MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Lecture 4
Trip Assignment

Dr. Putu Mandiartha

Civil Engineering & Quantity Surveying
Military Technological College
 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Lecture Outline

 Introduction
 Introduction to links and nodes, and minimum path.
 Path Finding
 Finding the shortest path between two zones, Example 1.
 All or Nothing Assignment
 Steps of AoN assignment, Example 2, advantages and
disadvantages of AoN.
 Incremental Assignment
 Concept of capacity restraint, BPR formula, Example 3.
MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Introduction
 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Introduction
 Trip Assignment is the fourth stage
of the classical four-stage travel
demand model:
1. The Generation. (How many trips in
total?)
2. Trip Distribution. (Which zone to
travel to?)
3. Modal Split. (Which mode of
transport to take?)
4. Trip Assignment. (Which route to
take?)
 Also known as traffic assignment or
route assignment.

 In the Trip Assignment stage, we determine how much traffic will

be allocated to each links of the transportation system.
 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Links and Nodes

 A travelers route choice is dependent on a number of criteria, e.g.
journey time, distance, cost, comfort, convenience, and safety.
 In most cases, the ‘journey time’ is considered as the main criteria as
distance and cost can be considered as functions of time.
 The transport system is
described by a series of
nodes and links:
 Links: A link is the section of
the network between two
nodes. It represents major
roads, arterials and
highways.
 Nodes: A node can be the
centroid of a zone or the
intersection of two or more
links.
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 Each node is numbered,

and the links are specified
by the ends of the nodes.
 Each link is associated
with a travel time.
 Note that travel time may
not be the same in
opposite directions.

 The example shown is of typical road transportation network.

 Nodes 1 to 5 are the zone centroids.
 Nodes 6 to 14 are the nodes connecting the ends of each link.
 Travel times (in each direction) are indicated within the links.
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Methods of Assignment
 Trip Assignment methods are based on finding the shortest route
between two zones, otherwise known as the minimum path.
 The minimum path is determined by adding the travel times of the
links for each path between two zones.
 However, it is important to remember that travel times on links will
change as congestion occurs. Hence, the minimum path between
any two zones will also change.
 All trip assignment methods are based on finding this minimum
path. Of these, the most commonly used are:
 All or Nothing Assignment.
 Incremental Assignment.
MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Path Finding
 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Example 1
 The figures shows a transport network connecting seven zones. The
nodes A to G represent the zone centroids. The free-flow travel
times are indicated between the links.

Determine the shortest path from node A to all other nodes. The end
result should give the minimum path tree.
 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Example 1 (Solution)
1. Start from node A.
2. Calculate the shortest path to each other node.
e.g., shortest path from A to B is Link AB: 4 min. Mark this path in red.
3. Repeat Step 2 for all other nodes from A, and mark the paths in red.
A to C: Link AC = 3 min
A to D: Link AB  BD = 9 min
A to E: Link AE = 7 min
A to F: Link AB  BD DF = 11 min
A to G: Link AE  EG = 12 min
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After the algorithm has finished, the minimum

path tree is obtained by removing all the
unvisited routes from the network.
This is the minimum path tree from Node A to
all other nodes!
Only the travel time is indicated at each node. Example 1: Network

Dijkstra’s algorithm can

also be implemented in
computer. This will not be
covered in this Module.

Example 1: Minimum Path Tree

MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

All or Nothing Assignment

 MTCC6021: DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

All or Nothing
 The All or Nothing (AoN) method is the most commonly used for
traffic assignment.
 Steps of the AoN method:
 1. Firstly, the minimum path from any origin zone (O) to a destination
zone (D) must be established.
 2. All the trip volumes from the origin zone (O) to the destination zone
(D) are loaded onto all the links comprising of the minimum path.
 3. Steps and 1 and 2 are repeated until all origin (O) to destination (D)
trip volumes have been loaded onto the entire network.

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:

Find the Load all trips to Continue until
minimum path the links all trips between
between O-D. compromising of all O-D pairs are
minimum path. loaded.
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Example 2
The figure shows the road network
for a small town of three zones. The
zone centroids are marked as 1, 2
and 3. The nodes 4, 5 and 6
represent intersections. The inter-
zonal vehicle trips have been
predetermined and are given in the
O-D matrix table. The free-flow
travel times (for both directions) are
indicated on the links.
(a) Determine the minimum path O-D Trip Matrix
tree from each origin zone to
destination zone.
(b) Use the All or Nothing (AoN)
method to assign the traffic load on
the links.
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Example 2 (Solution)

Minimum Path Tree:

Zone 1 to all other zones.
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Minimum Path Tree:

Zone 2 to all other zones.
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Minimum Path Tree:

Zone 3 to all other zones.
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At the end of AoN assignment, the total loads on each of the

links should be as follows:
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Summary of AoN Assignment

 The AoN traffic assignment method is based on free-flow travel
conditions. In other words, it assumes that the minimum path is not
affected by the amount of traffic using that path. This is obviously
this an unreasonable assumption.
 Advantages:
 Simple and inexpensive to perform.
 Results are easy to understand.
 Reasonable to apply in sparse and uncongested networks where there
are few alternative routes which have large differences in travel cost. It
can also be used for special cases, such as under saturated traffic.
 Disadvantages:
 Assumes all traffic will travel on shortest path.
 Assumes there is no travel time change due to increased traffic (traffic
congestion).
 Becomes unreliable as traffic volumes and travel time increases, and
creates unrealistic traffic flow patterns  exceeding the link capacities!
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Incremental Assignment
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Capacity Restraint
 In the All or Nothing assignment, travel times within links did not
change as the traffic volume increased. This, as we discussed, is an
unreasonable assumption.
 The concept of capacity restraint is based on the relationship that
travel time should increase as the traffic volume increases.
 This relationship has been developed by the Bureau of Public
Roads (BPR) as show below:
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Incremental Assignment
 The Incremental Assignment method carries over some of the
concepts in the AoN assignment.
 In each step of the Incremental Assignment, a fixed proportion of
total traffic volume between O-D is assigned, based on the AoN
assignment. After each step, link travel times are updated using the
BPR formula based on link volumes.
 Steps of Incremental Assignment:
 1. Find the minimum path tree for each zone.
 2. Assign a portion, usually 40, 30, 20, 10 %, of the total volume to the
minimum path at each step.
 3. Update travel times using the BPR formula.
 4. Repeat steps 1 to 3, until all of the trips have been assigned.
 5. Sum the volume of trips in each link.
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Example 3
 Two zone centroids, A and B, are connected by three links, L1, L2
and L3. The capacity of all the links is 30. The free-flow travel times
(min) of each link is indicated on the link. The total volume of trips
between A and B has been determined to be 100. The travel times
on the links follow the BPR formula:

 Perform an Incremental Assignment between zones A and B. Use

40, 30, 20, and 10 % increments.
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Example 3 (Solution)
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Congestion
 As shown in the previous example, the incremental method shows
there will be congestion in some of the links.
 This results in slower speeds, longer travel times, increased queuing.
 How can we solve congestion problems on the links?
 1. Increase capacity of links (supply) to meet the demand, i.e. increase the
number of lanes on the road.
 2. Add extra connectivity or links between other links to alleviate some of the
traffic.
 3. Closure (shut down) of the major links, so that traffic flow is transferred into
other unused links.
 4. Use traffic controls (e.g. traffic lights) to manage the traffic. Coordinating traffic
lights on a city grid can make sure more vehicles hit green lights.
 5. Build a transit line for buses only, so that people are encouraged to take the
bus to save time.
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End Lecture