Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Automated analysis of timber access road alternatives.

Author: Burke, Doyle.

Date: 1974

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-027. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 40 p

Station ID: GTR-PNW-027

Description: The evaluation of timber access road alternatives is one of the primary tasks in timber harvest planning and design. During the planning stages, it is also one of the most difficult to accomplish quantitatively because a basis for comparison is related to such values as grade, length, horizontal and vertical curvature, and volumes of excavation and embankment. Within reasonable time constraints, these values are almost impossible to produce with any accuracy. Evaluating several alternatives is usually out of the question.

The analysis of timber access road alternatives involves four analytic procedures: 1. Road projection of a proposed road corridor with a specified grade across a topographic or orthophoto map, 2. horizontal alinement analysis of the projected road grade, 3. vertical alinement analysis of the horizontal alinement, and 4. computation of excavation and embankment quantities.

Automated analysis of these procedures has been implemented on a desk-top calculator system using digitizer and plotter peripherals. The logic and mathematics are discussed. The analytic system presented is designed for preharvest planning and is based on map data. The analytic routines are structured to accept field data with minor programing changes.

Keywords: Road administration, road planning (forest), computer programs, timber management planning

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Citation

Burke, Doyle.  1974.  Automated analysis of timber access road alternatives..   Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-027. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 40 p