What is the objective of constructing a highway

TL1011

Assignment 2

Name: Thushan Dharmawardana

Index no: 101414G

Submission date: 22/11/2010

What is the objective of constructing a new highway?

Transport is an activity that is needed to attain some other work. Because of this reason we affirm transport is a derived demand. With the rising population the demand for transport increases proportionally. Assume that there are two cities A and B where the two cities are connected by a road which doesn’t have enough capacity to accommodate the vehicle flow. Because of this there occurs lot of issues about transportation. The issues can be stated as follows.

o Heavier traffic congestion.

o Larger travel, waiting and transfer time.

o Higher cost and opportunity cost.

o Lower utility level of passengers.

o Less interaction among the cities.

To overcome these issues a new highway can be constructed.

The demand for that highway can be estimated using following theories.

a. Land use approachb. Gravity modelc. Economic theory

For instance assume that there are two cities A and B where those differ from each other when considering socioeconomic cultural and other parameters.

A B

a) Land use approach

This theory mainly explains how the trips are made between different land uses. Every terrain of land has some use. Mainly land is used in agriculture, industrial, commercial and residential purposes. The amount of trips generated and attracted differs according to land use. For example commercial area attracts more trips than a residential area.

1. The reason for total trips

This depends mainly on the different land uses. For example assume A as city of Colombo and B as city of Kandy. Colombo is more a commercial city and Kandy is more likely a cultural city. In this case Colombo is the highest trip attractor because it is a commercial city vice versa Kandy is the highest trip generator. The attraction and generation rate vary from each other and the models have to be calibrated according to follows.

Functions of transport Page 2

The trip generation

Quantity number of persons

Quality distribution of population

Intensity Income, ownership of vehicles

The trip attraction

This differs according to the purpose of the trip

Trip attraction to an office in Colombo depends on

Quantity number of employees

Quality number of employees with own vehicles

Intensity nature of the business

Trip attraction to a cultural zone in Kandy depends on

Quantity number of persons willing to visit cultural zones

Quality number of people with own vehicles

Intensity the value of the cultural zone

As described above there are many causes for trip attraction and generation. As per the land use theory the trip attraction and generation models should be calculated for each and every aspect of travel before implementing a high way.

2. The reason for restraints to trips

As mentioned earlier land use approach is based on the trip end. If we consider a barren land the total trips attracted and generated by that zone will be around zero. If a land is used for some antisocial activity the trips attracted to that zone will be very low

A B


A land without any use to the society

No trip attraction or generation

As we can observe from the above graph the undeveloped and unused lands are a restraint for total trips between two zones. A highway definitely not joins a barren land and a land with use.

3. The competition with railways and air travel

Assume that there is a railway line and a highway newly built between Sri Lanka and India. Then there would be a definite competition between these three modes. We can identify Sri Lanka as a more recreational island where India is more religious and commercial city.

Higher value for trip generation model Higher value for trip attraction model

As shown above there would be more trips towards India that the density of travel desire lines would increase for that side. So there would be more travel demand from Sri Lanka to India. There would be a higher competition between the three modes from Sri Lanka to India. Usually air travel is more expensive so Indians would demand for air travel while Sri Lankans would demand for highway and railway. There would be a more competition between the high way and railway among Sri Lankan population.

b) Gravity model

This theory illustrates how the traffic flow between two travels zones increases with the population mass and the distance between two zones.

D12

The theory states that the traffic flow between two zones (generators and attractors) increases multiplicatively with the population mass of travel zones and the traffic flow increases when two zones are closer to each other.


Sri Lanka

Small population

Low income levels of people

Higher price of goods

Less tourist destinations (religious)

India

Large population

High income levels

Lower price

More tourist destinations

City 1, pop 1 City 2, pop 2



Consider the three countries A, B and C. The trips between these zones are as follows.

PA > PB > PC P - Population of each country

DAC < DBC = DAB D- Distance between countries

TAC >TAB > TBC T- Traffic flow between countries

As shown in the graph the population in A is the highest. Because A and C are the closest as per the gravity model the traffic flow between these two countries are the highest. The traffic flow between B and C is the lowest according to the gravity model.

