MODULE 5

Traffic Assignment: Diversion Curves; Basic Elements of Transport Networks, Coding, Route
Properties, Path Building Criteria, Skimming Tree, All-or-Nothing Assignment, Capacity
Restraint Techniques, Reallocation of Assigned Volumes, Equilibrium Assignment. Introduction
to land use planning models, land use and transportation interaction.

Contents
Traffic (TRIP) Assignment ............................................................................................................. 2
Applications of Traffic Assignment............................................................................................ 2
Basic Elements of Transport Networks .......................................................................................... 2
Path building Criteria, Moore’s Algorithm and Skim Tree ........................................................ 3
Assignment Techniques .................................................................................................................. 5
1. All-or-nothing assignment method ......................................................................................... 5
2. Multiple Route Assignment method ....................................................................................... 5
3. Capacity restraint assignment techniques ............................................................................... 6
a) Smock Method:............................................................................................................. 6
b) Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) Method: ...................................................................... 7
4. Diversion Curves .................................................................................................................... 7
California Diversion Curves ....................................................................................................... 9
Diversion curves limitation: .................................................................................................... 9
Urban Transport Planning Technique ............................................................................................. 9
Introduction to land use transport models ................................................................................... 9
Land–Use Transport Interaction ............................................................................................... 10
Selection of Land Use Transport Model ................................................................................... 10
Lowery Derivative Model ......................................................................................................... 11
Model Equation System ........................................................................................................ 11

Note References:
Kadiyali L R, Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning Text Book
NPTEL Course Notes (https://nptel.ac.in/courses/105101087/downloads/Lec-7 and 8)
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TRAFFIC (TRIP) ASSIGNMENT

Traffic assignment is the last stage in the transport planning process wherein the trip interchanges
are allocated to different parts of the network forming the transportation system. Following
activities are carried out in this stage:
• The route to be travelled is determined
• The inter-zonal flows are assigned to the selected routes

Applications of Traffic Assignment

Some of the applications of traffic assignment analysis to the network are:
1. To determine the deficiencies in the existing transportation system by assigning the future
trips to the existing system
2. To evaluate the effects of limited improvements and additions to the existing transportation
system by assigning estimated future trips to the improved network.
3. To develop construction priorities by assigning estimated future trips for intermediate years
to the transportation system proposed for those years.
4. To test alternative transportation system proposals by systematic and readily repeatable
procedures.
5. To provide design hour traffic volumes on highway and turning movements at junctions.
Thus, the assignment process is useful to both to the transport planner because to evaluate how the
proposed transport system will work and to the highway designer for geometric design of
individual links and intersections.

Basic Elements of Transport Networks

A transport network may be formally represented as a set of links and a set of nodes.
• A link is a section of a transport network between two intersections.

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• A node is either the centroid of a zone or the intersection of two or more links.
• A path, which is a sequence of distinct nodes connected in one direction by links
• A cycle, which is a path connected to itself at the ends;
• a tree- the sequence of nodes which defines the links compromising the minimum path
between any two zone centroids is called the ‘tree’.
Figure 5.1 provides an example of a transportation network with one origin centroid, two
destination centroids, five links, four internal nodes and 5 paths.

Path building Criteria, Moore’s Algorithm and Skim Tree

Path building criteria – the first step is to create the highway network with nodes and links. Later
the network description is coded. The next step is to select the minimum path between the zones
and assign predicted trips to these paths. Traffic volumes are thus accumulated for each section of
the network. The minimum path may be that route of travel which has least accumulation of time,
distance or other parameters. The ‘tree’ is determined starting from the zone centroid and
progressively selecting the shortest path to the terminal zone centroid. When traffic is accumulated
for each link it may so happen that certain individual links get overloaded. In that event, certain
adjustments will have to be made in accordance with travel time flow relationship.
A procedure commonly employed in traffic assignment studies is what is called as ‘Moore’s
Algorithm’. Moore developed a method for dealing with telephone calls on the basis of shortest

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path, and this method has been exploited in many computer programs designed to assign the traffic
in a street network.
A simple example below illustrates the method of building the minimum path tree (skim tree).

