Road Network Equilibrium Approaches to Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is closely related to transportation, especially to the road network, because vehicle emissions and noise damage the environment and have adverse effects on human health. It is, therefore, important to take their effect into account when designing and managing road networks. Road network equilibrium approaches have been used to estimate this impact and to design and manage road networks accordingly. However, no comprehensive review has summarized the applications of these approaches to the design and management of road networks that explicitly address environmental concerns. More importantly, it is necessary to identify this gap in the literature so that future research can improve the existing methodologies. Hence, this paper summarizes these applications and identifies potential future research directions in terms of theories, modelling approaches, algorithms, analyses, and applications.

Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by a grant (200902172003) from the Hui Oi Chow Trust Fund, grants (201011159026 and 201007176059) from the University Research Committee, HKU SPACE Research Fund, and Faculty of Engineering Top-up Grant, and an Outstanding Researcher Award from the University of Hong Kong. The authors are grateful to the constructive comments of the four reviewers.