A System Entropy Model for Optimizing the Number of Tollbooths at Highway Toll Plazas

This paper presents a system entropy model for optimizing the number of tollbooths at highway toll plazas. Highways usually experience severe traffic congestion/jams at toll plazas since vehicles need to stop and wait for toll collection. It is noted that the number of tollbooths directly influences the traffic congestion. In order to obtain the optimal number of tollbooths, the concept of system entropy is applied to capture the degree of order in a system at macro level. The system entropy is aimed to comprehensively consider various factors related to traffic congestion at toll plaza. A mathematical programming model is formulated to decide the optimal number of tollbooths by minimizing the system entropy. The proposed model has a strong flexibility, which can be used at all kinds of toll plazas. A numerical example is provided to show the practical application of this model.