STUDY OF THE OPTIMUM TOLL RATE OF TOLL FREEWAYS

The theory concerning the route selection behaviours of road users is expounded. Based on this, two questions about toll freeways under the condition of existing route competition are discussed as follows: (1) the establishment and evaluation of optimum traffic volume assignment model; (2) the determination of optimum toll rate. The determination of the optimum toll rate on Huning freeway (in China) is introduced as an example. It is pointed out that the factors having influence on the road selection of road users should be fully considered while analyzing the traffic volume assignment of road network; the model can analyze the susceptibility of those factors; the optimization for the road use benefit of road users should be considered while determing the optimum toll rate of toll freeways; the classification of vehicle types and the estimation of vehicle operation cost should be paid more attention.