Rural road planning in developing countries : a network modeling approach | |
| Author | Khan, Md. Lutfar Rahman |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no. IE-84-01 |
| Subject(s) | Highway planning Operations research |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Benefit Cost Analysis a nd Priority Ranking are often recommended in the literature for planning rural roads in developing countries. These techniques need the unrealistic assumption that road projects are independent of each other. Two types of interdependence are common : functional, i .e., the usefulness of one road depends on another; and budgetary , i .e. , the selection of one road precludes a not her. The existing methods cannot address the basic problem of selecting " a road network", and not just one or more roads. The possibility of applying models of Operations Research (OR) has been investigated in this research . Knapsack Problems appeared useful f or road selection under various budgetary and selection constraints. For incorporating functional interdependence , particularly in terms of accessibility, network models are appropriate. A number of existing network models (Minimum Spanning Tree, Short est Path Tree, Steiner Tree, etc. ) are found useful. A new, combinatorial network optimization problem , called Weighted Subtree Problem (WSP) , has been introduced as a decision model. WSP is advantageous over other network models because it considers both functional and budgetary interdependence. Network Design Problems (NDP ) also do so; however, WSP-mode l s fit better the situations in developing countries. A WSP-model is simple , and emphasizes accessibility and road construction cost; NOP- models are rather complex, and concern more about travel cost. WSP is NP-Complete; heuristic solution procedures have been developed for it. This dissertation introduces normative network mode l s for planning rural roads. Al though some of these mode l s have appeared in OR literature for several decades , there have been no serious attempts to relate them to rural road planning. Through a n analysis of the key features of rural road planning , and a review of the techniques recommended in the literature, it has been demonstrated that network model scan contribute significantly to the improvement of road planning in developing countries. |
| Year | 1984 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Industrial Engineering (IE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Oudheusden, Dirk L. Van |
| Examination Committee(s) | Jones, John Hugh ; Vilas Wuwongse ;Drew, Donald R. ;Morlok, Edward K. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Royal Thai Government |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1984 |