Method of Categorization of Rural Roads Contributing to Territorial Sustainability

In Latin America, road planning and prioritization have focused on selecting roads based on traffic flow demand and population growth. Under this paradigm, rural roads are often underprioritized, despite having an impact on connectivity, access to services, territorial development, and spatial equity. This has led public programs to seek alternative funding sources to offset the road deficit in rural areas. However, road improvement programs lack support tools for the early formulation of efficient projects aimed at territorial sustainability. Thus, this research proposes an early planning tool for rural road improvement projects that contribute to territorial sustainability through a categorization method. To this end, a multi-criteria multi-objective evaluation model, the intelligent optimization algorithm Harmony Search, and discriminant analysis were used to categorize the sustainable contribution of rural roads within a territory. This study was applied to a case study of 101 rural road projects in the Araucanía region of Chile. The proposed categorization method identified four key criteria that influence the overall sustainability of the territory, as well as four differentiating categories by area. The proposed tool serves as an early planning guide for the design and location of rural roads, promoting a sustainable planning approach.