WELFARE EVALUATION WITH A ROAD CAPACITY CONSTRAINT

P ROMILLY

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2004

Subject Area

operations - capacity, operations - traffic, land use - planning, ridership - commuting, ridership - demand, economics - appraisal/evaluation, place - urban

Keywords

Welfare economics, Urban areas, Travel models (Travel demand), Travel demand, Traffic simulation, Traffic models, Traffic capacity, Optimization, Optimisation, Networks, Highway planning, Highway capacity, Cost benefit analysis, Capacity constraints, Benefit cost analysis

Abstract

Although road capacity increasing projects are often implemented to mitigate severe traffic congestion in and around cities, congestion has often not fallen in the long run and journey speed has not increased. Demand for peak period road travel, particularly by car, has grown so strongly that increases in road capacity have been quickly matched by increased road use. This paper develops a model of a road network characterized by insatiable road passenger (car and bus) demand. The model parameters are calibrated on a typical urban road network, and a number of simulations are conducted to determine social welfare after the introduction of a road capacity constraint into the optimization process. The empirical results have an important policy implication for the evaluation of projects that increase road capacity, namely that standard methods of cost benefit analysis may tend to significantly overestimate the net benefits of such projects.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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