Identifying critical links in urban traffic networks: a partial network scan algorithm

Abstract

Purpose – Critical links in traffic networks are those who should be better protected because their removal has a significant impact on the whole network. So, the purpose of this paper is to identify the critical links of traffic networks. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes the definition of the critical link for an urban traffic network and establishes mathematical model for determining critical link considering the travellers’ heterogeneous risk-taking behavior. Moreover, in order to improve the computational efficiency, the impact area of a link is quantified, a partial network scan algorithm for identifying the critical link based on the impact area is put forward and the efficient paths-based assignment algorithm is adopted. Findings – The proposed algorithm can significantly reduce the search space for determining the most critical links in traffic network. Numerical results also demonstrate that the structure of efficient paths has significant impact on identifying the critical links. Originality/value – This paper identifies the critical links by using a bi-level programming approach and proposes a partial network scan algorithm for identifying critical links accounting for travellers’ heterogeneous risk-taking behavior.