A QGIS-Based Road Network Analysis for Sustainable Road Network Infrastructure: An Application to the Cachar District in Assam, India

Efficient transportation and road network infrastructure plays the most significant role in the development of any region. However, the effectiveness of a road network is often affected by problems like road condition, traffic congestion, road blockage, road accidents etc. Digitization of the road network and its analysis can therefore be an effective tool towards resolving these issues. The free and open-source software Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) is well suited for such an analysis. QGIS can be used for construction of suitable road network maps of certain areas which provide sufficient information for such analysis. Cachar district of Assam, particularly Silchar circle, suffers frequently from traffic problems for being a network hub for other neighbouring revenue circles and some neighbouring north-eastern states. The scientific visualization and analysis of the road network of this district using GIS tools is still not available in literature. The results of the current study and their application could help the administrators and decisionmakers to build a sustainable road network. In this paper, we make an attempt to digitize the existing road network of Cachar district for its proper analysis. We compile the major and minor road density maps for the five revenue circles of the district. We use OpenStreetMap (OSM) to access and download existing road network in the district. Further, using the shortest path tool in QGIS, we find and display the shortest route between two junction points in the road network. Finding optimal route can be of great utility during emergency medical responses or fire or flood situations. Most of the major and minor roads within Cachar district were digitized in QGIS environment to perform the road network analysis.

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