Coordinated budget allocation in multi-district highway agencies

Allocation of funds for multi-district highway agencies has traditionally been decided by the central administration based on pre-determined criteria or formulas with some consultation with regional agencies. In many cases, the consultation process with regional agencies is limited and ineffective, and applying a common formula and basis for funds allocation may not achieve the best results for all the regions and the entire network as a whole. In this thesis, a fund allocation approach utilizing evolutionary optimization is introduced to consider more effectively the different needs and priorities of regions. Multi-agent system approaches to fund allocation in pavement management are introduced to simulate more effectively the participation and interaction of regional agencies in the decision-making as well as to enable the sharing of resources among regions. The proposed approaches are studied and compared with conventional fund allocation approaches commonly used in practice.