Capacitated rural Chinese postman problem in road salting for snow removal operations

The capacitated Chinese postman problem is a routing problem in which vehicles start and finish their routes at a depot and pass through all edges at least once. This study proposes a new mathematical model combining the rural postman problem and the capacitated Chinese postman problem. In the application section of the study, salting operations carried out during winter road icing in Palandöken, Aziziye, and Yakutiye, which are central districts of the Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, were discussed. The study aims to find the shortest tour route using a genetic algorithm. As a result of the study, it was determined that the genetic algorithm performed well, and it aimed to contribute to the literature by introducing, for the first time in this field, the use of capacitated rural Chinese postman methods and a new mathematical model.