Ramp Metering Strategies in a Corridor Network

In this paper, which regards highway capacity as scarce resource, we study the ramp metering strategies that have a great effect on commuters' travel behavior. A spatial residence location problem has been incorporated in the travel choice model. Two representative strategies, namely space equality and commuter equality, are investigated. It has been proven that both strategies attract the same total trip demand,. However, while space equality will have less social cost than commuter equality, this is not consistent with our general belief. For long-term planning purposes, local authorities should insist on adopting the space equality ramp metering strategy, which can alleviate traffic congestion and cause no harm to total demand.