Introduction. The introduction to the paper highlights the importance of the design and construction of highways of various link functions levels as a key factor in modern integration processes and also emphasizes the role of highways for substantial increasing of the road network safety.
Problem statement. The issues of the paper concern aspects of highways design based on the experience of European colleagues in the context of the provisions of the relevant legislative acts of EU.
Purpose. The goal of the paper is to analyze the main provisions for the design of continental, subcontinental and transregional highways considering, within the format of the publication, the design features of the highways elements which are universal for various design systems.
Results. The highways categorization regarding their link functions levels and with this categorization linked classification by design classes were reviewed which accept the highways jurisdiction and the build-up areas related location and also the corresponding restrictions on vehicle speed limits. The highways characteristics were defined allowing the determination of highways as a separate category of motor roads in the world-wide practice of the road building industry.
An analysis of the parameters of the highway elements standardization was performed where those elements are uniform in various systems of road designing, in particular the highway cross-section and also elements to be designed through vertical and horizontal alignment. It was emphasized that, according to the reviewed experience of European colleagues, the components ensuring the highway safety are the proper traffic flow quality and also balanced three-dimensional (spatial) alignment of the highway elements.
Also the design of interchanges and junctions was briefly analyzed concerning the terminology related the main carriageway, the connector roads and their constituents (link (distributor) roads and slip roads) which form the weaving areas of traffic flows and should be standardized regarding the road safety requirements.
Conclusions. Highways are a key factor for the integration processes and for improving the safety of the road network that may be explained by high requirements on their design and construction and also by characteristics that allow the highways consideration as a separate category of roads.
When the parameters of the highway elements approach the established critical values in the design part, in order to ensure safety, separate requirements are put forward.
Regarding the European integration processes, the issue of implementing standards for the design and construction of highways taking into account the provisions of European normative documents more fully could be relevant, that may require the expansion of the categorization of international roads taking into account the link functions levels.
