Faculty of Engineering – University of Kufa Official Site – Faculty of Engineering
In the Faculty of Engineering, University of Kufa, a master’s thesis was discussed by the student Ahmed Kazem Saeed from the Department of Civil Engineering on “Network analysis using geographic information systems to determine the fastest paths for transport trucks entering the city of Najaf”, which was supervised by Dr. Firas Hassan Alwan Asad.
The study was divided into two main parts: field data collection and network modeling. Field surveys were conducted to collect data on travel time and engineering characteristics of the city’s streets. Over 2000 travel trips covered 450 km of streets with 196 directed segments. The street network was digitized using ESRI ArcGIS (10.8.1) and the Network Analyzer extension, and the Dijkstra Method was employed to determine the shortest and fastest truck routes. Actual routes were chosen based on personal interviews with truck drivers.
The study found that traffic jams and delays were common at intersections and connections in the city’s street network. It also showed that the shortest path was not always the fastest and identified the fastest routes for the studied cases. The analysis revealed that variations in traffic momentum affected the location of the fastest lane and travel time. The study also found that the maximum savings in travel time were 53.4%, 46.0%, and 43.5% relative to the current route time for the Fresh Food Wholesale Trade Center, Car Cement Factory, and Gas Stations, respectively.
Overall, this study is essential in reducing freight logistics costs, fuel consumption, and harmful emissions by identifying the quickest routes for cargo trucks entering the city of Najaf.
