Sustainable rural road network planning with a balance of urban and rural development

Abstract Rural roads are the backbone to any country and is always a key for sustainable development. Rural roads are often considered as an entry point for poverty alleviation and employment generation. Rural Connectivity is achieved in different levels of hierarchy through a traditional hierarchical structure – National Highways, State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District roads and Village roads for achieving a long term objective of adequate road communication in India. The policies for connectivity of villages are followed mainly by population criteria. The connectivity through hierarchy is to be planned from the travel behaviour and activity generation, which depends on various profiles like demographic, socio – economic profiles, facility profile and the impedance values. This methodology proposes a strategic model that characterizes the varying profiles in an area and accounts the demand based on these profiles. An integrated model based on clustering analysis and GIS has been formulated for assessing the demand potential and thereby giving an orientation to a hierarchal rural road network configuration. This promises to be scientific tool as it was validated with the existing higher order road network such as National and State highways in the region. The study has been attempted on Medak district of Telangana state.