an embodiment of the invention is a method of allocating protection path resources including defining a working path and obtaining a link vector for each of a plurality of protection paths . the link vector includes a plurality of link vector elements . a proposed link vector is determined for each of the protection paths . the proposed link vector includes a plurality of proposed link vector elements and is indicative of allocating a respective protection path to the working path . a maximum link vector element is determined and a maximum proposed link vector element is determined . a link cost is determined based on a difference between the maximum proposed link vector element and the maximum link vector element . a path cost is determined for at least two protection paths based on a sum of link costs associated with a respective protection path . one of the at least two protection paths having the minimum path cost is selected to provide protection for the working path .