The Road Network Design Problem for the Deployment of Automated Vehicles (RNDP-AVs): A Nonlinear Programming Mathematical Model

Once trusted, automated vehicles (AVs) will gradually appear in urban areas. Such a transition is an opportunity in transport planning to control undesired impacts and possibly mitigate congestion at a time when both conventional vehicles (CVs) and AVs coexist. This paper deals with the complex transport decision problem of designing part of the...

To Redefine, Not Reinforce: A Spatial Decision Support System with Generative Design Model for Exploring Optimal Improvements to Existing Street Networks for Enhancing Equity of Accessibility

Transport decision-making determines people’s level of accessibility and deeply influences an individual’s access to social and economic opportunities and the quality of life. Socially vulnerable populations are highly dependent on yet often more likely to have less access to transport services and experience lower accessibility. This creates...

A hybrid deep-learning-metaheuristic framework for bi-level network design problems

This study proposes a hybrid deep-learning-metaheuristic framework with a bi-level architecture for road network design problems (NDPs). We train a graph neural network (GNN) to approximate the solution of the user equilibrium (UE) traffic assignment problem and use inferences made by the trained model to calculate fitness function...

Design and Optimization of Road Networks for Automated Vehicles

Automated vehicles (AVs) are on the horizon, and they are expected to deliver traffic safety and efficiency benefits to transportation systems. There are different automation levels for AVs based on the functionalities of the automation systems and their operating design domain (i.e., on which conditions these functionalities can be realized)....

Optimizing Road Networks for Automated Vehicles with Dedicated Links, Dedicated Lanes, and Mixed-Traffic Subnetworks

This study focuses on network configurations to accommodate automated vehicles (AVs) on road networks during the transition period to full automation. The literature suggests that dedicated infrastructure for AVs and enhanced infrastructure for mixed traffic (i.e., AVs on the same lanes with conventional vehicles) are the main alternatives so...

Multi-stage optimal design of road networks for automated vehicles with elastic multi-class demand

With the advent of automated vehicles (AVs), new infrastructure planning concepts such as subnetworks of AV-ready roads have been proposed to improve the performance of transportation networks and to promote the adoption of AVs. However, these subnetworks should evolve over time in response to the growing AV demand, which necessitates a multi...

Assessing the travel impacts of subnetworks for automated driving: An exploratory study

This study explores a network configuration concept for vehicle automation levels 3–4 (according to SAE classifications) in an urban road network having mixed traffic and demonstrates its potential impacts. We assume automated driving will be allowed on a selection of roads. For the remaining roads, manual driving (although supported by...

Optimal Redesign of the Dutch Road Network

The Dutch national road network has been developed over several decades. In the past, roads were constructed according to the then current spatial and transportation planning philosophies. Because the existing road network is a result of a long process of successive developments, the question can be asked whether this network is the most...