Networking architectures have grown increasingly complex in communication environments. Data traffic has grown extensively in recent years, which has significantly increased the demands on network resources. As the number of mobile subscribers increases, efficient management of communication resources becomes even more critical. Network topologies often include elements for a backhaul network that are used to move traffic “end-to-end” between cellular radios in a radio access network (RAN) and a core network or the internet. In some cases, operating conditions for the radio access network and backhaul elements can result in unbalanced utilization of network resources and can negatively impact user experience. Accordingly, there is a need to jointly managing the radio access network and the backhaul network to optimize the end-to-end utilization of network resources.