Abstract:
This research was focused to find out a method to develop or update the
National Road Inventory Database in a cost effective manner. The main cost sensitive
factor for the development of Inventory Database was identified as the Inventory
Survey. Any revision on existing Inventory Databases or originating New Databases
should be done with the completion of an inventory survey. The method adopted to do
the survey will determine the accuracy of the data and the cost.
For the complete Road Inventory Database, the inventory survey should be
carried out to cover all links in the network. In general the road networks are
complicated and it is difficult to find a method to travel on each and every link
without having to back track. Sometimes survey team compelled to travel several
times on same road section just to reach other links without collecting any data (i.e.
idle traveling). It was experienced that a survey trip can be carried out in two different
ways such as the origin and destinations as the same point or origin and destination as
two different points.
According to the inventory survey carried out by Transportation Engineering
Division of University of Moratuwa, it was found that approximately half of the total
cost of inventory survey occurred for the idle traveling.
If the road inventory survey can be carried out with minimum idle traveling
that method will be the most effective method to carry out the survey. Hence under
this research, it was found a method which minimizes the 'idle traveling' by
considering the both cases of survey trip patterns.
