Since the 1930s, the design-speed concept has been the principal quantitative mechanism
for ensuring consistency of safe operating speeds along rural highway alignments. The concept
arose from safety concerns about differentials between the speeds at which drivers could safely
operate their vehicles on tangents and the lower speeds at which they could safely operate on
horizontal curves. The solution implemented by the design-speed concept was that all alignment
features should be designed to accommodate the desired speeds of most drivers using the
roadway or, in other words, that an appropriate design speed should be uniformly applied to all
alignment elements of the roadway