UPGRADATION PLANNING OF RURAL ROADS USING GIS AND GPS

Abstract

In India, rural roads play an important role in the development of country. According to 2001 census, 72.2% of the population resides in rural areas. Rural roads are the major infrastructure which provides basic access to the rural population to various social facilities such as health, education, etc., and provides economic opportunities. PMGSY, the national level programme is rapidly improving the connectivity status in India. Over a period of time, several methods and approaches for rural road planning have been conceived and applied in rural areas. Under this programme, within a few years almost 100% connectivity will be achieved. Therefore by keeping futuristic needs, it is the time to develop a new approach called upgradation planning of rural roads to connect all the villages to the facilities like schools, hospitals, post offices, banks, etc., in order to develop the economy status and to provide the basic needs to village population within the accessible distance. This upgradation planning of rural roads includes providing closest facility routes for every village, providing new facilities wherever necessary and converting all gravel and WBM roads to Black top roads in the selected network. Moreover Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) are very useful in efficient planning of rural roads and development of database. In this study, the validation of the developed model is done in the Laksar block of the Haridwar District in Uttarakhand state. The model is validated with the help of GIS. ArcMap GIS software is used in the study. A database of village and road information system is developed. Core network upgradation analysis is done by using Network Analyst tool in ArcMap considering pavement type factor and river factor (bridge factor) for reducing cost of construction of new roads. And the final map is prepared showing the optimum network, closest facility routes, the roads . which need upgradation and the locations where new facilities are to be provided.