Master planning for the determination of the most suitable path of the proposed Regional Ring Road, the Nile Delta, Phase I. Commissioned by the National Authority for Roads, Bridges, and Land Transport, Cairo, Egypt, 2007.

The project aimed at proposing the most suitable paths for the proposed Regional Ring Road that extends from Badr City – Eastern Cairo City- to Belbees City – in the eastern fringe of the Nile Delta. To determine the most suitable path, a master plan for the study area between Badr City and Belbees City has been conducted. The master planning involves the construction of detailed and up-to-date geo-spatial data along with their appropriate attributes. An analytical GIS model has been developed to determine the most suitable path of the proposed road. The model produced a number of path segments that avoid the residential, industrial, and other polygon areas; and is characterized by the lowest number of intersections with the linear spatial features such as irrigation and drainage channels, road networks, and power lines. Each path comprises various segments. Whole paths from the proposed starting and destination points are then established from the various path segments. Differentiation between the whole paths is carried out based on the various spatial characteristics such as length, number of intersections with linear features (e.g. roads, irrigation canals, and utilities), and cut off areas from the residential, the industrial and agricultural land. Eventually, the most accepted whole path is the path that has the shortest length and the lowest number of intersection; and has no or minimum cut off areas from the polygon features such as the residential and industrial areas.