Optimal Fleet Allocation of Freeway Service Patrols

As one component of traffic incident management systems, freeway service patrols (FSP) facilitate quick removal of incidents through faster response and reduced clearance time. This paper is to investigate how to allocate tow trucks among patrol beats to maximize the effectiveness of the FSP services. A min–max bi-level programming model is proposed to determine an optimal fleet allocation that minimizes the maximal system travel time that incidents may incur. A heuristic iterative solution algorithm is proposed to solve the model. Both the model and the algorithm are demonstrated and validated through a numerical example. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006