Rural Road Development in Developing Countries

This book provides guidelines for the planning, design and construction of rural roads in hilly regions. It is a useful resource for researchers and practitioners working in the field as it presents different rural road network concepts for new construction and upgrades of existing infrastructure. the book introduces the covering-based rural road network method that discovers nodal points to cover settlements and public facilities within a given region by developing a basic rural network. It also explores different mathematical models including a multi-objective approach for solving a rural road network upgrading problem for typical rural road network structures for hilly regions. It also presents case studies to help readers grasp the basic principles presented in the text. This book can also additionally be utilised as a reference resource for graduate and undergraduate students interested in rural transportation.

Dr. J. K. Shrestha is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He obtained his B. E. (Civil) and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He has also obtained an MBA and an MA in Economics from Tribhuvan University. Dr. Shreshtha has over thirty years of experience in teaching, research and practices in the fields of civil engineering infrastructure development, capacity building, and research management. His major areas of research interest include planning, development and management of rural infrastructures, particularly rural roads, bridges, and buildings. He has published many research articles in respected international journals and also functions as the editorial board member of the Nepal Journal of Science and Technology.