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Traffic Assignment

This document discusses traffic assignment, which concerns the selection of routes between origins and destinations in transportation networks. It is the fourth step in the conventional transportation forecasting model. The document outlines several traffic assignment methods including all-or-nothing assignment, constant assignment ratio, incremental assignment, user equilibrium assignment, and system optimum assignment. It provides examples and explanations of how each method assigns traffic flows within a transportation network based on different assumptions. The goal of traffic assignment is to estimate traffic volumes and travel costs on network links based on trip demand.

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2K views30 pages

Traffic Assignment

This document discusses traffic assignment, which concerns the selection of routes between origins and destinations in transportation networks. It is the fourth step in the conventional transportation forecasting model. The document outlines several traffic assignment methods including all-or-nothing assignment, constant assignment ratio, incremental assignment, user equilibrium assignment, and system optimum assignment. It provides examples and explanations of how each method assigns traffic flows within a transportation network based on different assumptions. The goal of traffic assignment is to estimate traffic volumes and travel costs on network links based on trip demand.

Uploaded by

soontobengineer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TRAFFIC

ASSIGNMENT

TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT
Route assignment, route choice, or traffic

assignment concerns the selection of routes


(paths) between origins and destinations in
transportation networks.
It is the fourth step in the conventional
transportation forecasting model, following
trip generation, trip distribution and mode
choice.

Trip
Generation
Trip
Distribution
Mode Split
Transit person
trip table
(O&D)

Vehicle trip
table (O&D)

Trip
Assignment
Loaded transit
network

Loaded
highway
network

MAJOR AIMS

1.To estimate the volume of traffic on the links of the

network and possibly the turning movements at


intersections.
2.To furnish estimates of travel costs between trip origins
and destinations for use in trip distribution.
3.To obtain aggregate network measures, e.g. total
vehicular flows, total distance covered by the vehicle,
total system travel time.
4.To estimate zone-to-zone travel costs (times) for a given
level of demand.
5.To obtain reasonable link flows and to identify heavily
congested links.
6.To estimate the routes used between each origin to
destination (O-D) pair.

METHODS
All-or-nothing assignment
Constant assignment ratio
Incremental assignment
Capacity restraint assignment
User equilibrium assignment (UE)
Stochastic user equilibrium assignment

(SUE)
System optimum assignment

ALL-OR-NOTHING ASSIGNMENT
In this method the trips from any origin zone to

any destination zone are loaded onto a single,


minimum cost, path between them. This model is
unrealistic as only one path between every O-D
pair is utilized even if there is another path with
the same or nearly same travel cost. Also, traffic
on links is assigned without consideration of
whether or not there is adequate capacity or
heavy congestion; travel time is fixed input and
does not vary depending on the congestion on a
link.

However, this model may be reasonable in


sparse and uncongested networks where there
are few alternative routes and they have a
large difference in travel cost. This model may
also be used to identify the desired path : the
path which the drivers would like to travel in
the absence of congestion. This models most
important practical application is that it acts
as a building block for other types of
assignment techniques.

Link 1
capacity: 4000 vehicles; speed = 55 mph; distance = 7.5 miles
Free-flow travel time = 7.5/55 = 8.18 minutes

Link 1

ORIGIN

DESTINATIO
N

Link 2
Link 2
capacity: 2000 vehicles; speed = 35 mph; distance = 5 miles
Free-flow travel time = 5/35 = 8.57 minutes
All-or-nothing suggests that link 1 is the shortest path from origin to

destination and will be assigned with all 5000 vehicles and link 2 will be
assigned 0 vehicles

CONSTANT ASSIGNMENT RATIO


In this method, it is assumed that the

number of trips assigned to a route is


inversely proportional to the travel time or
cost of that route.

Basic Steps
1. Find out several possible routes between

zones i and j.
2. Calculate the level of service (time or cost)

on each route.
3. Divide the distributed trips to each route

inversely proportional to the LOS.


4. Repeat for all OD pairs

Example
Suppose that 100 trips are to be
distributed among 4 routes with the
following travel times. Assign these trips
using constant assignment ratio.
ROUTE
Time, hours
1
1.00
2
1.25
3
1.50
4
2.00

Compute the inverse of time for each route.


ROUTE

T, hours

1/T

1.00

1.00

1.25

0.80

1.50

0.67

2.00

0.50

TOTAL

2.97

Compute the assigned trip for each route by


getting its proportion to this LOS.
Assigned Trips = (100/2.97) x (1/T)
ROUTE

1/T

1
2
3
4
TOTAL

1.00
0.80
0.67
0.50
2.97

Assigned
trips
33.67
26.93
22.56
16.84

100

INCREMENTAL ASSIGNMENT
Step 1: identify shortest paths between

origin and destination zones


Step 2: assign a fixed portion of the trips

to links comprising the shortest routes


Step 3: if all assigned, stop, otherwise,

continue to step 4
Step 4: update link travel times

Formula:
Where:
V1 = vehicles
C1 = practical capacity
to = free flow travel time
t = travel time
The parameters and are the specific type of
and is to be calibrated from the field data. In the
absence of any field data, following values could
be assumed: = 0.15 and = 4.0

Example
Consider a simple transportation network that
has one origin and one destination with two
paths/links that provide access from the origin to
the destination. One link is 7.5 miles long and
has a capacity of 4000 vehicles per hour and a
speed limit of 55 miles per hour. The other link is
5 miles long and has a capacity of 2000 vehicles
per hour and a speed limit of 35 miles per hour.
Assuming that 5000 drivers wish to make the
trip from the origin to the destination, find the
loaded network?
= 1.1492, 1 = 6.8677, = 1.03 2 = 5.226

