Road classification concept and classification study on Çorlu example

Both in urban and rural areas, roads have to be planned according to a hierarchy and have to be classified hierarchically as their traffic volume, geometrical standarts and the function they have, in order to operate the transportation system and canalize trip demands correctly. In this hierarchy, the function of a highway that connects two cities and a street in a residential area, has to be different from each other. In developed country cities, planned settlements have made planned development in transportation system be essential and required a hierarchical classification in a systematic approach. There are different approaches in planning urban and rural transportation systems by different government agencies in Turkey. The highway and freeway system, which is a part of international transportation system and a backbone of intercity travels, is developing rapidly. The urban highways constitute of these roads and main streets and streets form the cities road network. These different road classes are in the responsibility of different organizations, so an authority confusion exists. Eventually, there is not a desired integrated level of trasportation planning approach. The aim of this thesis is to guide city planners, who prepare the settlement plans and planners who make transportation plans, to discuss different approaches of road classification concept from Turkey and other countries. With this aim; Road Category Groups which is the combination of location, concentration of buildings along the road and relevant design function, road classifications according to character of usage, traffic volume and functional classification concepts are studied in detail. Using the data in this study, the classification of present road network and the road classification in former and the new settlement plans of Çorlu urban area, are examined. In conceptual sections of this study, literature research of the road classification types from our country and abroad have been outlined. In the application section, the present and the city plan road network data of Çorlu urban area have been prosessed in Arcview software and converted to quantitative data for comparison. Then based on Çorlu example, it?s been tried to point out that at the stage of city planning studies, in which the road network of our settlements is formed, how the road classification concept is understood and how adequate planned network is, with compared to present situation,. Key Words: road classification, road hierarchy, functional classification, road network