This paper describes a model intended primarily to give an approximate reconstitution of routes taken by motorists to deduce the total vehicle traffic which each road section in the network will have to support in a given period. It has been elaborated in such a way so that it can be used for other purposes, such as the study of the load on a mass transportation network. The traffic assignment procedure used is based on Dantzig's algorithm for finding the shortest routes in a network. In the graph representing the network an explicit distinction is made between the intersections and nodes. The latter are the entry (or exit) points of roads at intersections. This distinction makes it simple to take account of all the particular features of the network regarding travel direction regulations. The mathematical properties of this model suggest useful prospects for economic study of traffic flow and its control.
Abstract