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ASSIGNMENT TECHNIQUES
Some of the basic methods of route assignment are
1. All-or-nothing assignment method
2. Multi-route assignment technique Methods
3. Capacity restraint assignment techniques
4. Diversion curve method
1. All-or-nothing assignment method
This is the simplest technique, and is based on the premise that the route followed by traffic is one
having the least resistance (travel time, cost, distance or combination of these parameters).
Generally, in All-or-nothing assignment method, all trips for a zone are assigned the minimum
path connecting the nodes. The minimum path is the route which has the least travel time, travel
cost or distance. The technique assumes that the capacity of each link is infinite so that the volume
of traffic does not affect the time of travel or cost of travel. In the first stage, the network
description and tree building are made. The next stage is to assign the traffic flows to the minimum
path tree.
All-or-nothing assignment method Limitations
a) If time alone is used as the governing factor in selecting the minimum path, the other
important factors like cost, distance, safety will be neglected. But a driver may attach more
value to these neglected factors, thus causing errors in the assigned flow. If cost is used as
the sole governing factor, difficulties can rise because different persons value cost
differently. It is also difficult to quantify all the cost involved in a journey.
b) Too many vehicles tend to be assigned to more attractive routes. This may cause increasing
congestion on these routes. This may cause increasing congestion on these routes and the
technique take no account of this factor. For the same reasons, all facilities in the network
are not effectively utilized under this procedure.
c) If a superior facility is available, say, for example a motorway people tend to prefer to use
this facility for longer journeys. This technique does not reflect this tendency All-or-
nothing assignment method.
d) Small differences in journey times by different routes between the same origin and
destination can result in unrealistic journey paths.
2. Multiple Route Assignment method
All road users may not be able to judge the minimum path for themselves. It may also happen that
all road users may not have the same criteria for judging the shortest route. These limitations of
tall-or-nothing approach are recognised in the multiple route assignment technique.
The method consists of assigning the interzonal flow to a series of routes, the proportion of the
total flow assigned to each being a function of the length of the length of that route in relation to
the shortest route.
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Mclaughlin developed one of the first multipath traffic assignment techniques. A driver route
selection criterion is used by Mclaughlin which is a function of travel time, travel cost, and accident
potential. The minimum resistance paths between each origin and destination pair are calculated
with all the link resistances set to values which correspond to a zero-traffic volume. The minimum
resistance value between an origin and destination pair with resistance values less than this
maximum value are identified.
Burrell identified another approach, wherein he assumed that a driver does not know the actual
travel times, but that he associates a supposed time with each link. This supposed time is drawn at
random from a distribution of times, having as its mean, the actual link time. The driver is then
assumed to select the route which minimizes the sum of his supposed link times.
Multiple route models have been found to yield more accurate assignment than all-or-nothing
assignments.
3. Capacity restraint assignment techniques
This is the process in which the travel resistance of a link is increased according to a relation
between the practical capacity of the link and the volume assigned to the link. This model has been
developed to overcome the inherent weakness of all-or-nothing assignment model which takes no
account of the capacity of the system between a pair of zones. This method clearly restrains the
number of vehicles that can use in any particular corridor. The whole system, if assigned with
volumes which are beyond the capacity of the network, then it redistributes the traffic to realistic
alternative paths.
Steps:
• Here the procedure is similar to all-or-nothing assignment as far as the initial data input are
concerned. The additional data fed is the capacity of each link. The best paths are
determined in the same way as in all-or-nothing assignment by building the minimum path
trees.
• Traffic is then assigned to the minimum paths, either fully or in stages.
• As the assigned volume on each link approaches the capacity of the link, a new set of travel
time on the link is calculated.
• This results in a new network with a different minimum path tree, differing significantly
from the earlier minimum path tree. As a consequence, assigning the inter-zonal volumes
to the new tree produces a new volume on each link.
• This iterative process is repeated until a satisfactory balance between volume and speed is
achieved.
Some of the capacity restraint methods are:
a) Smock Method:
In this method all-or-nothing assignment is first worked out. In an iterative procedure, the link travel
times are modified according to the following function.

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Smock model is used to compute link travel time as:

In the second iteration, the adjusted travel time (TA) is used to determine the minimum paths. The
resulting link volumes are averaged and these are again used to calculate the adjusted travel time
for next iteration.
b) Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) Method:
The formula used to update the link travel time is:

4. Diversion Curves
Diversion curves methods are one of the frequently used assignment techniques. Diversion curves
represent empirically derived relationship showing the proportion of traffic that is likely to be
diverted on a new facility (bypass, new expressway, new arterial street, etc.) once such a facility
is constructed. The curve is constructed by the data collected from the pattern of road usage in the
past.
The curves are generally constructed using variables such as:

• travel time saved, • distance saved,

• travel time ratio, • travel distance ratio,
• travel time and distance saved • distance and speed ratio,
• travel cost ratio

Examples of diversion curve using single variable are given below.

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A well-known example of diversion curve using travel time ratio to determine the traffic diverted
to expressway is the Bureau of Public Roads curve is shown below. The curve is “S” shaped.

The following formula has been fitted to this type of curves

100
𝑃=
1 + 𝑡𝑅6
where,
P=percentage of traffic diverted to new system

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tR=travel time ratio (time on new system/time on old system)

California Diversion Curves
California curves model is diversion curve method which uses two variables (travel time saved
and distance saved) using a motorway.

The following formula has been developed to fit the above curves.

Where,
d = distance saved on the new route (miles)
T = travel time saved (minutes)

Diversion curves limitation:

• Diversion curve assignments have the drawback that only two alternative routes for each
pair of zones are considered.
• The technique is therefore eminently suitable for new bypasses, new motorways and such
new facilities but is of limited use in a complex urban network.
• Diversion curve reflect the travel resistance as measured by present day travel, but their
use for future travel when the pattern can undergo radical changes is doubtful.

