Socio-economic impacts of low-volume roads using a mixed-method approach of PCA and Fuzzy-TOPSIS

The present study proposes a novel mixed-method approach to ascertain and explore the socio-economic indicators, which help in assessing the impacts of the construction of rural roads. Rural road infrastructure often has direct or indirect socio-economic impacts (SEIs) on the target population. Assessment of SEIs poses a wide range of challenges due to their multi-dimensional nature of various factors and their qualitative and quantitative evaluation process. Thus, the present study suggests a unique mixed-method approach to integrate multivariate techniques under a multi-criteria fuzzy framework. The applicability of this approach is demonstrated by employing a case study of roads constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, India. The findings of the study analysed a total of 33 sub-criteria associated with five main indicators, impacted by the construction of PMGSY roads. Sub-criteria contributing to education facility and quality of neighbourhood have been found as the most significant effects. The results of the analysis presented in this study would benefit the respective State Governments to achieve sustainable rural development.