Taibah University

College of Engineering

Department of
Civil Engineering
Course CE 363:
Transportation Engineering
Chapter 7: Four step model: Traffic Assignment
(Fall 2021)
Trip assignment or traffic assignment: Definitions!!!

• The traffic assignment is the final step in traditional planning Four step model.

• It permits to determine which routes will be used and how much traffic can be

expected on each route.

• Requires following data:

 Estimated number of motor vehicle trips between zones
 Available routes between zones and travel times on each
route
 Decision criteria by which users select routes

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Classical Assignment methods used in a traffic assignment problem

o Diversion Curves
o Minimum Path tree or Skimmed tree ( All or nothing algorithm)
o Capacity Restraint Method
o User equilibrium
o System Optimization

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Diversion Curves
This method is similar in approach to a mode choice curve. The traffic between two
routes is determined as a function of relative travel time or cost. The presented
figure illustrates a diversion curve based on travel time ratio.

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Travel Time versus Percentage of travel on Route B
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
Minimum Path Algorithm
o The traffic assignment process is illustrated using the minimum path algorithm.
This method is commonly used, and produces accurate results.

o The minimum time path method assigns all trips to those links that comprise the
shortest time-path between two zones.

o The minimum time-path assignment is based on the theory that a motorist or transit user
will select the quickest route between any O-D pair. In other words, the traveler will
always select the route that represents minimum travel time.

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Minimum Path Algorithm (cont.)
To determine which route that will be taken, it is necessary to find the shortest route
from the zone of origin to all other destination zones. The results can be depicted as a
tree, referred to as a skim tree. All trips from that zone are assigned to links on the
skim tree.

In this first part, no capacity

restraints on the roads are taken!!!!

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Traffic loading using minimum path unconstrained approach
1. Determine the minimum path tree for every node of the network

2. Determine the association between the trips and the routes to be taken

Origin Destination Trips Links on the minimum path

3. Load the trips on each link of the network (loading)

Link Trips on link

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
• Example 1Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)

The following figure represents travel times on the links connecting six zonal centroids.
Determine the minimum path from each zone to each other zone. Use the all-or-nothing
trip assignment method to determine the total trips for each link after all of the trips
from the following two-way trip table have been loaded onto the network.

Link Travel Times 8

Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
• Example 1 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)

Link Travel Times

the correction will be made on the

board!!!!

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
Origin Destination Trips Links on the minimum path
1 2 1000 1-2
3 1100 1-6; 6-3
4 400 1-6; 6-3; 3-4
5 1000 1-6; 6-3; 3-5
6 1300 1-6
2 1 1000 2-1
3 1050 2-6; 6-3
4 700 2-6; 6-3; 3-4
5 1100 2-6; 6-3; 3-5
6 1200 2-6
3 1 1100 3-6;6-1
2 1050 3-6;6-2
4 1200 3-4
5 1150 3-5
6 1600 3-6
4 1 400 4-3; 3-6; 6-1
2 700 4-3; 3-6; 6-2
3 1200 4-3
5 800 4-5
6 400 4-3; 3-6 10
Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
Origin Destination Trips Links on the minimum path
5 1 1000 5-3; 3-6; 6-1
2 1100 5-3; 3-6; 6-2
3 1150 5-3
4 800 5-4
6 700 5-3; 3-6
6 1 1300 6-1
2 1200 6-2
3 1600 6-3
4 400 6-3; 3-4
5 700 6-3; 3-5

5 1

4 6

3 2
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Trip assignment
Link
or Trips
traffic
on link
assignment (Skimmed tree)
1-2 1000

1-5 0

1-6 1100+400+1000+1300=3800

2-1 1000

2-3 0

2-6 1050+700+1100+1200=4050

3-2 0

3-5 1000+1100+1150+700=3950

3-6 1100+1050+1600+400+700+400+1000+1100+700=8050

4-3 400+700+1200+400=

4-5 800

5-1 0

5-3 1000+1100+1150+700=3950

5-4 800

5-6 0

6-1 1100+400+1000+1300=3800

6-2 1050+700+1100+1200=4050

6-3 8050

6-5 0
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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
Problem of road capacity and performance
• Route choice presents a classic equilibrium problem
 Route choice decisions are a function of travel times
 Travel times are determined by traffic flow
 Traffic flow is a product of route choice decisions

Mathematical relationship between route

travel time and route flow is needed

Highway Performance Function 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑓𝑓(𝑉𝑉, 𝐶𝐶)

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
Capacity Restraint Method
A modification of the process just described is known as capacity restraint. The
number of trips assigned to each link is compared with the capacity of the link to
determine the extent to which link travel times have been increased by the additional
volume placed on the formerly empty link.

