This paper presents a two-stage heuristic approach for optimizing highway vertical alignments using genetic algorithms. The optimization objective is to minimize the total amount of earthwork. A mathematical model is used to represent the vertical alignment design elements, in particular control lines and transition curves. The mathematical model enables to take diverse design constraints into account. The optimization procedure starts by finding a heuristically optimal alignment design which is consisted of control lines with equal horizontal lengths. In the second stage, based on the previous optimization result, the number of control lines is reduced. Accordingly, the positions of control points are optimized. The proposed approach has been tested with a real-world alignment design project.     «

This paper presents a two-stage heuristic approach for optimizing highway vertical alignments using genetic algorithms. The optimization objective is to minimize the total amount of earthwork. A mathematical model is used to represent the vertical alignment design elements, in particular control lines and transition curves. The mathematical model enables to take diverse design constraints into account. The optimization procedure starts by finding a heuristically optimal alignment design which is...     »