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Self-Organization of Surface Transportation Networks

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, 500 Pillsbury Drive Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Thurston Regional Planning Council, 2424 Court, Southwest, Suite A, Olympia, Washington 98502
levin031{at}umn.edu
yerrab{at}trpc.org

This research investigates the self-organization of surface transportation networks. Using a travel demand model coupled with revenue, cost, and investment models, experiments are run under a variety of parameters on a grid network. It is found that roads, contiguous sections of multiple links operating with similar characteristics, and hierarchies of roads emerge under a broad range of assumptions from networks with neither defined roads nor clearly organized hierarchies. The factors that drive this are the (dis)economies of scale, the presence of boundaries, and any initial asymmetry in the network. This research thus finds that roads and hierarchies, which are often thought to be the product of conscious design, can also arise without such intention.

Key Words: network evaluations; self-organization; network growth
History: Received: February 2005; revised: June 2005; accepted: August 2005.

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