Sensitivity of the Traffic Flows in Transportation Networks
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 135, Issue 2
Abstract
Obtaining the equilibrium flows in transportation networks based on optimizing users’ cost is one of the important problems in urban transportation planning. Therefore, finding accurate equilibrium flows in a short time is a significant issue. The required time to solve the traffic equilibrium problem and the accuracy of the obtained results depend on the information level about the transportation system. Using more detail increases the cost of data collection and, dimensions of the problem and, therefore, creates difficulties in solving it. Certainly, a detail level of data should be proportional to the accuracy level that is required. Collecting additional data does not necessarily improve the accuracy level of the results and may only increase the design costs. In this paper, the sensitivity analysis of the equilibrium flows in traffic assignment models with respect to changes in some important transportation network attributes is considered. These attributes include: the accuracy level in measuring link specifications (e.g., width), diversity of travel time functions, intersection delay functions, the method of connecting the zone centroids to a transportation network and number of traffic zones.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writer would like to thank Dr. H. Z. Aashtiani, Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at Sharif University of Technology for supervision and his helpful guidance. The writer also thanks the Institute for Transportation Studies and Research (ITSR) at Sharif University of Technology for sponsoring the writer and providing facilities and the necessary dataset. In addition, the writer would like to express her gratitude to Associate Professor Geoff Rose, Director of the Institute of Transport Studies (ITS) at Monash University for his kind assistance.
References
Aashtiani, H. Z., Kermanshah, M., Nassiri, H., Poorzahedi, H., and Shafahi, Y. (1999). “Traffic assignment model and the performance of the transportation system in Shiraz City.” Institute for Transportation Studies and Research of Sharif Univ. of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Akcelik, R. (1991). “Travel time functions for transport planning purposes: Davidson’s function. Its time-dependent form and an alternative travel time function.” Aust. Road Res., 21(3), 49–59.
Crevo, C. C. (1991). “Impacts of zonal reconfigurations on travel demand forecasts.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1305, 72–80.
Ding, C. (1998). “The GIS-based human interactive TAZ design algorithm: Examining the impacts of data aggregation on transportation planning analysis.” Environ. Plan. B: Plan. Des., 25, 601–616.
Lee, C. H., and Kim, J. W. (1998). “The equilibrium trip assignment with variation of traffic flow-travel time relationship.” Dept. of Urban Planning and Engineering, Yonsei Univ., Korea.
Martin, D. (2002). “Developing the automated zoning procedure to reconcile incompatible zoning systems.” Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Southampton, U.K.
Openshaw, S. (1977). “Optimal zoning systems for spatial interaction models.” Envir. Plan. A, 9, 169–184.
Rose, G., and Raymond, M. (1992). “Simulated estimation of Davidson’s travel time function.” Transp. Plan. Technol., 18(2), 89–96.
Sheffi, Y. (1985). Urban transportation networks: Equilibrium analysis with mathematical programming methods, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Spiess, H. (1990). “Conical volume-delay functions.” Transp. Sci., 24(2), 122–131.
U.S. Transportation Research Board. (2000). “Highway capacity manual.” TRB Rep. No. 209, Washington, D.C.
Wardrop, J. G. (1952). “Some theoretical aspects of road traffic research.” Proc.-Inst. Civ. Eng., 1, 325–378.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 135 • Issue 2 • June 2009
Pages: 56 - 65
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 27, 2007
Accepted: Dec 2, 2008
Published online: May 15, 2009
Published in print: Jun 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.