A Dynamic Traffic Assignment Model for the Sustainability of Pavement Performance

Xinhua Mao,Jiahua Gan,Wei Yu,Changwei Yuan,Jianwei Wang

doi:10.3390/su11010170

Abstract

Existing Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) models assign traffic flow with the principle of travel time, which are easy to distribute most of the traffic flows on the shortest path. A serious unbalance of traffic flow in the network can speed up pavement deterioration of highways with heavy traffic, which influences the sustainability of pavement performance and increases maintenance expenditures. The purpose of this research is to obtain a more optimized traffic assignment for pavement damage reduction by establishing a multi-objective DTA model with the objectives of not only minimum travel time but minimum decline of Present Serviceability Index (PSI) for pavements. Then, teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm is utilized to solve the proposed model. Results of a case study indicate that a more balanced traffic flow assignment can be realized by the model, which can effectively reduce average PSI loss, save maintenance expenditures, extend pavement service life span, save fuel consumption and reduce pollutant emissions in spite of a little increase of average travel time. Additionally, sensitivity of weight factor for the two objective functions is analyzed. This research provides some insights on methods on sustainable pavement performance.

Highlights

As a large infrastructure, pavements are usually constructed with materials that exhibit distresses after construction due to various loading [1]
Statistics from Ministry of Transport (MOT) in China reveals that the pavement maintenance expenditures for freeways in 2007 were US$7.72 billion with an average of US$47.23 thousand per kilometer, and in the past 5 years, the growth rate of maintenance expenditures was around 6.5% [3]
Vehicles of class 4 have no route diversion, because they have a small degree of damage and they mainly provide commuting services for residents, which has a high demand of short travel time

Summary

Introduction

Pavements are usually constructed with materials that exhibit distresses after construction due to various loading [1]. These distresses include several types like cracking, rutting, potholes, patching, bleeding, surface deterioration [2], which decrease the pavement performance, increase maintenance expenditures, shorten the pavement service life span, and influence driving safety. Statistics from Ministry of Transport (MOT) in China reveals that the pavement maintenance expenditures for freeways in 2007 were US$7.72 billion with an average of US$47.23 thousand per kilometer, and in the past 5 years, the growth rate of maintenance expenditures was around 6.5% [3]. How to improve the sustainability of pavement performance has become a challenge for Chinese government

Objectives

Results

Conclusion