TRANSPORT NETWORK PLANNING: THEORETICAL NOTIONS

2.6

2.4

CHAPTER TWO

DILEMMAS ENCOUNTERED IN DESIGNING A

TRANSPORTATION NETWORK
A transportation system is made up of links, nodes, and a number of other design variables.
Designing a transportation system is then a matter of assigning values to each variable. This
sounds simple, but in practice, because of the different objectives set (by transport authorities,
services providers and users), there will always be conflicting variables, resulting in so-called
design dilemmas. The design method distinguishes four major design dilemmas:
1.
2.
3.
4.

The number of systems: differentiation versus cost reduction

Access point density: quality of a connection versus accessibility
Access structure: accessibility versus differentiation in use
Network density: quality of a connection versus cost reduction

These dilemmas are implicitly processed in the functional categorization used in transport
systems.

2.4.1 Dilemma 1: The Number of Systems

Several subsystems make up the total transportation system (see Table 2.1). Having several
subsystems makes it easier to fulfill the different functions a system may have. The more
subsystems, the better their functions can be geared towards the needs of the traveler. Thus,
offering more subsystems increases the user benefit. On the other hand, reducing the number
of subsystems means reducing the investor costs, as this means the capacity offered can be
used more efficiently. A practical example of this dilemma is the question of whether shortand long-distance travel should be combined on the same ring road: this means a highquality road for short-distance travel, but disturbance of the long-distance traffic flow caused
by the short distance between access points. In general, more subsystems can be offered in
more urbanized areas, where the transport demand is higher.

2.4.2 Dilemma 2: Access Point Density

For any given subsystem, there is the question whether there should be few or many access
points. The more access points, the better its accessibility. This means that a smaller part of
the trip needs to be made on the lower-scale-level (and therefore slower) networks. On the
other hand, the quality of connections (how fast, and how reliable from one access point to
another) provided by the subsystem is higher when there are few access points. This dilemma
plays a major role in the design of public transport networks, but it is also becoming more
and more important in road networks. In many countries, long-distance traffic often encounters congestion near urbanized areas caused by regional or even local traffic entering and
exiting the freeway and frequently causing disturbances in doing so. In general, higher-scalelevel networks have fewer access pointsthis has to do with the fact that access points are
usually found near cities, and fewer cities will be connected to the higher order networks.

2.4.3 Dilemma 3: Access Structure

Apart from defining the ideal structure of the connections between towns, there is the question of where to situate the access points: one access point in the middle (as is usual for
train stations), or one or more at the edges of the built-up area (as is usual for through roads).
The first option maximizes the accessibility of the system, but this often leads to misuse of
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