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
Capacity Restraint Method
Example:
Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) Function
4
𝑡𝑡 = 𝑡𝑡0 1 + 0.15 𝑉𝑉/𝐶𝐶 where:
𝑡𝑡 =travel time
𝑡𝑡0 =free-flow travel time
Travel Time versus Vehicle Volume
𝑉𝑉=volume
𝐶𝐶= capacity

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
Capacity Restraint Method
The capacity restraint relationship given in the previous equation can be generalized
by allowing the coefficients to be adjusted to corridor-specific or roadway-type, as
follows:

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment

Route Choice Behavior

• Route choice behavior is often modeled based upon Wardrop’s Principles:

 1st Principle: Users choose the route that minimizes their own travel time
o User Equilibrium
 2nd principle: users distribute themselves on the network in such a way that the
average travel time for all users is minimized
o System Optimization

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
• When determining traveler route choice, two important assumptions are usually
made:
 Travelers will select a route on the basis of travel times.
 Travelers know the travel times that would be encountered on all available
routes
• Given this information, the travel time between two zones on all « used » routes
will be equal at equilibrium
 Under User equilibrium, travelers cannot improve their travel times by
unilaterally changing routes

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example A
B

• Highway performance functions:

 Route 1: has a free-flow travel time of 6 minutes and the average travel
time on this route increases by 2 minutes for every 500-vehicle increase in
hourly volume.
 Route 2: has a free-flow travel time of 4 minutes and its average travel time
increases by the square of its volume (in thousands of vehicles per hour). 19
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example 𝑉𝑉1
𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4
The highway performance functions can be written as: 1000
2
𝑉𝑉2
where: 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 +
1000
𝑡𝑡1 , 𝑡𝑡2 : are respectively the average travel times on the roads.
𝑉𝑉1 , 𝑉𝑉2 : are respectively the hourly volumes on routes 1 and 2 .

Consider a user equilibrium conditions, and an hourly volume of 4500 veh, Determine:
1)The travel time on each route
2)The traffic volumes on each route,
3)The total system travel time 20
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example
𝑉𝑉1
The highway performance functions can be written as: 𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4
1000
2
𝑉𝑉2
where: 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 +
1000
𝑡𝑡1 , 𝑡𝑡2 : are respectively the average travel times on the roads.
𝑉𝑉1 , 𝑉𝑉2 : are respectively the hourly volumes on routes 1 and 2 .

𝑉𝑉1 𝑉𝑉2 𝑉𝑉
Let 𝑥𝑥1 = , 𝑥𝑥2 = and 𝑥𝑥 = =4.5
1000 1000 1000
𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4𝑥𝑥1
Then, the equations above may be written as
𝑡𝑡2 = 4 + 𝑥𝑥2 2 21
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example
Imagine all the traffic is assigned through the route (1) only. In this case, we write:
𝑉𝑉1 = 𝑉𝑉 = 4500 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣/ℎ and 𝑉𝑉2 =0 Or 𝑥𝑥1 = 𝑥𝑥 = 4.5 and 𝑥𝑥2 =0
2
𝑉𝑉1 4500 𝑉𝑉2 0 2
→ 𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4 =24 min 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 + → 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 + =4 min
𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4 1000 1000 1000
1000

Imagine all the traffic is assigned through the route (2) only. In this case, we write:
𝑉𝑉2 = 𝑉𝑉 = 4500 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣/ℎ and 𝑉𝑉1 =0 Or 𝑥𝑥2 = 𝑥𝑥 = 4.5 and𝑥𝑥1 =0
2
0 𝑉𝑉2 4500 2
𝑉𝑉1 → 𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4 =6 min 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 + → 𝑡𝑡2 = 4 + =24.25 min
𝑡𝑡1 = 6 + 4 1000
1000 1000
1000
If you look at the last two results, we conclude that the traffic would split between the two routes.
 Both routes will be used

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
User Equilibrium
Example
Total system travel time

𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉 = 𝑉𝑉1 𝑡𝑡1 (𝑉𝑉1 )+𝑉𝑉2 𝑡𝑡2 (𝑉𝑉2 )

𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉

𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
System Optimization
Theoretically, a single route choice strategy is possible that results in the lowest possible
number of total vehicle hours of travel for some origin-destination traffic flow.

