Using Least Cost Pathway in road routing in Kordkuy, Bandar-e-Gaz and Galugah Towns

In line with growth and sustainable development of the country and fundamental evolution of economic, social, political and cultural matters, the role of road networks become ever more significant. On the other hand, transportation system, when done heedlessly can damage and fragment the natural environment. Thus, finding the optimal balance between infrastructure development and nature conservation is receiving higher importance than before. In order to accomplish this goal, a large amount of location based information needs to be analyzed. To address sustainable road development, GIS techniques have been used to determine the optimum routes. All important parameters like slope, elevation, land-use, geology, erosion, landside, distance to: fault lines, protected areas, ground waters and hydrology, to city and village centers, available roads and rail roads and utilities were selected, collated in a data base and used in GIS to create a cost layer. Then, using the Least Cost Pathway Algorithm, the four routes based on different cost layers were designed in GIS. These cost layers were calculated based on variable threshold values related to each criterion. Topsis method was then used to compare the designed ways and finally the optimum way was selected according to slope and proximity to economic centers and fault lines. Also, 30 random routes were designed in order to investigate the accuracy of the determined way. As conclusion, we found that currently designed routes without regard to environmental factors lead to selection of ways that will pass from inhibited zones increasing the likelihood of damage to the environment and economical costs.