Capacity planning for toll roadways incorporating consumer wait time costs

This paper reports the findings for an investigation concerning capacity planning analysis for toll-plaza operations. The study develops a cost minimizing capacity planning model that minimizes expected costs which include both operating and user costs. A reliability constraint is appended to the formulation to account for the service provider's sensitivity to demand for quality. Optimal capacity levels are determined for both peak and off-peak hours. Subsequently, a work force policy is obtained through the utilization of a mathematical program. The research suggests that significant savings may accrue through the implementation of a decision support system which may be developed from the models presented.