A highway corridor planning model: QROAD

A highway corridor planning model: QROAD

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Article ID: iaor2003592
Country: United Kingdom
Volume: 36A
Issue: 2
Start Page Number: 107
End Page Number: 126
Publication Date: Feb 2002
Journal: Transportation Research. Part A, Policy and Practice
Authors:
Keywords: combinatorial analysis, cost benefit analysis, optimization, allocation: resources, lagrange multipliers, planning, programming: dynamic
Abstract:

This model calculates an optimal investment plan for a highway corridor or number of corridors, subject to budget constraints. The available options include upgrading the current alignment, constructing a bypass highway over a different alignment, or various combinations. The budget constraints can be specified as a total budget restriction, or as an available budget each period. The highway system is described by K different road links. Each link consists of the current alignment which may be described by any number of sections, and a bypass section over a new alignment. The model finds the construction plan for each link that maximizes discounted benefits, subject to the financial constraints on the maintenance and capital expenditures. The problem is formulated as a large combinatorial optimization problem. A Lagrangian relaxation of the budget constraints is used, and the problem decomposes by link. A dynamic programming (DP) model is used to solve for the optimal expansion path for each link, given the dual variables. The subgradient dual optimization problem is a linear programming problem which is solved for the optimal dual variables. An application is presented based on the World Bank's Third National Highway Project in India, which is a US$1.3 billion project for upgrading approximately 2000 km of the Indian National Highway System. The project was approved based on results from this model.

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