Highway Engineering MCQ: Nepal Road Standard, Geometric Design, Pavement (NEC Chapter 9)

Chapter 9: Transportation Engineering MCQ

191 questions with answers. Practise by sub-section or take a timed test.

Chapter

Sub-section

Level

Number of questions

Question navigator:

Free practice by EngineeringNepal.com.np. Questions are written and checked by our team; always confirm the current exam format in the official notice.

Transportation Engineering MCQ: what this set covers

Transportation questions cover Nepal road classification and the Nepal Road Standard 2070, geometric design calculations such as stopping sight distance and superelevation, aggregate and bitumen tests, traffic studies, pavement design and maintenance. The set also suits the Lok Sewa highway group and Department of Roads exams.

There are 191 questions in this chapter, each with the answer and a short explanation. Choose a sub-section, pick how many questions you want, and either see the answer straight away or take it as a timed test. Your mistakes are saved in your browser, so you can come back and practise only those.

Code	Sub-section	Questions here
9.1	Highway planning and survey	32
9.2	Geometric design	32
9.3	Highway materials	32
9.4	Traffic engineering and safety	32
9.5	Road pavement	32
9.6	Road construction and maintenance	31

Sample questions with answers

A few questions from each sub-section are shown below. Tap a question to see the answer. Use the practice tool above for the full set.

9.1 Highway planning and survey

In Nepal, the Strategic Road Network (SRN) looked after by the Department of Roads consists of:

District roads and village roads
National highways and feeder roads
Urban roads only
Feeder roads and district roads

Answer: B. The SRN comprises national highways and feeder roads managed by DoR. District, village and urban roads form the local road network handled by local governments.

The technical classification of roads into Class I to Class IV under Nepal Road Standard 2070 is based mainly on:

Administrative responsibility for the road
Cross slope of the terrain
Design traffic volume expressed in PCU
Type of pavement surface

Answer: C. NRS 2070 groups roads into Class I to IV according to design traffic (ADT in PCU). Administrative classification (national highway, feeder road etc.) is a separate system.

9.2 Geometric design

Stopping sight distance on a level road is the sum of:

Lag distance and overtaking distance
Braking distance and headlight distance
Lag (reaction) distance and braking distance
Braking distance and set-back distance

Answer: C. SSD = lag distance travelled during perception-brake reaction time (vt) + braking distance v²/(2gf).

For calculating stopping sight distance, IRC recommends a total perception and brake reaction time of:

2.5 s
1.0 s
4.0 s
0.5 s

Answer: A. IRC adopts a total reaction time of 2.5 s for SSD (perception plus brake reaction).

9.3 Highway materials

For aggregates used in bituminous surface courses, the maximum water absorption usually specified (MoRTH and DoR specifications) is:

10%
5%
0.5%
2%

Answer: D. Highly absorptive aggregates soak up bitumen and are often weak or porous, so water absorption is limited to 2% for bituminous courses.

The resistance of road aggregate to sudden blows (toughness) is measured by the:

Los Angeles abrasion test
Aggregate impact test
Soundness test
Specific gravity test

Answer: B. In the impact test a 13.5 to 14 kg hammer falls 380 mm 15 times on the sample; fines passing 2.36 mm give the impact value.

9.4 Traffic engineering and safety

The fundamental relation between traffic flow q, density k and space mean speed v is:

Flow equals density multiplied by speed
Flow equals speed divided by density
Density equals flow multiplied by speed
Speed equals flow multiplied by density

Answer: A. q = k x v: veh/h = veh/km x km/h.

A traffic stream has density 40 veh/km and space mean speed 50 km/h. The flow is:

1.25 veh/h
90 veh/h
2000 veh/h
800 veh/h

Answer: C. q = k x v = 40 x 50 = 2000 veh/h.

9.5 Road pavement

A flexible pavement transfers wheel load to the subgrade mainly by:

Slab (beam) action
Grain-to-grain contact through the layers
Tension in the surface course
Arch action of the base

Answer: B. Load spreads through granular layers by grain-to-grain contact over a widening area, so layer quality decreases downward.

A rigid (cement concrete) pavement distributes wheel load mainly through:

Grain-to-grain contact
Capillary action
Friction of the shoulders
Flexural strength (slab action) of the concrete

Answer: D. The concrete slab acts as a plate and spreads the load over a wide area of subgrade through its flexural strength.

9.6 Road construction and maintenance

Vibratory rollers are most effective for compacting:

Granular (cohesionless) soils and aggregates
Wet plastic clays
Organic peat
Bitumen emulsion coats

Answer: A. Vibration rearranges cohesionless particles into a dense packing; clays respond better to kneading or static pressure.

A prime coat is applied:

Over an existing bituminous surface before an overlay
On top of a finished surface to seal it
On a porous granular base before laying a bituminous layer
On concrete slab joints

Answer: C. Prime coat is low-viscosity bitumen (cutback or emulsion) that penetrates and seals the top of a WBM or WMM base and bonds it to the bituminous layer.

Full mock tests

When you have covered every chapter, take a full NEC licence mock test or Lok Sewa model test. The NEC mock follows the real pattern of 80 questions and 100 marks in 2 hours.