Using multicriteria analysis to select alternative surfacings for low volume roads

Abstract

A large portion of the road network in developing countries in Africa consist of Low Volume Roads (LVRs). Funding for upgrading and maintenance of these roads pose a challenge for roads authorities as their limited budgets are mainly aimed at highways and major corridors. Isolated communities bear the burden of inaccessibility to markets, education and health facilities. As part of a study that was launched by the Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) an investigation into alternative surfacings to gravel roads was conducted in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A stakeholder engagement process, designed around several workshops, was used to gain insight into the needs of the community. The local roads authorities, local engineers and technical pavement experts were involved in the selection of surfacing options which would be most suitable for implementation. Several other aspects of the surfacing types were investigated such as the initial construction cost, anticipated maintenance costs and life cycle cost. An exclusive multicriteria analysis, which used the outputs from the different costing scenarios and the workshops was conducted, and a Monte Carlo simulation was completed to select the most appropriate surfacing solutions.