%0 Research article
%T Scheduling forest road maintenance using the analytic hierarchy process and heuristics
%A Coulter, Elizabeth Dodson
%A Sessions, John
%A Wing, Michael G.
%D 2006
%J Silva Fennica
%V 40
%N 1
%R doi:10.14214/sf.357
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/357
%X The management of low-volume roads has transitioned from focusing on  maintenance designed to protect a capital investment in road  infrastructure to also include environmental effects. In this study, two  models using mathematical programming are applied to schedule forest  road maintenance and upgrade activities involving non-monetary benefits.  Model I uses a linear objective function formulation that maximizes  benefit subject to budgetary constraints. Model II uses a non-linear  objective function to maximize the sum of benefits divided by the sum of  all costs in a period. Because of the non-linearity of the constraints  and the requirements that the decision variables be binary, the  solutions to both problem formulations are found using two heuristics,  simulated annealing and threshold accepting. Simulated annealing was  found to produce superior solutions as compared to threshold accepting.  The potential benefit for completing a given road maintenance or upgrade  project is determined using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a  multi-criterion decision analysis technique. This measure of benefit is  combined with the economic cost of completing a given project to  schedule maintenance and upgrade activities for 225 km (140 miles) of  road in forested road systems within western Oregon. This combination of  heuristics, cost-benefit analysis, environmental impacts, and expert  judgment produces a road management schedule that better fits the  current road management paradigm.