International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Management

  The selection of proper bridge sites across a river depends on many factors such as economic, transportation and geomorphology. In this paper, the best sites for bridge building are identified in a case study by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy logic in GIS environment. First, the river is divided into a number of segments based on the similar characteristics, each of which can be considered as an option for building the bridge. Then, main criteria of site selection are introduced and based on them different layers of GIS are defined. The options failing to provide the minimum technical requirements for bridge building are removed. Remaining options are assigned weights with respect to each of three criteria. Pair-wise comparison is also performed among the criteria with respect to the opinions of three experts. Fuzzy logic is used to consider the uncertainty of pair-wise comparisons. Finally, the best sites are ranked based on fuzzy AHP method. Furthermore, as an old bridge is available at the river reach, two scenario including existence and nonexistence of the old bridge is also investigated.