Objectives of road planning

Road (highway) planning is the process of studying present and future travel demand, selecting the roads to be built or improved, fixing their priority and standard, and preparing a programme within the available funds.

Objectives

1. To plan a systematic road network so that all important places are connected economically.
2. To fix priorities - which roads to build first - using a scientific basis such as benefit-cost ratio and traffic volume.
3. To estimate future traffic and provide enough capacity and a suitable design standard.
4. To use available funds and resources in the most economical way.
5. To provide safe, fast, comfortable and economical travel for the road users.
6. To reduce the total transport cost (vehicle operating cost, travel time, accidents).
7. To integrate roads with other modes and with land use and regional development.
8. To keep environmental and social impacts (land acquisition, pollution, resettlement) small.
9. To plan for maintenance and future expansion of the network.

Short note

Road planning is done in stages: (1) road survey (inventory, traffic and economic data), (2) analysis of data to forecast the demand, (3) preparing alternative plans and evaluating them, (4) fixing the priority and a phased programme (e.g. 5-year or 20-year plan), (5) implementation and review. In Nepal the Department of Roads prepares the Strategic Road Network master plans and the Road Sector Development Plans, and the local governments prepare District Transport Master Plans for the local roads.