The optimization of road building schedule based on budget restriction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a model to determine which roads to be built in each stage with limited budget. Design/methodology/approach – A multistage network discrete expansion model with budget restriction is formulated and a heuristic algorithm is developed by the technique of comparing the original shortest paths and the sum of crossed shortest paths to avoid computing the shortest paths matrix repeatedly. Findings – The optimal approach has a very significant effect in finding which roads to be built by the largest net benefit. Research limitations/implications – The paper discusses a new multistage network discrete expansion problem is the main research implications. Practical implications – The optimal choice for road building schedule of new urban district when budgets were limited. Originality/value – The paper presents a model and an algorithm for the optimization of road building schedule based on budget restriction.