Traffic assignment is a set of criteria through which the demand for mobility is distributed over the links of a transport network. Over the last 30 years, Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) models have been developed to support time-dependent analyses in nascent fields that need to take into account the temporal distribution of demand and supply. In this book, leading international experts in the field provide a state-of-the-art overview of fundamental DTA research and practice, identifying weaknesses and major challenges for future research. The contributors illustrate that the complexity of DTA predominantly lies in finding a convenient trade-off between mathematical rigorousness and realistic traffic and behavioural models, and that many transport measures now have a necessarily dynamic element, ranging from real-time driver information systems to congestion pricing schemes, affecting the temporal distribution of demand and supply systems. They show that developing models able to predict the effects of these measures with sufficient realism, while maintaining properties of interpretability and computational tractability, is therefore of paramount importance. These, and other important DTA issues and themes are highlighted and discussed at length, with models and applications underpinning central theories and concepts. Drawing current research together in one key volume, this book will prove an invaluable resource for a wide-ranging audience including academics, lecturers and researchers, government agencies, consultants and practitioners engaged in transport planning.
