The relationship between location of new central business district and traffic flow

To make an integrated analysis of both land use and transportation, a traffic equilibrium model is proposed to research the relationship between central business district (CBD) location and traffic flow in the city. A city is considered. Within the city region, commuters are assumed to be scattered continuously over the city and each commuter is assumed to choose a facility to minimize individual total cost. To make the model more realistic, travelers can either travel directly to the CBD on the continuum (surface streets), or they can travel on the continuum and then exchange at an interchange (ramp) before moving to the CBD on the discrete network. A solution based on finite element algorithm and Newtonian method is used to solve the model. A numerical example is given to simulate changes in the traffic flow intensity and customer volume of CBD and interchanges, when a new CBD is located in different position of the city. It shows that a new CBD can not only share customers of the existing CBD, but also attract customers to its nearby interchange.