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Volume XIV |

A model of land suitability general analysis for new infrastructure projects in the Bârsa country (Romania)

Abstract: This study focuses on a geographical area with historical connotations, located in the internal curvature of the Carpathians. The prospects of transport network in this area are geographically conditioned mainly by the morphodynamics of the surrounding relief. The working methodology was based on the ArcGIS analysis of four main factors for the transport infrastructure: geodeclivity, lithology, pedology and land use. The land suitability analysis must represent the preceding stage of any infrastructure project because it perfectly highlights the degree of favourability of new designed routes and exempts from any additional costs for maintenance, rehabilitation and redesign in the post construction stage, improving the project reliability prediction. The land suitability for the transport infrastructure is an issue of present interest for this region since in the last century the transport network has exponentially diversified and expanded, more pronounced and accelerated in recent years, due to increased road and railway traffic. This global trend requires the resize and adaptation of the transport infrastructure to the new mobility needs of society. With this development, the areas suitable for the transport infrastructure have high urban saturation. Thus, new routes are necessary on less suitable lands that must be analyzed for the optimization and sustainability of new routes converging in the Bârsa Country. The final map resulting from the GIS analysis provides the focused area with positive prospects for the transport infrastructure development, particularly in the depressionary area, new routes of moderate suitability being outlined for the mountainous area.