A Model-Based Heuristic to the Min Max K-Arc Routing for Connectivity Problem

We consider the post-disaster road clearing problem with the goal of restoring network connectivity in shortest time. Given a set of blocked edges in the road network, teams positioned at depot nodes are dispatched to open a subset of them that reconnects the network. After a team finishes working on an edge, others can traverse it. The problem is to find coordinated routes for the teams. We generate a feasible solution using a constructive heuristic algorithm after solving a relaxed mixed integer program. In almost 70 percent of the instances generated both randomly and from Istanbul data, the relaxation solution turned out to be feasible, i.e. optimal for the original problem. 1998 ACM Subject Classification G.1.6 Optimization, G.2.2 Graph Theory, G.2.3 Applications