Consideration to efficiency and fairness: A reasonable method for road allocation — A case study of Gansu Province

Improving road accessibility (RA) is an important measure to promote the development of the west. It is a real question worth exploring how to obtain better social and economic benefits under the restrictions of finite investment. This paper presents a framework of assessment on the RA and reasonable allocation. First it measures RA based on the stock of road facilities and compares potential interaction in different regions. Second it estimates the terrain complexity with membership function rested on altitude and slope and sets up a relationship between terrain complexity and the construction of road investment, which analyses the effect of terrain conditions on road infrastructure investments. Third it proposes a regional direction to optimize road allocation according to both the road facilities stock of RA and unit Investment ratio of highway construction. The allocation of road facilities in the future should improve per capita RA and per economic output value of RA under the constraint of investment to achieve equalization in road construction versus socio-economic services. This paper takes 83 county-level districts of Gansu Province as analyzed units. The results show that the priority direction to improve road construction in Gansu Province should be allocated in the loess hilly region with higher population density.