ABSTRACT
The network planning stage of the transportation planning process aims to develop alternative highway and public transport networks for the selected land-use plan. Traffic assignment is that part of the process which allocates a given set of trip interchanges to a specific transport network or system. It can be used to estimate the volume of traffic on various links of the system for any future year, or to simulate present conditions. The traffic assignment process requires as input a complete description of either the proposed or existing transportation system, and a matrix of interzonal trip movements. The choice of assignment procedure to be adopted in any particular transportation study depends largely on the purpose of that study, and the degree of sophistication required in the output. In developing alternative transport networks, factors such as the generation rate of trips, trip length, land-use characteristics, cost and transport design and operational criteria, need to be carefully considered.
