A Customized Particle Swarm Method to Solve Highway Alignment Optimization Problem

The optimization of highway alignment requires a versatile set of cost functions and an efficient search method for achieving the best design. Because of numerous highway design considerations, this issue is classified as a constrained problem. The article describes how highway alignment optimization is a complex problem because of the infinite number of possible solutions for the problem and the continuous search space. In this study, a customized particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to search for a near-optimal highway alignment, which is a compound of several tangents that consist of circular (for horizontal design) and parabolic (for vertical alignment) curves. The selected highway alignment should meet the constraints of highway design while minimizing total cost as the objective function. The model uses geographical information system (GIS) maps as an efficient and fast way to calculate right-of-way costs, earthwork costs, and any other spatial information and constraints that should be implemented in the design process. The efficiency of the algorithm was verified through a case study using an artificial map as the study region. Finally, the authors applied the algorithm to a real-world example and the results were compared with the alignment found by traditional methods.

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