Multiple-Path Selection for new Highway Alignments using Discrete Algorithms

TL;DR

This paper develops and compares algorithms for efficiently identifying multiple diverse, near-optimal highway routes, improving decision-making in road corridor planning with faster computation and maintained accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates a bidirectional algorithm for finding multiple dissimilar paths, significantly reducing computation time while preserving solution quality.

Findings

Bidirectional approach yields fastest and most robust results.

Running time reduced by an average of 56% without losing accuracy.

Algorithms effectively generate multiple alternative highway alignments.

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of finding multiple near-optimal, spatially-dissimilar paths that can be considered as alternatives in the decision making process, for finding optimal corridors in which to construct a new road. We further consider combinations of techniques for reducing the costs associated with the computation and increasing the accuracy of the cost formulation. Numerical results for five algorithms to solve the dissimilar multipath problem show that a "bidirectional approach" yields the fastest running times and the most robust algorithm. Further modifications of the algorithms to reduce the running time were tested and it is shown that running time can be reduced by an average of 56 percent without compromising the quality of the results.