Research on an Optimization Model for Transportation Network Design

A competitive transportation network must answer to the economic requirements. An important economic issue is the investment decision regarding transportation network improvement that involves the interaction of two parties with own objectives: the network planner and the network users. A mathematical programming model suitable for addressing this type of planning problem, saving both interests in an optimal design, is the bi-level programming model. Genetic-Algorithm-based approach has been widely used as an optimization tool within the bi-level framework. This paper presents an improved Genetic Algorithm according to the distinctive features of the Transportation Network Design Problem with interactions among different links. A numerical experiment is provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed approach. Finally, suggestions for further extensions are given