Attitudes of drivers toward alternative highways and their relation to route choice.

To determine the factors influencing drivers choice of alternative routes, a study was conducted in which the attitudes of drivers toward two highways were measured. In addition, traffic characteristics of the routes were measured and the tension generated on each was determined using nine test drivers. The routes employed were 47-mi sections of an expressway-design toll road and parallel rural primary highway. Drivers were sampled entering and exiting on both highways. A summated rating attitude scale was administered to a sample of 3,259 drivers. Also descriptive information was obtained about the driver, his trip, and travel habits. The results indicated that these drivers hold stable attitudes toward the two highways which clearly differentiate between them. It appears that direct measurement of driver attitudes is a better predictor of route choice than descriptive information about the drivers or their driving habits. In addition, the results provide a means of rationalizing the attraction of traffic to an expressway on the basis of drivers seeking to minimise tension in driving. The results suggest that total stress incurred in driving is a more important determinant of route choice than either operating costs or travel time costs. A model of route choice and attraction of traffic is proposed based on tension generation which can be related to travel time data. The results of this research indicate that drivers evaluate alternative highways in a rational, though subjective, fashion. Such evaluation, however, appears quite independent of the usual monetary schemes for rationalizing highway benefits and costs. /Author/