Motorway tolling : modelling some congestion effects of diversion. Prepared for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions DETR, Tolling and Private Finance Division TPFD.

The introduction of motorway tolls would be expected to cause some traffic to cease use of motorways, and transfer to alternative non-tolled routes. The MCONTRM model was used to estimate the effects on congestion in terms of delays and queues in two areas: the motorway box round Birmingham, and the M2/M20 corridor in Kent. Queues and delays increased on the all-purpose roads and delays decreased on the motorways. There was evidence of some increase in queueing on motorway off ramps, but estimates of the levels of queueing to be expected would require more extensive modelling of all-purpose roads, especially for the Birmingham area. (A) (This report is also included on the TRL CD-ROM entitled "Research on road user charging 1995-1998"). For the covering abstract see C 12559 CD-ROM.