Assume that a new highway is built merging these three countries. The total trips between country A and C are the highest so the demand for a new highway is higher between A and C countries.

2. The reason for restraint to trips


C

A

B

Low population

High distance between two travel zones

More restraint for trips

If we consider the above example of three countries it is clearly visible that when the distance between two countries increases the traffic flow between those countries decreases conversely. When the population decreases the traffic flow tends to decrease. The implementation of a new high way should never be between two countries which are far away and with lesser population.

According to the gravity model distance and population are not only the measures of separation of two travel zones regarding the restraint to mobility. The restraint to travel is usually measured by the time and cost.

Assume that a person who uses the normal road which connects A and B have to spend a 1 hour and Rs.30 for the completion of the journey.

A B

α-value per an hour

Because it is necessary to convert these two units into one unit the concept of generalized cost makes these two units to a one unit by giving a value to the time.

Assume that A, B are connected together by a new highway the time and cost would change.

If the new values are ½ an hour and Rs. 25 the generalized cost would be follows.

A B

It is evident that α/2 + 25 < α + 50. That means the implementation of a highway would make the generalized cost lower and the restraints for total trips lower and make the passengers utility level high.


Assume the example of three countries above when estimating the travel demand the population and the distance between each country should be considered. The demand between the three modes would differ from route to route. As shown above there would be a higher demand for the highway and railway between the countries A and C because those countries are very adjacent and the generalized cost is lower. There would be a higher demand for air travel in the routes AB and BC. The reason for that is the countries A and C are distant from country B and the generalized cost between routes AB and BC lower in air travel because the travel is at a low level.


1 hour and Rs.30

Generalized cost = α + 30

½ an hour and Rs.25

Generalized cost = α/2 + 25

c) Economic theory

This theory is a cost based approach to travel demand. This is based on the observation that transport is a derived demand.

The demand for mode of transport available for the same trip has described by the above theory as mode choice and the demand for travel via two or more routes to the destination has described by the route choice.


As declared earlier transport is a thing use to attain some other work. Every person has needs, to fulfill them they should transport from place to place.

Let us consider a very possible example of two cities A and B where city A produces tea and the citizens of city B consumes tea.

A B

The tea production has to be transported from A to B. If there isn’t a better connectivity between these two cities the consumers of B have to pay a higher price for that commodity because the additional transport cost added to the selling price. Also the vendors from city A cannot sell a large amount because the demand for that good is lower. The execution of a new highway linking these two cities would make the transport cost lower and the price of tea would decrease consequently the demand for that commodity increases and the producers would also be stimulated to increase their production.


Tea producer Tea consumer

As shown above the price will decrease and the supply will increase with the implementation of a new highway.

2. The reason for restraint to trips

Assume that there are two cities P and Q where there is only English speaking population in city P. The city Q consists of Sinhala speaking population. The cities are located very close to each other but the demand for travel is at a low level because of the language variation there is a restraint for total trips between cities P and Q so construction of a highway joining these two cities would not be a good idea.

If there is a market at point A all the people close to the market would come to purchase commodities from that market. But the transport cost restraints people coming to that market. So there is a particular


range where the customers spread around.

As shown above that range of customers would increase by diminishing the restraint to travel if a new highway is constructed.


A B


The range of customers before the construction of highway

The range of customers after the construction of highway

High way

Railway

Air travel

As illustrated above there are 3 modes to travel from A to B. Each mode would give the user a different utility level. The utility level is calculated by the fare for the mode, travel time for the mode and the access time for the mode.

A person can travel from A to B by bus, train or airplane. If the model share for train and airplane is high then there would be a lower demand for the highway.

Implementation of a new high way should be done if the model share for a vehicle on the high way is high considering the railway and air travel.

As per the above three theories we can estimate the travel demand for a highway.


Travel

What is the objective of constructing a highway