International E-road Network - Road Design Standards

Road Design Standards

The following design standards should be applied to Euroroutes unless there are exceptional circumstances (such as mountain passes etc.):

• Built-up areas shall be by-passed if they constitute a hindrance or a danger.
• The roads should preferably be motorways or express roads (unless traffic density is low so that there is no congestion on an ordinary road).
• They should be homogeneous and be designed for at least 80 km/h (very exceptionally 60 km/h). Motorways for at least 100 km/h.
• Gradients should not exceed 8% on roads designed for 60 km/h, decreasing to 4% on roads designed for 120 km/h traffic.
• The radius of curved sections of road should be a minimum of 120 m on roads designed for 60 km/h rising to 1000 m on roads designed for 140 km/h.
• "Stopping distance visibility" should be at least 70 m on roads designed for 60 km/h, rising to 300 m on roads designed for 140 km/h.
• Lane width should be at least 3.5 m on straight sections of road. This guarantees adequate clearance for any vehicle having a superstructure of width 2.55 m which is the maximum specified in EU directive 96/53/EC., and 2.6 m specified by some countries.
• The shoulder is recommended to be at least 2.5 m on ordinary roads and 3.25 m on motorways.
• Central reservations should be at least 3 m unless there is a barrier between the two carriageways.
• Overhead clearance should be not less than 4.5 m.
• Railway intersections should be at different levels.

These requirements are meant to be followed for road construction. When new E-roads have been added these requirements have not been followed stringently. For example the E 45 in Sweden, added in 2006, has long parts with 6 m (20 ft) width or the E 22 in eastern Europe forcing drivers to slow down to 30 km/h by taking the route through villages. In Norway, parts of the E 10 are 5 m (16 ft) wide and in Central Asia some gravel roads have even been included.