Optimal Traffic Assignment with Elastic Demands: A Review Part II. Algorithmic Approaches

Part I of this study reviewed the formulation of the traffic assignment problem (TAP) in a network and identified its underlying rationale. This part examines algorithmic approaches for calculating the flow patterns resulting from the different modes of assignment. An efficient methodology for solving the elastic-demand TAP is based on remodeling it as an equivalent assignment problem in an expanded network. The variable-demand TAP is then tranformed into a fixed-demand TAP, with a trip table consisting of the potential demands, and can be solved by available fixed-demand assignment algorithms. Three alternative transformations are described.