Running head: URBAN TRAFFIC NETWORK DESIGN 1

Urban Traffic Network Design

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Proposal for Integrated Optimisation Model for Urban Traffic Network Design
The demand for transport in the urban areas has increased exponentially over the last
few decades. This has led to increase in the number of automobiles in the urban areas.
Increase in the number of automobiles has led to emergence of other negative consequences
such as traffic congestion, increased pollution, increased rates of road accidents and
casualties and chronic delays. Over the years there are many solutions that have been
designed with a view of creating solutions to the issue of traffic congestion and related
negative consequences. One of the most recent solutions designed to solve traffic related
problems in the urban areas is the use of information technology. Information Technology
has led to development of a broad range of applications and solutions that have helped road
operators and users to deal with the issue of urban congestion (Bonsal, 2004). Though there
are many opportunities to find solutions to the problems of urban traffic, there is one thing
that is hampering application of these solutions to solve the problems. It is important to note
that the problems have already been identified; however, the root causes of these problems
and the context within which these problems occur have not been identified. When realizing
technical details, there are many issues that are overlooked (Meyer, 2001). That is why most
engineering activities on urban roads are meant to solve the problem of congestion only
because little attention is paid to other problems caused by the rise in demand for
transportation and the subsequent increase in the number of automobiles in urban areas.
Before any other solution is designed, it is important for an in depth study of traffic problems
in urban areas. When urban traffic network designs are being put in place, the needs and the
priorities of the road operators and road users need to be considered (Gutierrez, 1995). The
problems that face road users and operators need to be identified so that the designs can solve
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those problems. This proposal seeks to identify the problems that urban traffic network
designs should focus on solving.
There are various problems that are common to almost all urban areas that urban
traffic network designs should solve. One of the problems is inappropriate and inefficient use
of roads. The network capacity that is available in most towns is not used in an efficient
manner. This means that some roads are underutilised while others are over-utilised leading
to congestion. Some of the roads are not used for the purpose that was originally intended
when they were being designed. Some residential roads are being used by commercial and
public transport vehicles. This means that solutions to urban traffic network design should
aim at ensuring that people use the urban transport infrastructure efficiently to avoid
inefficient and inappropriate use of roads (Rodrique, Comtois and Slack, 2006). The second
problem within the urban traffic network design is the connection between these urban
networks and motorways. There are some congestion control actions such as metering that
prevent urban traffic from entering motorways and motorway traffic from entering into urban
traffic networks. These actions end up creating gridlocks and spillbacks. When some
motorways get congested, urban networks in most cases are used as shortcuts. This means
that future urban network design solutions should aim at combining motorways and urban
network activities (May, Kelley and Sheppard, 2006). The other problem that urban road
network designs should aim at solving is organisation of road-works. In most cities and
towns, there is insufficient organisation of these road-works leading to inconveniences
especially in event of road closures. Network designs can be made in a way that enables
better organisation that prevents inconveniences within the infrastructure. The most
important and pertinent problem that should be addressed by urban traffic network designs is
air quality. When designing and managing urban transportation systems, air quality is one of
the most important considerations that can be made. Motor vehicles are the main sources of
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most pollutants such as hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and lead. Despite
enforcement of emission standards for motor vehicles, they are expected to remain the
leading source of pollutions due to the expected surge in the number of motor vehicles due to
increased transport demands. The clean air act of 1977 set the National Ambient Air quality
standards which require an approach to transportation planning that is integrated (Kloth
2010).
For a long time, transportation planning has been approached in an isolated manner,
without any regard for environmental concerns. For instance, the central focus of assignments
of traffic has been minimizing travel time within the network. However, there is a
complicated link between the capacity of network link, speed, flow and levels of pollution.
This means that there must be an integrated approach that accounts for the link between
environmental goals and network efficiency goals (Pitcher, 1996).
Therefore, this paper proposes and optimization approach that can efficiently account
for these connections and trade offs. The paper will also illustrate mathematically, a
hypothetically realistic urban transportation network that can solve a variety of the problems
listed above. The model of non linear optimization chooses the network capacity projects for
expansions. It also assigns destination-origin traffic flows on the road links on certain
networks while at the same time reducing several cost functions. These functions include fuel
consumption costs, travel time costs and costs for network capacity expansion. The model
takes into consideration the conventional capacity and flow constraints. It also includes
ambient air quality and emissions constraints (Hanne, 2001). This model has several
nonlinearities. These nonlinearities concern the connection between flow and speed of the
traffic, fuel consumption and the speed of the traffic and vehicle emission pollution and speed
of the traffic. In the model, the constraints of air quality are based on a coefficient matrix for
pollution transfer. This coefficient matrix links all the segments in the road network to the
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pollution receptors that are dependent on the adjacent meteorology (Goldberg, 1999). The
non linear model may be hypothetical but it is applicable to a realistic city based network
configuration consisting of more than thirty areas of residence that generate commuter traffic
towards the central business district. The advantage of this model is that it reduces travel
time, cost of fuel consumption and capacity investments while at the same time accounting
for various constraints such as pollution emissions, travel speeds and traffic flow. The
application of this model and its results will underscore the role of intra-daily variables in
meteorological conditions, traffic demand, urban growth strategies and optimal network
sensitivity (Turksman and Vreeswijk, 2008). It also demonstrates the importance of physical
and meteorological considerations during the design and management of transport networks
in urban areas. The model can also be expanded to include the impact of enhanced transit
systems and modal split, the impact of changes in land use on network design and optimal
new design activities allocation in the urban areas. The model is related to the FREILOT
project. In this project, green priority uses V21 mode of communication that provides a wide
range of benefits to a number of stakeholders that use the urban road networks. These
stakeholders include road operators and other logistic companies. FREILOT has resulted in
improved traffic performance in places like Helmond in Holland, Bilbao in Spain, Lyon in
France, and Glasgow in Scotland and Basel in Switzerland (Turksman and Vreeswijk, 2008).
It has enhanced traffic safety, traffic speed and air quality within the aforementioned urban
networks. Since this non linear model has been adopted from FREILOT, it can be applied
under several temporal and spatial contexts by creating prerequisites to better solutions. Its
ability to mis green priority with regulations for access control illustrates the potential
success of the model. The model will definitely create packages that will enable engineers to
create integrated solutions that lead to synergy, additivity and complementarities

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References

Goldberg. E. (1999), Genetic Algorithm in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning,
Boston: Addison-Wesley, Boston.
Gutierrez, G. J. (1995). A robustness approach to international sourcing. Annals of
Operations Research, 59, 16593.
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Hanne, T. (2001), Selection and mutation strategies in evolutionary algorithms for global
multi-objective optimization Evolutionary Optimization, 3(1), 2740.
Meyer, M.D (2001). Urban Transportation Planning. New York: McGraw-Hill
Picher, J. (1996).The Urban Transport Crisis in Europe and North America. London:
MacMillan Press Ltd.
Rodrique, J.P., Comtois,C., & Slack,B. (2006). The Geography of Transport Systems.
London: Rutledge
Turksman, S., & Vreeswijk, J.D. (2008) FREILOT: Cooperative network control systems. , New
York: Sage


May, A.D., C. Kelly, & Shepherd,D. (2006). The principles of integration in urban transport
strategies, Transport Policy, 2006. 13(4), 319-327