A Decision Support Methodology for Strategic Traffic Management

Abstract

We propose a methodology for decision support in strategic traffic management. The methodology is based on an integrated model of traffic assignment and management decisions and its core is a traffic equilibrium model which assumes that the travellers choose their routes in accordance with Wardrop's principle. The management goals, regarding traffic flows and travel times in the network, are presumed to be described by constraints. It is also possible to specify a set of admissible actions in the network for achieving the goals; examples of such actions are changes in link capacities and the introduction of monetary tolls. The proposed approach constitutes a systematic methodology for finding appropriate changes in the traffic network in order to fulfill the management goals. We present a two-stage procedure for finding approximate solutions to the model.