Study On The Charging Standard Optimization Method Of Changwan Highway

The standard of expressway toll rates not only decides the rate of return on investment but also influences people’s choices of travelling routes and modes of transport. How to adjust the charging standard and toll rates of an expressway to make it flexibly respond to the change in traffic volume and keep in line with the utmost interest of investors and road users is of significant importance. This paper, choosing Changwan Expressway as the research object, studies the best toll rate solution against the backdrop of regional economic development and fierce competition from a competing railway that is to be put into operation.The paper first makes clear the project overview, investment information, existing toll rate standard, and historical operation of Changwan Expressway. Then, employing the analogy analysis method, it analyzes the influence Yuwan Railway will have on the expressway after the railroad is put into use. It also makes a prediction of the traffic volume of the expressway by giving full consideration of the influence caused the regional economic development and the to-be-commenced Yuwan Railway, and the traffic volume forecast is used as the groundwork for fixing the optimal toll rate. On the basis of an analysis of the conversion relationship between road impedance and toll rate, the paper finds an optimal toll rate curve in a bi-level programmed optimal toll rate model using the solution algorithm of one-dimensional search, and it suggests the optimal rate of Changwan Expressway should be0.613yuan/vehicle-kilometer. Finally, according to the optimal toll rate, the paper adjusts the toll collecting scheme currently used by Changwan Expressway and makes an economic assessment of the adjusted scheme, which the assessment result shows can offset the influence from the Yuwan Railway after it is put in use and is better than the working toll collecting framework.Findings of the paper can offer a scientific reference and theoretical support to expressway administrators in their decision-making for toll rate adjustments. Moreover, the research method employed by the paper can be applied to research projects aimed at finding optimal toll rates for other expressways.