IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF AN ASYMMETRIC EQUILIBRIUM ROUTE CHOICE MODEL INCORPORATING INTERSECTION-RELATED TRAVEL TIMES

This thesis considers theoretical and computational issues related to the development and implementation of an equilibrium route choice model with asymmetric cost functions that reflect traffic interactions at urban intersections. Detailed models of intersection operation are embedded into a user-optimal route choice framework, so that link costs can be represented by a set of realistic delay functions. The intersection analysis is mainly based on the methodologies proposed in the 1985 Highway Capacity Manual and subsequent amendments, and includes most of the intersection configurations that are encountered in practice. Also, a methodology for travel time analysis of urban and suburban arterials is applied to links between intersections in place of conventional link performance functions. The model is implemented on a medium-size network located in the North Shore subregion of the Chicago region; a detailed network representation, in which turning movements at intersections are coded as separate links, is adopted. A network builder program, that creates the detailed representation starting from a conventional one, has been developed and applied to the case study. In addition, a procedure for interfacing the model with a conventional route choice model is implemented. The solution of the asymmetric equilibrium route choice model incorporating the detailed intersection analysis is accomplished using the diagonalization algorithm. Extensive computational tests are carried out, and the model performance is evaluated for the network as a whole as well as at the level of individual intersections. Also, a comparative study of alternative model solutions is carried out. Finally, the issue of the uniqueness of the equilibrium solution is investigated both from a theoretical and a computational standpoint.