Development of a Need-Based Approach for Rural Road Network Planning

Road connectivity has a catalytic effect on the economic and social development and poverty alleviation in rural areas. In most of the developing countries, priority of connection is entirely based on demand. But mere connectivity does not satisfy accessibility to basic needs. In this paper an attempt is being made to develop a need-based approach for rural connectivity which would ensure accessibility to the basic facilities. Using GIS platform, a network was developed using need-based approach on it. Similarly using the demand-based connectivity network was prepared. Then both the networks were compared. It was found that the need-based network was connecting more number of villages and providing better accessibility though the length was higher. The paper has suggested that it is not necessary to construct high quality roads for each link and depending on the usage and population served they could be constructed as earth, gravel or black top/concrete roads. Considering the budgetary constraints a methodology has also been suggested to prioritize the construction of the links.