An Accessibility–Maximization Approach to Road Network Planning

Abstract

Accessibility is a key factor in defining the quality of life and potential for development of both cities and regions. This article presents a new accessibilitymaximization approach to inter-urban road network long-term planning. The approach is based on a nonlinear combinatorial optimization model. Two heuristics have been developed for solving the model, based on local search and simulated annealing principles, respectively. The efficiency of the heuristics was evaluated on a sample of test problems involving 10-, 20-, and 40-node networks. In the analysis both solution quality and computing effort were taken into account. The approach was used to analyze the ongoing transformation of the Portuguese main road network. The results obtained so far indicate that the model is a valuable decision-aid tool for inter-urban road network long-term planning.

Multiobjective Approach to Long-Term Interurban Multilevel Road Network Planning

“…This kind of issue has rarely been handled through optimization-based road network planning models. The only two examples of multi-level models we are aware of are Janson et al (1991) and Antunes et al (2003). The model described in Janson et al (1991) is based on an efficiency objective (the minimization of shipping costs).…”

“…Induction of traffic is not taken into account. The model presented in Antunes et al (2003) combines accessibility and equity objectives, and assumes travel demand to be elastic with regard to both trip distribution and traffic induction. Traffic is assigned to the network through an iterative "all-or-nothing" approach that takes into account the capacity of roads of different levels.…”

Network Impact Evaluation of the Introduction of Road and Rail to a Transport Corridor for Developing Cities

“…This concept has become an important issue for sustainable development and has been extensively used in various studies (Yang and Meng, 2002;Antunes, et al, 2003;Bhandari et al, 2008;Santos et al, 2008;Leck, et al, 2008). Many studies generally consider social equity related to transportation issues (Bhandari et al, 2008).…”

A GRASP and Path Relinking Heuristic for Rural Road Network Development

“…As an example, planning for a high-volume urban transportation network must account for traffic congestion, elastic demand and equilibrium flow patterns (Sheffi, 1985). On the other side of the spectrum, the design of low-volume, dispersed rural roads in developing countries is not concerned with congestion effects but requires encompassing other system perspectives, such as connectivity and accessibility (Antunes, Seco, and Pinto, 2003). The objective of this paper is to address the latter type of problem, planning rural road development in developing countries.…”

“…However, many other objectives have also been considered, which include accessibility (Antunes, Seco, and Pinto, 2003), equity (Feng and Wu, 2003), social and economic benefits (Meng and Yang, 2002) among others. Furthermore, in recognition of the inherent multi-objective nature of transportation planning problems, many authors have investigated the possibility of identifying best compromise solutions with respect to several development objectives (see Current and Min, 1986;Yang and Bell, 1998, for reviews on multi-objective models).…”