Gradient projection (GP) technique is applied for solving the optical routing problem (ORP) in high speed packet switched networks. The ORP minimizing average network packet loss probability is non-convex due to packet losses at intermediate switching nodes and its routing solution cannot be directly sought by the GP algorithm. Thus the non-convex ORP is transformed into a convex problem called the reduced-ORP (R-ORP) for which the GP algorithm can be used to obtain a routing solution. Through simulations, the routing solution of the R-ORP is shown to be a good approximation to that of the original ORP. Theoretical upper bound of difference between two (ORP and R-ORP) routing solutions is also derived.