THE DETERMINATION OF TRAFFIC IN A ROAD NETWORK-AN ECONOMIC APPROACH
Abstract
The practical purpose of an equilibrium model is prediction. But the purpose of prediction must be seen with reference to the ultimate end of traffic evaluation: the determination of the economically justified needs for road construction. The problem, what the highway network ought to be in order that it be of maximal benefit to the public, is a long-run economic problem of a high order of complexity. To put it differently, the balancing of cost for new construction and maintenance of roads against the time costs engendered through congestion and diversion, involves still other economic considerations into which we cannot go here. These concern, for instance, the structure of road construction cost, and an explicit rendering of the effects on total congestion cost in a network, of an increase in some road capacity. But a solution of the latter problem implies knowledge of the way in which a given network is utilized by traffic, a question that this paper has tried to throw some light upon.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 06, 1953
- Accession Number
- AD0422826
Entities
People
- C. B. Mcguire
- Martin Beckmann
Organizations
- RAND Corporation