Interactive Design of Service Routes

Abstract

The design of transportation‐network service routes is both combinatorially complex and fraught with multiple and conflicting management objectives. The focus of this work is the design and development of a computer‐aided system for assisting in the design of network service routes. The system integrates: (1) Spatial network data; (2) multiobjective heuristic optimization techniques; and (3) an interactive, user‐controlled graphical interface. The result is a systematic methodology for evaluating route configurations that facilitates the identification of solutions that reduce service‐resource requirements while at the same time improve the overall level of service to the network. Although this research was motivated by the need to design winter snow‐ and ice‐control service routes in Indiana, the approach is generalizable to a wide variety of applications requiring service to the edges (road segments) of a network such as crack sealing, pothole repair, painting and striping, weed control, and scheduled inspection. The structure and function of this system are discussed, as well as an evaluation of its use to date by Indiana Department of Transportation maintenance engineers.