A Bi-level Programming Model for Multi-vehicle-type Freeway Continuous Equilibrium Network Design Problem

Abstract

A bi-level programming model for optimization of multi-vehicle-type freeway continuous equilibrium network design problem is presented to set up a scientific method for road section reconstruction or extension in freeway network which integrates their positions, capacities and the corresponding network toll rates into one optimal decision-making process. The upper level program model takes the road manager (government) as the leader of the decision-making and regards the operators’ financial goals and upper limit of investment as the constraints to achieve optimum system. The low level program builds multi-vehicle-type multi-criteria user equilibrium model considering the differences in route choice behaviors between different vehicle type users and the effects of road volume extension on the traffic distribution. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the benefit of this model. Result shows that the proposed model is efficient to make decisions on freeway reconstruction or extension project.