ROAD ECONOMIC DECISION MAKING MODEL

Abstract

In Egypt, roads are deteriorating under the excessive traffic loading. Expansion of the network is required to keep pace with economic development plans and the ever- increasing demand on road transport. The network must be maintained and operated up to a good level determined by road council. On the other hand, road funds are not enough for covering all required needs. There is no dear tool to help decision-makers examine the effect of their decisions on both technical and economic parameters. Due to the above mentioned, it is required to define another revenue resources and making it is available in an interacting system for better usage.

Public Road Agencies always face the need to take economic decisions related to the road sector including the road network technical and economical parameters. There are many aspects of the economic decision making such as the appropriate expenditure level of public resources, estimation of the actual expenditure needs, possible sources of revenue raising and creating a clear link among expenditures, revenues and road user charges in a marmer that reflects actual market indicators.

This research aims mainly at introducing a Road Economic Decision Making Model that can help improving local road economic decision-making processes. The model integrates a set of modules that interact together to identify required actions for operating and maintaining the road network at a pre-defined target level. The model performs economic evaluation of road expenditures, revenues and road user charges.

The model takes into consideration many technical aspects including comprehensive representation of geometric and structural characteristics of the road network. Several Studies were carried out for each technical aspect related to pavement evaluation, maintenance identification and prioritization, cost allocation, traffic characterization including determination of axle loads and vehicle utilization