Obtenção de traçado geométrico preliminar de estradas utilizando sistemas de informação geográfica

Abstract

In the roadway planning and design initial stages, selecting the best preliminary alignment reflects in the costs reduction and time consumption as the project progresses to detail design and, lately, to the construction stage. The alignment development process is traditionally carried out through a simplistic way strongly based on visual analyzes and design personal experience of the engineer. Moreover, it is mainly a trial and error process due to the work being conducted by the sense and experience of the engineer, which becomes time consuming and very subjective. Thus, the automation of this process proved to be quite efficient in obtaining optimized preliminary roadway alignment and, since the construction and operation costs are sensitive to geography, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) has become a great ally in this context. This research aimed to obtain a preliminary roadway alignment trough a GIS spatial analysis as a tool to support decision making. Four criteria were considered in the process: minimizing the overall roadway length, environmental constrains, right of way costs and land slope. The model was applied in a real case study in the region between Uberlândia and Araguari in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The roadway alignment obtained was compared to the existing highway.