URBAN TRANSPORT PLANNING TECHNIQUE

Introduction to land use transport models
The basic requirement in Urban Transport Planning Technique is the land use activities for the
year being studied. The travel demand estimated by this technique tend to be high in principal

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travel corridors with the result that highly costly rapid transit systems become necessary. Another
drawback of Urban Transport Planning Technique is that it requires a completely specified land -
use allocation both at the production and at the attraction end of trips.
Attempts to overcome the above deficiencies have given rise different transport planning
technique, where by land use and travel demands are determined simultaneously. The appeal of
this technique is that land use is not exogenously specified, but is on the contrary determined by
the model itself, along with the transport demand. The land use transport models are sensitive to
major development policy variables and thus give scope for manipulations in a variety of ways so
as to select the best alternative.
Land–Use Transport Interaction
• Land development generates travel, and travel generates the need for new facilities,
which in turn increases accessibility and attracts further development.
• The question of whether transportation influences land use (development) or whether
land use dictates transportation has been a matter of ongoing concern among transportation
professionals.
• Thus, the connection between transportation and land use is a fundamental concept,
which needs to be understood clearly, in transportation planning as transportation and land
use are inexorably connected.
• Everything that happens to land use has transportation implications and every
transportation action affects land use.
• Transportation's most significant impact on land use development and more
development generates additional travel.
• Increased access to land raises its potential for development and more development
generates additional travel.
• One access has been provided land patterns begin to change over a period of time. The
results of these changes are, for the most part, irreversible.

Selection of Land Use Transport Model

While selecting a model, a number of considerations become important. These are:

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1) Simplicity – the model should have a simple casual structure which should be easy to
comprehend. A simple model will generally consume less time and resources.
2) Modest data requirements – data requirements must be modest. In fact, some of the good
models make use of data routinely available with the planning department.
3) Adaptability – the model should be adaptable to any given location.
4) Comprehensiveness – the model should be comprehensive and should synthesise the
relationship between activities, housing and transportation adequately well.
5) Operationality and rapidity – the model should be operational, capable of easy
interpretation and should be able to test rapidly a wide range of policy options.
6) Computer cost – the model should be operational at relatively cheap computer cost.
Lowery Derivative Model
The Lowery derivative models have many of the above attributes. They are simple to use, require
modest data, are comprehensive and economical, have good response to change in input variables
and have simple causal structure. They have therefore been used extensively and successfully in a
number of studies. The fundamental structure of the model is illustrated in Figure.

The Lowery model relates the three principle components of the urban area:
1. Population.
2. Employment.
3. Communication between population and employment.
Model Equation System
The Lowery model can be represented in terms of nine simultaneous equations and three
inequalities; the following notation will be used:

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▪ A= Area of land.
▪ E= Employment ( number of persons).
▪ N= Population (number of households).
▪ T= Index of trip distribution.
▪ Z= Constraints.
▪ The following superscripts are used in conjunction with the above notation:
▪ U= Unusable land.
▪ B= Basic sector.
▪ R= Retail sector.
▪ H= Household sector.
▪ k= Class of establishments within the retail sector ( groceries, clinics, primary schools,
cloth
▪ shop etc.).
▪ m= Number of classes of retail establishment.
▪ k=1, m
▪ n= Number of zones( i=1,2,….n
▪ j=1, 2,….n)
Land Use: the total land available in each zone and the land therein not useable by any of the three
activities are given. Thus:

Basic sector: for each zone, the land by basic establishments and the employment opportunities
provided by these establishments are exogenously specified.
Retail sector: retail sectors are divided into groups, each having its own characteristics production
function. The employment in each of the retail sector can be considered roughly to be a function
of the households in the region.

The distribution of this retail employment among the zones depend upon the market at each
location. Assuming that the shopping trips originate either from home to from work places, the
market potential of any given location can be defined as weighted index of the number of
households in the surrounding areas and the number of persons employed nearby. Thus:

ck,dk are measures of the relative importance of homes and work places as origins for a particular
type of shopping.

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bk, is a scale factor which adjust retail employment.

Total employment: the above procedure determines the amount of employment in any zone for
each category of retail trade. The sum of these employment figures, plus the quantity of basic
employment allocated to the zone is the total employment for the zone. Thus:

Household Sector: the region's population of household is a function of total employment. Thus:

the population living in any zone j is also a function of the employment opportunities in the
different zones and the measure of accessibility from zone j to each of these zones. Thus:

The coefficient factor f is a scale factor. The sum of zone population must equal to the total
population of the region:

Constraints: in order to limit the dispersion of retail employment, a minimum size constraint is
imposed, expressed in terms of employment. If the market potential of particular location does not
justify an establishment above this minimum size, the customers are sent elsewhere. Thus:

In order to prevent the system from generating excessive population densities in locations with
high accessibility indices, a maximum density constraint is imposed. The value of this constraint
(number of households per unit area of residential space) may vary from zone to zone, as would
be the case under zoning ordinances.

And lastly, the amount of land set aside of retail establishments must not exceed the amount
available.

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This constraint also prevents the assignment of negative value to the residential land.

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