopted according to the environment because sometimes it happens that any specific design can not work well because of technical and environmental failures. There are several important aspects of a good highway design. These include design speed, shoulder width, lane width, vertical and horizontal alignment, bridge width, grade, structural capacity, horizontal and vertical clearance, cross slope, stopping sight distance and super revelation. Remember there are some essential aspects that a good highway design offers to its users. This includes facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. It offers, Bike Lanes: When bike lanes are provided to the people, it helps cyclist to keep their space on road. Cyclist can better establish accurate position on roads. They can also travel at the speed they desire. Moreover, they can pass the cars without any risk of accident. Bike lanes also ensure that cyclists have their own rights on roads. Moreover, it also reduces pedestrian and cyclist conflict that usually happen if both are traveling on the same track. Separate Sidewalks for Pedestrians: A good design also offers separate side walks for pedestrians away from heavy and noisy traffic. These separate side walks also provide enough room for street furniture. Street furniture basically refers to bike racks, bus stops, waiting rooms, signs and mailboxes. Furthermore, an appealing atmosphere can be created with the help of trees and landscape. Distribution of Utility Services Highway is designed after a careful study of various areas to ensure complete safety and smooth traveling of different vehicles. Speed restraints are especially designed to ensure safety and to discourage high speeds. Developers can ensure smooth traffic if designed a highway properly. Moreover, nearby places are carefully designed to reduce crime rate. Mostly it happens that people completely overlook their surroundings. It is better option to design in clusters of small dwellings that further encourage neighbor hood. Land with unobstructed access should be walled or fenced carefully. Footpaths must be designed in ways that discourages hiding places. Car parking must be lighted properly whether practiced in private areas or communal entities. Here I am briefly describing some utility services that re distributed on well planned highways. Foot ways: These are especially designed for pedestrians to ensure safety, security, direct and attractive routes. Sometimes it happens that people park their cars on these routes. However, nowadays proper car parking discourages the parking of cars on footways. There are several important considerations while designing a footway. First and foremost consideration is the number of pedestrians using the highway. This number of pedestrians may vary. For example a highway is connected to a school or shop may require less number of pedestrians as compared to the highways connected with a dwelling. Street furniture also affects in this regard. A standard footway is always 2m in width. Avoid over running and parking of heavy vehicles on footways otherwise they may damage easily. Cycle tracks: The standard design speed of a cycle track is 15 mph. Standard cycle tracks are usually 3.5m in width for an area where pedestrians are also present. Different signs are provided according to standard traffic signs manual. Single Private Drive: It is not included in public highways. It is set on the road where ever possible. Gates are usually installed for protection and they are opened inward. Shared Private Drives: The design speed of shared drives is 10mph. This is also not shared publicly. It serves maximum five to six houses. Shared Surfaces: These serve up to 25 plus dwellings. The design speed is 15mph. Minimum highway width is 4.5m. A single surface is also present for vehicles and pedestrians. Home Zones: These are also shared surfaces that may consist of indirect routes for traffic and planting areas. An important benefit of home zone development is that it turns an ordinary residential street into a valued space for public use. Minor Access Roads: These roads serve up to 100 dwellings. Design speed is 20mph. Standard width of highway is 5.5m. To access the dwellings directly, footways of 2m width are provided on each side. Major Access Roads: These roads serve 100 to 300 dwellings. Design speed is 20mph. the carriageway is 5.5m in width. On each side 2m wide footpaths are designed. Local distributor roads: Design speed of these roads is 30mph. Road is usually 7.3m in width. Forward visibility is about 60m. Commercial and industrial access roads: Design speed of these roads is 30mph. Highway width is 6.7m that can be increased. On each side there is 2m wide footway. Street Lightning: In new highway and road developments special emphasis is given to street lights. This is to create secure and safer night time environment. This further helps to reduce crime and the threat of crime. Storm Water Drainage in River Drainage systems for highway are usually designed according to the sewage. All pipes are carefully designed and maintained by Highway Authorities. Mostly those pipes are preferred by the designers that carry surface water not only from highway but from other areas like roofs etc. Lateral connections are also designed according to the standards. Lateral connections run at right angle along the centre of the road. Two types of drainage systems are extensively used in highways; manholes and gullies. Moreover, in some areas where drainage system is not possible to develop and plan, soak away is the best option. If you plan more than one soak away then these two are joined with the help of a pipe having diameter 225mm. here I am briefly explaining Manholes and gullies. Manholes: Manholes are carefully designed and placed at specific distances to drain out the sewage and water into rivers or other outlets. The