Effects of road construction cost in determining whether a block should be harvested in the summer or winter on the Romeo Malette Forest

Abstract

Permanent and temporary forest roads are key infrastructures for the removal of raw forest products. Ensuring an efficient road network is laid out and proper construction methods are chosen will aid in reducing the total cost. Winter roads tend to be found on lower elevated blocks where there tends to be lower volumes. Summer roads are constructed on higher terrain or higher volume blocks. Green First and Debastos and Sons provided data and maps to undergo a cost comparison on three blocks. Three scenarios were used to determine the most optimal road network that will ensure the transportation costs will be economical. Summer roads were determined to be the more suitable construction method for blocks 417 and 449. Gravel aids in increasing the bearing capacity of the roads but can become costly if the haul is too far. Block 532 is located in lower terrain where a winter road network was recommended as the block contains low volume. We concluded that lower elevated blocks with summer road networks would cost too much. The low volume and wetlands increase the costs significantly as the construction process will require more work. This study determines an optimal road network for each block and provides cost comparison of each scenario.