Application of Fuzzy Preference–Analytic Hierarchy Process Logic in Evaluating Sustainability of Transportation Infrastructure Requiring Multicriteria Decision Making

Abstract

Selection and construction of sustainable infrastructure is a complex process due to multicriteria decision requirements. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a widely used multicriteria decision tool in civil engineering applications. However, the chief drawback of AHP is that it requires a large number of inputs (pairwise comparisons), which frequently leads to inconsistency in decision making. The main objective of this study is to reduce the number of inputs in AHP without compromising consistency. This study proposes to modify AHP with the use of the additive transitivity property of fuzzy preference relations because it significantly reduces the number of inputs, which minimizes inconsistency. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through a case study for selecting a contractor from six contractors. Inputs were taken from three decision makers for both traditional and proposed AHP, and the rankings obtained by the proposed method were compared with traditional AHP. The comparison revealed the use of a lesser number of inputs in conjunction with additive transitive fuzzy preference relations generated consistent judgments in minimal time.