Geographical Assessment of the Capacity of Paved Roads in Erbil Governorate According to Area and Population Indicators

Abstract

Transportation plays a significant role in social, economic and political life. The road network is the indicator through which the level of development reached by any region can be determined, as it represents the sensitive nerve of all economic activities. The main objective of our research is to identify and understand the geographical distribution of paved roads in Erbil Governorate and the density of the paved road network according to the criteria of area and population of the governorate. In this research, we relied on the inductive approach by combining the two basic methods (descriptive and analytical). Finally, the study reached a number of conclusions, including: The density of the paved road network by area at the governorate level is (13.79 km/100 km2), which is considered a high density compared to the international standard. As for the percentage of paved road density according to the population variable for the year (2023), it reached about (0.84 km/1000 people), which is considered a low density compared to the global standard. The distribution direction of paved roads in the study area extends from the south and center to the north and northeast at degree (51.1).