Link 1
capacity: 4000 vehicles; speed = 55 mph; distance = 7.5 miles
Free-flow travel time = 7.5/55 = 8.18 minutes
Link 2
capacity: 2000 vehicles; speed = 35 mph; distance = 5 miles
Free-flow travel time = 5/35 = 8.57 minutes
Let us first assign 1000 vehicles to link 1 and then update link travel

time, which
will be:
The next 1000 vehicles will still be assigned to link 1, which gives a

travel time of 8.26 min. The next 1000 vehicles will still be assigned to
link 1, which results in 9.48 min.
Thus, the next 1000 vehicles goes to link 2, which gives 8.76 min. The

last 1000 vehicles will be loaded on link 2, which will give a travel time
of:

CAPACITY RESTRAINT
ASSIGNMENT
Capacity restraint assignment attempts to

approximate an equilibrium solution by


iterating between all-or-nothing traffic
loadings and recalculating link travel times
based on a congestion function that
reflects link capacity. Unfortunately, this
method does not converge and can flipflop back and forth (non-consistent) in
loadings on some links

USER EQUILIBRIUM
ASSIGNMENT
To assign traffic to paths and links we have to

have rules, and there are the well-known


WARDROP EQUILIBRIUM (1952) conditions.
The essence of these is that travelers will
strive to find the shortest (least resistance)
path from origin to destination.
The user equilibrium assignment is based on
Wardrop's first principle, which states that no
driver can unilaterally reduce his/her travel
costs by shifting to another route. These are
termed user optimal conditions, for no user
will gain from changing travel paths once the

Assumptions in User Equilibrium


Assignment
The user has perfect knowledge of the

path cost.
Travel time on a given link is a function of
the flow on that link only.
Travel time functions are positive and
increasing

Frank-Wolfe algorithm

Where:

ta = free flow travel time on link a per unit of time


va = volume of traffic on link a per unit of time
(somewhat more accurately: flow attempting to
use link a).
ca = capacity of link a per unit of time
Sa(va) is the average travel time for a vehicle on
link a

Example:
7000 travelers traveling from zone 1 to

zone 2 during one hour, and choosing


between the two routes mentioned above:
route 1, with free-flow time 20 minutes
and capacity 4400 veh/hr, and route 2,
with free-flow time 10 minutes and
capacity 2200 veh/hr.

STOCHASTIC USER
EQUILIBRIUM ASSIGNMENT
Game theory is a study of strategic decision

making.
Game theory is mainly used in economics,
political science and psychology; as well as
logic and biology.
In fact, we cannot realistically assume the
drivers to have an exact idea of the length
of every possible route connecting an origin
to its destination or about the prefect
topology of the network.
The drivers compare the routes and select

SYSTEM OPTIMAL ASSIGNMENT

The system optimum assignment is based

on Wardrop's second principle, which


states that drivers cooperate with one
another in order to minimize total system
travel time. This assignment can be
thought of as a model in which congestion
is minimized when drivers are told which
routes to use. Obviously, this is not a
behaviorally realistic model, but it can be
useful to transport planners and engineers,
trying to manage the traffic to minimize
travel costs and therefore achieve an

Wardrops equilibrium
Wardrop's first principle states:The journey times

in all routes actually used are equal and less than


those which would be experienced by a single vehicle
on any unused route. Each user non-cooperatively
seeks to minimize his cost of transportation. The
traffic flows that satisfy this principle are usually
referred to as "user equilibrium" (UE) flows, since
each user chooses the route that is the best.
Wardrop's second principlestates:At equilibrium

the average journey time is minimum.This implies


that each user behaves cooperatively in choosing his
own route to ensure the most efficient use of the
whole system.

Example
Two routes connect a city and suburb. During the

peak-hour morning commute, a total of 4500


vehicles travel from the suburb to the city. Route 1
has a 60km/hr speed limit and 6km in length, Route
2 has a 45km/hr speed limit and 3 km in length.
Studies show that the total travel time on route 1
increases 2 mins for every extra 500 vehicles added.
Mins of travel time on route 2 increase with the
square of the no. of vehicles expressed in 000s.
Determine user equilibrium travel times.
Free flow travel times :
Route 1: (6km/60km.hr)*60min/hr = 6min
Route 2: (3km/45km.hr)*60min/hr = 4 min
Route 1: t1 = 6 + 4x1
Route 2: t2 = 4 + x2

Where t1 and t2 are the average travel times on


routes 1 and 2 in mins, and x1 and x2 are the
traffic flows in 000s vehs/hr
x1 + x2 = 4.5 = q
Where q is the total traffic flow (000s vehs/hr)
Assuming Wardrops equilibrium exists, the travel
times of all used routes are the same. However,
firstly, we have to determine if both routes are
used. Check if 4,500 vehicles per hour exceeds q.
a) Assume that all traffic flow is on route 1 then
t1(4.5) = 24 min
t2(0) = 4 min
b) Assume that all traffic flow is on route 2, then
t1(0) = 6min ; t2(4.5) = 24.25min

As t1(4.5) > t2(0) & t2(4.5) > t1(0) then both


routes will be used. Wardrops equilibrium
implies that
t1 = t2

or

6 + 4x1 = 4 + x2

But x1 + x2 = 4.5
x2 = 2.899 or 2899 veh/hr
x1 = 1.601 or 1601 veh/hr
Average travel time can be calculated as
t1 = 6 + 4(1.601) = 12.4 min
t2 = 4 + (2.899)= 12.4 min

DYNAMIC ASSIGNMENT
Dynamic user equilibrium, expressed as an

extension of Wardrop's user equilibrium


principle, may be defined as the state of
equilibrium which arises when no driver an
reduce his disutility of travel by choosing a
new route or departure time

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