Highway cost performance model

A highway model has been developed that simulates vehicle operating costs and service characteristics for different vehicle types operating over a highway system of specified design characteristics. Vehicle speeds and travel times are endogenously determined and the effects of congestion on transport costs and services are incorporated into the model. The model may be used either in the evaluation of a single road link or as a subcomponent of a large multimode study. The effect of varying design characteristics of a highway in a given country can be predicted by merely specifying different road characteristics and comparing the different vehicle operating cost and performance patterns that result. Thus, a detailed measure of operating cost and performance benefits of any proposed enhancement of highway design standards is provided by the model and can be compared with the incremental construction cost in a given situation so that optimal project design may be determined through a series of model alterations. At the sectoral level, the model offers a valuable tool for assessing the adequacy of the combined transport system and the cost-performance of each mode and of intermodal allocation schemes. A list of equations and a glossary are appended.