 For a set of routes, total system travel time is: 𝑁𝑁

𝑆𝑆 𝑞𝑞 = 𝑉𝑉1 � 𝑡𝑡1 𝑉𝑉1 + 𝑉𝑉2 � 𝑡𝑡2 𝑉𝑉2 + ⋯ + 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 � 𝑡𝑡𝑗𝑗 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 + ⋯ + 𝑉𝑉𝑁𝑁 � 𝑡𝑡𝑁𝑁 𝑉𝑉𝑁𝑁 = � 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 � 𝑡𝑡𝑗𝑗 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗
𝑗𝑗=1
Where 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 is the volume through the route j

 The system-optimal route choice rule is made operational by the following

equation: 𝑁𝑁

𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀(𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉 ) = 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀(� 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 � 𝑡𝑡𝑗𝑗 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 )

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𝑗𝑗=1
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
System Optimization
Example

Revisiting the prior example, determine the system optimal solution and
calculate the following elements:
• Travel times on each route
• Traffic volumes on each route
• Total system travel time

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
System Optimization
Example
• Using the previous performance functions and substituting into the expression of
the global network time, we obtain:
2
𝑉𝑉1 𝑉𝑉2
𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉 = 𝑉𝑉1 6+4 + 𝑉𝑉2 4+
1000 1000
• The last equation can be written as:
𝑆𝑆 𝑥𝑥 = 1000𝑥𝑥1 6 + 4𝑥𝑥1 + 1000𝑥𝑥2 4 + 𝑥𝑥2 2

𝑆𝑆 𝑥𝑥 = 1000 6𝑥𝑥1 + 4 𝑥𝑥1 2 + 4𝑥𝑥2 + 𝑥𝑥2 3

• But know also that 𝑥𝑥 = 𝑥𝑥1 + 𝑥𝑥2 = 4.5

2
𝑆𝑆 𝑥𝑥 = 1000 6 4.5 − 𝑥𝑥2 + 4 4.5 − 𝑥𝑥2 + 4𝑥𝑥2 + 𝑥𝑥2 3
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𝑆𝑆 𝑥𝑥 = 1000 𝑥𝑥2 3 + 4𝑥𝑥2 2 − 38𝑥𝑥2 + 108
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
System Optimization
Example

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Trip assignment or traffic assignment
System Optimization
Example
• In the system optimization (SO) case, the total travel time is:
2
𝑉𝑉1 𝑉𝑉2
𝑆𝑆 𝑉𝑉 = 𝑉𝑉1 6+4 + 𝑉𝑉2 4+
1000 1000
=2033 veh (14.13 min)+2467 veh (10.08 min)
= 53593.65min=893.2 veh-h

• Under a user equilibrium (UE), the total travel time was 930 veh-hr

• The SO solution results is saving 36.8 veh-h

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End of the
chapter

30
END of the Course

Good luck….
Dr. Ferid Rehimi

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32
Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)
To illustrate the process of path building, consider the following 16-node network with travel times on
each link shown for each node (zone) pair. The link and node network is representative of the road and
street system.
Determine the shortest travel path
from node 1 (home node) to all
other zones

33
Trip assignment or traffic assignment (Skimmed tree)
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)
To illustrate the process of path building, consider the following 16-node network with travel times on
each link shown for each node (zone) pair. The link and node network is representative of the road and
street system.

Skim tree for the node 1 34

Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)
Solution: To determine minimum time paths from node 1 to all other nodes, proceed as follows:
Step 1. Determine the time to nodes connected to node 1. Time to node 2 is 1 min. Time to node 5 is 2 min. Times are noted
near nodes in diagram.
Step 2. From the node closest to the home node (node 2 is the closest to home node 1), make connections to nearest nodes.
These are nodes 3 and 6. Write the cumulative travel times at each node.
Step 3. From the node that is now closest to the home node (node 5), make connections to the nearest nodes (node 6 and 9).
Write the cumulative travel times at each node.
Step 4. Time to node 6 via node 5 is shorter than that via zone 2. Therefore, link 2 to 6 is deleted.
Step 5. Three nodes are equally close to the home node (nodes 3, 6, and 9). Select the lowest-numbered node (3); add
corresponding links to nodes 4 and 7.
Step 6. Of the three equally close nodes, node 6 is the next lowest numbered node. Connect to zone 7 and 10. Eliminate link 6
to 7.
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Step 7. Building proceeds from node 9 to nodes 10 and 13. Eliminate link 9 to 10.
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)
Step 8. Build from node 7.
Step 9. Build from node 13.
Step 10. Build from node 10, and eliminate link 10 to 11.
Step 11. Build from node 11, and eliminate link 11 to 12.
Step 12. Build from node 8, and eliminate link 3 to 4 .
Step 13. Build from node 15, and eliminate link 14 to 15.

Step 14. Build from node 12, and eliminate link 15 to 16.

36
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)

37
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
• Example 12.15 Finding Minimum Paths in a Network (Garber and Hoel, 2009)

38
Trip assignment or traffic assignment
11.2
5 1
10.2
5 1
6 7
4

6 7

3 2
3

3 2
6 3

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