Optimization of new roads path using a program based on A* algorithm

: In highways engineering, finding the optimal path for a new road to join two-end points is a major challenge. This is due to presence of many complex and interrelated factors that should be taken in consideration beside a good balance between cost and geometric criteria. Many researches used models to optimize that problem and different algorithms to help designers to find the most economic and efficient path. Most of these models focus on either horizontal or vertical alignments resulting in a sub-optimal solution to the problem. In this paper, optimization of a new road path joining two end-points using heuristic techniques was studied. A* Algorithm which is considered one of optimization heuristic techniques, was used to write a programmed python script to find the target optimal path joining two end-points taking into consideration both design criteria and cost. The practical manual designed road of Toshka – El Oweinat was used as a case study to verify using of A* Algorithm in optimization of new roads path joining two end-points. By applying the model on the practical constructed road, It was found that the A* algorithm gives results with total cost less than the manual solution by about 2%.