sewage water and drainage is carried to the outlets through under ground pipes. There are some issues connected with these manholes. For example these are not well suited for areas where heavy sewage is present. They may easily get over flooded because of clogging and some blockade in these manholes. Gullies: Drain with pipes and gullies is always designed by Highway Authorities. Gullies spacing is designed and determined according to the recommendations of Highway Authorities. These are usually required at pedestrian points and road junctions. However, they are not located at crossings. Parameter Used in Drainage Design: Rainfall average return period 2 Years Rainfall average return period (risk of flooding) 10 Years Time of entry 4 Minutes Design flow velocities 0.75m/s (Min), 7.5m/s (Max) Minimum gradient 1:225 Design maximum rainfall 50mm/hour Minimum pipe diameter 225mm (Table Source: http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/docs/Highways_Design_Guide_for_New_Developments.pdf ) (Picture Source: http://www.rainwaterstorage.co.uk/Graphics/HighwayDrainageSoakaway.jpg) Parking Criteria When we talk about transportation and parking, first thing we should consider is that there are several modes of transportation available. In towns mostly public transport and cycling is preferred. Students and elder people mostly prefer cars. In non residential areas street parking is very common. Cycles cover less space as compared to cars and buses. Cars and buses require more space. If we consider parking for a university, we will see that student prefer various modes like cycling, on foot, cars and Lorries. So, car parking areas are allocated to a university on standard basis. Standard calculation in this regard is one car space per 15 students or one car space per 10 sq.m of floor area or one car space per 2 staff members, which ever is higher. In case of Lorries one lorry space shall be allocated per 1000 sq.m of area of the university. Disabled Parking: Parking standards for disabled for any non residential development should be 10% of the parking area. This should involve a minimum of one space per parking development. In communal parking areas this can be applied easily. Dimensions and Location of Parking Spaces The average measurement of car parking space is 4.8m in length and 2.4m in width. There are some alternatives ways of arranging a car park. These include, In this layout, cars are parked vertically in the parking area. In this layout, cars are not parked vertically but slightly tilted. Car Parking Designs: Area selected for car parking may be arranged in different manner with respect to carriageway and footway. This layout is preferred to commercial designs where car parking area and carriageway are designed to be located on either side of footway. In this layout car parking area is designed, so as to have footway and carriage way on its either side. Parking for Disabled: In parking standards special arrangements are made for disabled. For example if group parking is designed with 20 spaces then there will be 1 space for disabled. Moreover, for disabled car spaces are also increased according to the requirements of disabled. Parking space is 4.8m in length but may extend up to 3.6m in width because a person on wheel chair requires more space to adjust properly. Maintenance of Highways: Material Used for Highway Construction: While selecting any material for highway construction, it is very essential to consider its durability and quality. Remember any material you are using in construction may be free from any drawback. High quality material ensures its durability and long life. So, always prefer high quality materials. Highway Maintenance Local roads, motorways and highways always require regular maintenance and repair which may include gritting, grass cutting and emptying manholes and gullies. Autocad Design: Autocad is the most recent technology in designing. It’s most advance technology in mechanical engineering. Basically, it is a software program that allows the engineers and professionals to build various computer aided drawings and designs in a professional way. Autocad has brought revolutionary variations in the field of engineering and designing. In this system designers can make different designs without using paper. They work on screen that further increases efficiency and reduced the efforts of paper works that were once used by many designers. So, if a designer wants to plan a building or roadwork then he can easily go with this technology. However, remember that professionals and highly skilled engineers are always required to run this system. With the help of this system a designer or developer can satisfy more complex needs. This drafting system is used for electrical, architectural, mechanical, electronic and structural designs. Benefits associated with autocad design: There are several benefits of this professional and modernize technique of drafting and designing. First important benefit is that autocad design aids in improving the business with the help of innovative ideas. Secondly, this system is also a cost effective approach if we compare it with paper drafting. Moreover, autocad method requires less time to produce final design. Actually all the adopted standards are carefully installed in the system that makes designing easier and comfortable for the developers. Finally, you can made electronic transactions of designs and drafts instead of paper work. References: 1. Herefordshire Council Environment Directorate, July 2006, ‘Highways Design Guide for New Developments’ [online] Available at: http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/docs/Highways_Design_Guide_for_New_Developments.pdf 2. ‘The Importance of Good Design and Context’ [online] Available at: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/docs/OBP_Plan/A-Introduction.pdf Read More