OTREC-RR-11-05

Reliable urban freight movement is crucial to companies using just-in-time approaches. Routes with long computation times are inefficient , as are those ignoring travel time, while using congested arteries and streets increases costs and exacerbates issues like greenhouse gases, air pollution, noise, and accidents. Mobile phones and routing devices improve driver/scheduler communication, allowing dynamic vehicle reassignment, stop order modification or diversion en-route, but only with fast routing methods. Travel time variation during peak hours is a major problem for models using constant vehicle speeds. Time-dependent routing research is meager and current methods are inadequate for real operations. Faster methods are essential to utilize real time information. This research aims to develop and evaluate new methods for routing in urban areas, emphasizing improved running times for existing methods.