Abstract: The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach is applied to solving multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems in many areas.However,the comparison matrix (CM) is not "consistent" within a limit of a consistency measure.An improved AHP (IAHP) is proposed to improve CM consistency by using a sorting methodology to determine CM.A case study is presented to illustrate the advantages,in terms of CMs consistency and information extraction effectiveness,when IAHP was applied to risk identification during an open-cut subway construction.The distribution of the risks calculated by IAHP is in accordance with the available statistical findings.