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Research on Route Choice of Logistics Transportation in

Urban Traffic Networks

Jianling WANG1,2, Xiaoguang YANG3, Jianhong WANG4

1
Postdoctoral Mobile Research Station of Transportation Engineering, Tongji
University, Shanghai, 200092
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2
College of Engineering Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University,
shanghai, 201306;PH:15000711120; email:jlwang20042005@163.com
3
Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji
University, Shanghai, 201804
4
Foreign Language Department, Yichun Vocational college, Yichun 153000

ABSTRACT

In the background of the urban transportation, the choice of route in logistics

transportation depends on realistic traffic condition. The congestion degree of urban
traffic networks are regarded as a variable within the range of 0~100%. Considering
the traffic condition on adjacent intersections, the section congestion degree model is
built based on traffic flow theory and the knowledge of operational research. The
route congestion degree model is built based on series-parallel system arithmetic
theory. The urban traffic networks are based on abstracted topological structures.
Applying the max-flow min-cut theorem, the critical links between origin-destination
pairs are found and the selection algorithm model of logistics routes is built. Finally,
the numerical example is used to analyze the models.

Nomenclature
c s section congestion degree c r route congestion degree

d density(veh/km) d j jam density(veh/km)

f flow(veh/h) f i : inflow of upstream intersection;

f o : outflow of downstream intersection;

l : length of road section. v f free-flow speed(km/h)

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1. INTRODUCTION

The transportation in urban traffic networks plays an important role in all the
systems of logistics transportation. In addition, the route choice is important for time
saving. Because traffic congestion often happens in urban traffic networks, the
precondition of route choice is to identify congestion degree and the route with
lowest congestion is selected.
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The disperse methods is often adopted to evaluate traffic congestion. They

employ the parameters, such as occupancy ratio, flow and speed that are regarded as
congestion threshold. Also, some algorithms, such as standard deviation, double
exponential smoothing, autoregressive integrated moving average, fluctuation
analysis and fuzzy algorithm are used to analyze the collected traffic data and
estimate if traffic congestion happens. Certain methods, such as artificial neural
network and vision-base image processing are used to estimate traffic condition
(Wang 2004, Jiang 2004, Lu 2003, Kerner 2001). Firstly, the sequence of evaluation
method is discussed in the article. Secondly, the arithmetic models of section
congestion degree and route congestion degree is erected. Thirdly, the minimum
degree route of logistics transportation is selected. Finally, a numerical example is
used to analyze the models.

2. ROAD SECTION CONGESTION MODEL

Traffic flow characteristics can be used to determine three parameters: flow,

speed and density to describe, in which the connection between flux and density can
be described by Eq (1) and Figure 1 (Wang 2002).
 d2 

f  vf d   (1)
 dj 
 

A D B
0 dj d
A
Figure 1. f - d model
A

From Figure1 we can see, at the dot A, flow is zero, there is no car on road and
density is zero. As the flow increases, the density also increases. At the dot B, the

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jam density d j , traffic jam happens, the cars cannot move and flow is zero.

If the dot A 0,0 is regarded as the dot at which the car can move with free
speed, the dot B (0, d j ) is regarded as the dot at which there is traffic jam. Any dot at
the curve of Fig.1 during the course moving from the dot A to the dot B, the degrees
of freedom are decreasing. In the article the area increment S ACD is regarded as the
freedom loss of the traffic status at the dot C  f , d  relative to the status of free flow
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at the dot A 0,0 or the increment of congestion degree. At the dot B, the freedom
loss is the maximum and the area increment S ACB reaches the maximum.
The area increment S ACD can be showed as Eq. (2).

 d2   2 3 
S ACD   v f  d  dd  v f  d  d 
d
(2)
0  dj   2 3d 
   j 

The maximum of area increment S ACB can be showed as Eq. (3).

 d2  d 2v
 dd  j f
dj
S ACB   vf d  (3)
0  dj  6
 
The ratio of S ACD and S ACB is regarded as the congestion degree of the dot C,
it’s the range is from [0，1], which can be showed as Eq. (4).
2 3
S  d   d 
c s  ACD  3   2  (4)
S ACB d  d 
 j  j

3. ROUTE CONGESTION MODEL

We assume that the traffic flow obeys the principle “first in first out”, and the
density can be showed as given by formula(5) (Wang 2002).
fi  fo
d (5)
l
From formula (5) we can see that the density is affected by inflow of upstream
intersection and outflow of downstream intersection. Thus, the traffic condition on
road section can reflect the traffic condition at intersection. The route congestion
degree can be described by correlated section congestion degree, without correlated
intersections.
A route r is composed of road sections si i  1,2,, n , which is a series system,
as shown in Figure 2.

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r
s1 s2 sn

Figure 2. Series system

Based on the theory of series system, route congestion degree c p is described

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by the vector product of section congestion degree. This is shown as in formula (6).
cr  cs1  cs 2 csn (6)

4. ROUTE CHOICE MODEL

Urban traffic networks consist of road sections and intersections, which can be
abstracted to topological structure. On the assumption that urban traffic networks N
are given, the routes between origin-destination pairs are R r1 , r2 ,, rm  , every route
ri i  1,2,, m consists of road sections S s1 , s 2 ,, s j  . The minimum cut sets of
urban traffic networks are Gs1 , s 2 ,, sl  , G  S , which are the necessary road
sections between OD pairs. The road section s min,c s min,c  G  which has congestion
degree at minimum belongs to the route RG r1 , r2 ,, rg  ; RG  R . Thus, the route
rmin,r rmin,r  RG  which has congestion degree at its minimum should be chosen.

5. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE

The network between origin-destination pairs is shown as in Fig.3, which has six
intersections and eleven road sections. The figures between the parentheses are the
section congestion degree. The minimum cut sets are shown as the sections through
which the broken line passes. The minimum congestion degree of the cut sets is
0.5(section O  i3 ). The section O  i3 belongs to two routes: route.1
( O  i3  i4  D ) and route.2 ( O  i3  i6  D ).
The congestion degree of route.1:
cr1  0.5  0.8  0.7  0.28
The congestion degree of route.2:
cr 2  0.5  0.6  0.8  0.24
The congestion degree of route.2 is lower than the congestion degree o
f route.1. So, route.2 should be chosen.

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6. CONCLUSIONS

Some theories, such as Traffic flow theory, graph theory and series-parallel
system arithmetic theory are used to analyze traffic congestion degree in urban traffic
networks. The paper examines the theories of optimal route of logistics
transportation. The article discusses the route choice in urban traffic networks. Thus,
its research is focused on the route choice for intermodal transportation.

REFERENCES

Hu, Y., Guo Yaohuang (2007). Operational Research Tutorial. Beijing:Tsinghua

University Press, 4:259-263
Jiang, Guiyan (2004). Technologies and Applications of the Identification of Road
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Kerner, B.S. (2001). Tracing and Forecasting of Congested Patterns for Highway
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Lu, Jia(2003). Traffic Congestion Evalution and Measurement Based on Probe
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Wang, Dianhai (2002). Flow Theory. Beijing: China Communications Press, 9,24
Wang, Jiangfeng (2004). Study on the Methods of Automatic Congestion
Identification for Freeways [Master Dissertation]. Jilin University, Mar.,3-4
Yun, H., Dai Xiangju(translation)(1992).Urban Networks.Chengdu:South West
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