Braess' paradox in a generalised traffic network

Zverovich, Vadim; Avineri, Erel

Abstract

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Braess' paradox illustrates situations when adding a new link to a transport network might lead to an equilibrium state in which travel times of users will increase. The classical network configuration introduced by Braess in 1968 to demonstrate the paradox is of fundamental significance because Valiant and Roughgarden showed in 2006 that 'the "global" behaviour of an equilibrium flow in a large random network is similar to that in Braess' original four-node example'. Braess' paradox has been studied mainly in the context of the classical problem introduced by Braess and his colleagues, assuming a certain type of symmetry in networks. Specifically, two pairs of links in those networks are assumed to have the same volume-delay functions. The occurrence of Braess' paradox for this specific case of network symmetry was investigated by Pas and Principio in 1997. Such a symmetry is not common in real-life networks because the parameters of volume-delay functions are associated with roads physical and functional characteristics, which typically differ from one link to another. This research provides an extension of previous studies on Braess' paradox by considering arbitrary volume-delay functions, that is, symmetry properties are not assumed for any of the network's links and the occurrence of Braess' paradox is studied for a general configuration.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2014
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 29, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Advanced Transportation
• Print ISSN: 0197-6729
• Electronic ISSN: 2042-3195
• Publisher: Hindawi
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 114-138
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/atr.1269
• Keywords: Braess' paradox, equilibrium flow, traffic flow
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/840408
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/atr.1269
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Zverovich, V. and Avineri, E. (2015) Braess' paradox in a generalised traffic network. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 49 (1). pp. 114-138., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/atr.1269. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
• Contract Date: Feb 29, 2016