Author
Abstract
Natural disasters/armed conflicts can cause major damage to road networks of the affected area. This can lead to significant impact not only on the road networks. The major challenge in the aftermath of such events is to ensure a speedy recovery/rehabilitation of roads and transportation networks so that regeneration can commence in an effective manner. Prioritizing regeneration of the road network may need context of a range of requirements including health, education, security, and economic amongst many that will also require addressing. This study has been conducted to give a better understanding of major factors that govern road recovery prioritization across the affected region in Iraq. These factors need to be used in an effective and efficient manner that can help in determining the road recovery priority.
Interviews and a questionnaire survey are conducted with experts in road reconstruction and maintenance organisations to investigate the impact of the important proposed affecting factors that can be critical for determining the recovery priority of damaged roads. Five estimated groups of factors have been included in this study, which are: socio-economic, road network, traffic, damage and financial factors. Each group also consists of a number of estimated sub-group factors. As a result, twenty nine factors have been chosen in this study.
It has been found from the results of the interviews and questionnaire that the proposed factors and factor groups are with a level of importance of high and very high. This indicates that the groups and factors included in this study are important for the successful building and implementation of the process and procedures of the road recovery priority in the road rehabilitation projects.
Each estimated factor within each proposed group used in this study contributes a different weight value to the overall road recovery priority. According to the questionnaire’s results, the most important factors are: number of critical socio-economic facilities, type of road, delay time, severity of damage and effect on the economic. Moreover, a different weight has been contributed by each estimated group. Based on the questionnaire results, it was found that the major contribution is from the financial factor group.
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