A recommendation on PLUS highway development: A social network analysis approach

Road development is one of the important elements for the overall economic and social development in the world. A better interconnected road network is crucial to increase the economic activities, such as trade. Highway, as the backbone of a country´s transportation system, are required to overcome the demand for efficient road transportation. Besides, highway development is part of the government commitment towards the development of road network. In this paper, the network analysis of PLUS highway development was studied. The data used were based on the number of vehicles that entered and exited each toll plazas from Penang to Johor. The relationships between the toll plazas were studied by using minimum spanning trees and the overall centrality measures were used to determine the most influential toll plazas among the states. Based on the results, some recommendations are forwarded to the PLUS highway to improve the services and to increase the traffic efficiency.