Volume 14, No. 4, 2020
Received: 2020/09/29, Accepted:
Authors:
Naoras Khalil; Shafek Dawd; Muhammad Fawaz Masuti; Mohannad Mhanna;
Abstract:
Defining the optimal horizontal corridor of a highway through an area is one of the major decisions in road design to minimize total cost. It is considered one of the most complicated spatial problems which can hardly be solved without using Geographic Information Systems (GISs), because of its significant property of controlling a large amount of spatial and non-spatial data, in addition to performing many types of analysis. Some of the construction costs is related to the highway profile, such as the roadside retaining walls. The need
for retaining walls should be recognized during the preliminary design phase and should be shown on the hearing plan (NHDOT, 2014).
This study aims to estimate the retaining wall effect in determining the optimal horizontal corridor of a highway at the preliminary design phase. The locations and heights of predicted retaining walls are determined with the application of GIS by using the Least-Cost Path Analysis (LCPA) method. On the other hand, the Circular Failure Chart (CFC) method is incorporated to evaluate the safe height of the slope. A mathematical model for finding the optimum corridor between two points is implemented, considering the impact of retaining wall costs.
Keywords:
Optimum horizontal corridor, Construction costs, Road planning, Retaining walls, Slope stability