How do they decide the way mountain roads twist and turn?
In: 200
When designing a road there are a lot of factors. You have minimum and maximum slopes the road can be, you have to consider sight distance (the distance a driver can see without it being obstructed by the road or terrain) so you can’t have curves or dips in the road too sharp, you have to design curves so that the driver feels comfortable driving at the speed limit, and you have to consider cost. To reduce cost the most you don’t want any retaining walls, and you want to reduce the amount of moving dirt to the minimum possible. You also have to consider how far you move the dirt, so you want your cut areas (areas that require you to remove dirt) and your fill areas (areas you need to fill in dirt) to be near each other. This basically means the best path is to follow the contours of the mountain, which is why they all end up twisty and you have a steep slope on either side of you
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