DESIGN
Departments of the Bureau for Design
The Design Institute consists of the following departments:
- Department for Roads
- Department for construction and bridges
- Department for Pavement Design and Testing
- Department for Tunnels and Underground constructions
- Department for Hydraulic constructions
- Department for Environmental Protection
- Department for Traffic
- Department for Geodesy
The Design Institute
The primary activities of the Department of Design include the preparation of technical, study, and investment documentation, preparation of planning and urban documentation, technical control of technical documentation, and preparation of environmental protection documentation.
From a professional and technical standpoint, the Institute follows scientific and technical achievements in the field of design with the imperative of achieving the best solutions for our clients. The tradition of the Highway Institute obliges us always to be ahead of everyone with expertise and innovation.
Department of ROADS is involved in the preparation of technical documentation, including General Projects, Conceptual Solutions, Conceptual Designs, Construction Permits, Execution Projects, and As-built Projects, for the construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of civil engineering structures.
The preparation of project documentation for construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation includes:
- Design of roads (Class IA, IB, IIA, IIB);
- Design of airports and heliports;
- Design of municipal roads (in urban and rural areas), streets;
- (urban roads of Class I, II, III, and unclassified roads);
- squares, parking lots, etc.
Department for Environmental Protection
The Department of Environmental Protection was established in May 1994 within the Department of Design as a result of the recognized importance of environmental protection in road construction. This was a visionary move, considering that environmental protection appeared in our state administration in the form of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 1993, while legal regulations in this field were formed about a decade later.
Today, the Department of Environmental Protection consists of a professional multidisciplinary team engaged in the preparation of study and technical documentation in the field of environmental engineering. The main activity of this department is addressing environmental protection issues through the preparation of:
- Environmental impact assessments (Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Study);
- Environmental protection projects;
- Waste management plans and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments:
- Spatial planning and urban documentation:
-Special Purpose Area Spatial Plan (infrastructure corridor, protected natural resources, water accumulations);
-Detailed Regulation Plan;
-Urban Project;
-Parceling and Re-parceling Project;
-Geodetic Marking Reports;
- Environmental Supervision;
- Consulting in the preparation of planning and technical documentation;
Team members work daily on their education and improvement through: specialist environmental protection studies at the university, seminars and professional training in the country and abroad, monitoring professional literature, participation in congresses in the country and abroad, workshops, and experience exchange with foreign experts.
Today, we are proud of the professional potential we possess. Engineers who gained their initial knowledge in the Environmental Protection Department of the Highway Institute have been invited as highly qualified staff to state institutions managing projects in this field. Employees in the department actively participate in organizing scientific and professional gatherings with international participation (Roads and Environment, Planning and Normative Protection of Space and Environment, Local Self-Government in Planning and Urban Development, Congress of Serbian Roads, etc.), have worked on numerous international projects in spatial development and environmental protection, and have led national and municipal commissions for expert control of planning documents engaged by the Ministry of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure.
Summarizing the results of this department's work in numbers: more than 25 Preliminary Environmental Impact Analyses, over 60 Environmental Impact Assessment Studies, more than 50 Environmental Protection Projects, Noise protection structure projects, Strategic noise maps for the road network of Serbia, more than 20 Environmental Protection Reports (EMP), Environmental monitoring projects in the road corridor, Snowdrift research studies, numerous Environmental Protection Studies, Waste Management Plans, technical project controls, etc.
These projects cover all major road routes in Serbia, the Belgrade bypass, bypasses of numerous cities in Serbia, and rehabilitation projects for Class I and Class II roads. Through the preparation of Environmental Protection Projects, over 10 kilometers of noise protection structures have been designed.
Department for Traffic
The Traffic Department operates within the Design Institute. The department deals with the preparation of all types and levels of project documentation in the field of traffic and traffic signaling; preparation of project documentation for traffic signaling and equipment, preparation of various types of studies (traffic studies, feasibility studies, preliminary feasibility studies, and feasibility studies), preparation of simulation models and traffic flow simulations, economic and financial analyses of infrastructure projects, field research, preparation of traffic signaling and equipment cadastres, technical control of project documentation, and professional consulting.
Furthermore, the entire traffic team, in collaboration with experts from other fields, deals with project and plan preparation in accordance with the valid agendas of active transport planning, strategic assessment and planning of the transport road network, and traffic impact assessment studies (Traffic Impact Assessment Study).
With decades of experience, the Traffic Department has successfully participated in the preparation of a large number of project-technical documentation in all phases of the project, from planning to execution, for the most important road corridors, rehabilitation of state roads, projects on improving traffic safety, and technical regulation of traffic in populated areas.
Department of Pavement Design and Testing
The primary activity of the Department of Pavement Design and Testing is divided into two sub-activities:
- Pavement Design which in the broadest sense includes:
- Preparation of projects at all levels for pavements and related structures for various traffic surfaces, sports fields, and special and specific-purpose surfaces (reconstruction, rehabilitation, and new pavement structures);
- Preparation of technical conditions for the construction of pavement and accompanying structures;
- Assessment of pavement structures and associated elements and structures ;
- Defining priorities for various maintenance classes and analyzing and selecting optimal maintenance strategies for pavement structures and associated elements;
- Scientific research activity in the field of pavement structures, design, construction, testing, maintenance, traffic safety impact, environmental impact, economic evaluation, and road and road facility management;
- Preparation of studies, reviews, expert opinions, technical controls, and assessments in the department's field of activity.
- Field testing of existing pavement structures which includes:
Testing surface characteristics (SRT pendulum, macrotexture, smoothness) and pavement structure (deflection measurements with a falling weight deflectometer HWD, FWD) as well as testing accompanying elements and structures.
The types of testing conducted by the Department of Pavement Design and Testing are:
- Measurement of pavement surface macrotexture depth using the volumetric patch method, in accordance with SRPS EN 13036-1:2012;
- Measurement of surface skid resistance – Pendulum test, in accordance with SRPS EN 13036-4:2012;
- Measurement of surface irregularities of pavement layers – Straightedge test, in accordance with SRPS EN 13036-7:2012;
- Determination of transverse unevenness indicators using the straightedge method, in accordance with SRPS EN 13036-8:2012;
- Measurement of deflections using a Heavy Weight Deflectometer (HWD), in accordance with ASTM D4694-09:2020;
- Determination of the characteristic deflection value of flexible pavements, in accordance with SRPS U.E8.018:1981.
Department of Hydraulic Structures
The design areas covered by the department include:
- Drainage of roads with protection at outlets (pipe or collector system, system with gutter outlets and channel guidance, detailed presentation of outlets with protective elements);
- Drainage systems within road structures;
- Regulation of riverbeds with details of arrangements and protective elements to prevent erosion and terrain washout;
- Tunnel hydraulics (collection and evacuation of surface runoff in the tunnel with structures – separation systems at tunnel portals for protection purposes, hydrant system for fire prevention in the tunnel with reservoirs at tunnel portals, drainage system);
- Bridge drainage with a detailed presentation of the sewage system on the structure;
- Protection of bridge piers in water;
- Hydrological studies to assess flow rates and the required capacities of structures (culverts, bridge openings).