As indicated in earlier we can use the GIS to calculate the
volumes of cut and fill and evaluate the corresponding costs.
The calculation of cut and fill forms the backbone of the total
road cost calculation. Other costs on pavement and construction
are in principle a function of length of the road system and can
be estimated without further analysis when the costs of cut and
fill are known. The design of the road system is basically
defined by the Final Surface Level (FSL) in combination with
the road layout and the material and process of construction. In
this section we will check the maximum slopes, calculate cut
and fill and visualize the results. Given the total road network
segments and nodes (final surface level) and the digital
elevation model for the city (natural surface level), it is required
to compute the volume and the depth of the cut and fill
operations for the whole network. In the box below, the
methodological steps that are undertaken to compute the Cut
and fill volume and depth are explained.