IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v123y2025ics0966692325000195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the effect of new urban expressway on travel time

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Tianjiao
  • Tang, Luliang
  • Zhao, Zilong
  • Yang, Hong
  • Guo, Xiaogang
  • Shi, Hongyu

Abstract

Urban expressways are one of the largest infrastructure investment projects in cities. Nevertheless, the impact of expressway construction on alleviating travel time has long been controversial. The conventional approach calculates travel time utilizing origin-destination (OD) flow from taxi trajectory data. However, OD flow typically overlooks data scarcity and individual choices, resulting in biased travel time estimates. This study proposes a novel method for travel time estimation based on path flow that considers the real space-time paths and driving directions. Subsequently, we employ the difference-in-differences approach to assess the effect of expressway construction on travel time. Experiments performed in Wuhan, China, indicate that expressway construction has a substantial impact on reducing travel time, exhibiting considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in this effect. Moreover, the built environment notably influences travel time. These findings offer valuable insights for urban planners and transportation policymakers to aid in the development of pertinent policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Tianjiao & Tang, Luliang & Zhao, Zilong & Yang, Hong & Guo, Xiaogang & Shi, Hongyu, 2025. "Exploring the effect of new urban expressway on travel time," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:123:y:2025:i:c:s0966692325000195
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104128
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692325000195
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104128?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2011. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 593-650.
    2. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    3. Campbell, Kayleigh B. & Brakewood, Candace, 2017. "Sharing riders: How bikesharing impacts bus ridership in New York City," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 264-282.
    4. Ibraeva, Anna & Van Wee, Bert & Correia, Gonçalo Homem de Almeida & Pais Antunes, António, 2021. "Longitudinal macro-analysis of car-use changes resulting from a TOD-type project: The case of Metro do Porto (Portugal)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Qian, Xianhang & Qiu, Shanyun & Zhang, Guangli, 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on housing price: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    6. Wang, Shiguang & Yu, Dexin & Kwan, Mei-Po & Zheng, Lili & Miao, Hongzhi & Li, Yongxing, 2020. "The impacts of road network density on motor vehicle travel: An empirical study of Chinese cities based on network theory," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 144-156.
    7. Jingrui Sun & Zhenjun Zhu & Ji Han & Zhanpeng He & Xinfang Xu, 2023. "Influence of the Built Environment on Older Adults’ Travel Time: Evidence from the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Yu Sang Chang & Sung Jun Jo & Yoo-Taek Lee & Yoonji Lee, 2021. "Population Density or Populations Size. Which Factor Determines Urban Traffic Congestion?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Lizhen Zhao & Zhenjiang Shen & Yanji Zhang & Yan Ma, 2019. "The Impact of the Community Built Environment on the Walking Times of Residents in a Community in the Downtown Area of Fuzhou," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-11, January.
    10. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu & Yu, Bin & Ju, Yang, 2021. "Non-linear associations between zonal built environment attributes and transit commuting mode choice accounting for spatial heterogeneity," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 22-35.
    11. Yizhen Gu & Chang Jiang & Junfu Zhang & Ben Zou, 2021. "Subways and Road Congestion," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 83-115, April.
    12. Eun Yeong Seong & Nam Hwi Lee & Chang Gyu Choi, 2021. "Relationship between Land Use Mix and Walking Choice in High-Density Cities: A Review of Walking in Seoul, South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    13. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    14. Wu, Jingwen & Liao, Hua, 2020. "Weather, travel mode choice, and impacts on subway ridership in Beijing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 264-279.
    15. Daniel J. Graham & Emma J. McCoy & David A. Stephens, 2014. "Quantifying Causal Effects of Road Network Capacity Expansions on Traffic Volume and Density via a Mixed Model Propensity Score Estimator," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(508), pages 1440-1449, December.
    16. Tanzina Afrin & Nita Yodo, 2020. "A Survey of Road Traffic Congestion Measures towards a Sustainable and Resilient Transportation System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-23, June.
    17. Veronique Acker & Frank Witlox, 2011. "Commuting trips within tours: how is commuting related to land use?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 465-486, May.
    18. Deng, Yiling & Zhao, Pengjun, 2022. "The impact of new metro on travel behavior: Panel analysis using mobile phone data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 46-57.
    19. Anupriya, & Bansal, Prateek & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Congestion in cities: Can road capacity expansions provide a solution?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    20. Chen, Wei & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2020. "Does road expansion induce traffic? An evaluation of Vehicle-Kilometers Traveled in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    21. Jian Wang & Yuzhou Deng & Sonia Kumari & Zhihui Song, 2023. "Research on the Spatial Spillover Effect of Transportation Infrastructure on Urban Resilience in Three Major Urban Agglomerations in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ding, Chuan & Zhou, Xinyu & Jason Cao, Xinyu & Yang, Jiawen, 2023. "Spatial and mediation analysis of the influences of residential and workplace built environments on commuting by car," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Li, Jingjing & Kim, Changjoo & Sang, Sunhee, 2018. "Exploring impacts of land use characteristics in residential neighborhood and activity space on non-work travel behaviors," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 141-147.
    3. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.
    4. Tian Li & Peng Jing & Linchao Li & Dazhi Sun & Wenbo Yan, 2019. "Revealing the Varying Impact of Urban Built Environment on Online Car-Hailing Travel in Spatio-Temporal Dimension: An Exploratory Analysis in Chengdu, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Elldér, Erik, 2014. "Residential location and daily travel distances: the influence of trip purpose," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 121-130.
    6. Islam, Md Rabiul & Saphores, Jean-Daniel M., 2022. "An L.A. story: The impact of housing costs on commuting," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Mei Zhang & Jia Tang & Jun Gao, 2023. "Examining the Effects of Built Environments and Individual Characteristics on Commuting Time under Spatial Heterogeneity: An Empirical Study in China Using HLM," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, August.
    8. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Tran, Trang My & Yu, Lamont Bo, 2023. "Green infrastructure and air pollution: Evidence from highways connecting two megacities in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Blaudin de Thé, Camille & Carantino, Benjamin & Lafourcade, Miren, 2021. "The carbon ‘carprint’ of urbanization: New evidence from French cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Yang, Hongtai & Huo, Jinghai & Bao, Yongxing & Li, Xuan & Yang, Linchuan & Cherry, Christopher R., 2021. "Impact of e-scooter sharing on bike sharing in Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 23-36.
    11. Lunyu Xie & Tianhua Zou & Joshua Linn & Haosheng Yan, 2024. "Can Building Subway Systems Improve Air Quality? New Evidence from Multiple Cities and Machine Learning," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(4), pages 1009-1044, April.
    12. João Amador & Paulo Barbosa & Esmeralda Arranhado, 2024. "Export Promotion with Matchmaking and Grants: Evidence from Portuguese Firms," Working Papers w202421, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    13. Liya Yang & Lingqian Hu & Zhenbo Wang, 2019. "The built environment and trip chaining behaviour revisited: The joint effects of the modifiable areal unit problem and tour purpose," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(4), pages 795-817, March.
    14. Naznin Sultana Daisy & Lei Liu & Hugh Millward, 2020. "Trip chaining propensity and tour mode choice of out-of-home workers: evidence from a mid-sized Canadian city," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 763-792, April.
    15. Gao, Kun & Yang, Ying & Gil, Jorge & Qu, Xiaobo, 2023. "Data-driven interpretation on interactive and nonlinear effects of the correlated built environment on shared mobility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    16. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu & Yu, Bin & Ju, Yang, 2021. "Non-linear associations between zonal built environment attributes and transit commuting mode choice accounting for spatial heterogeneity," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 22-35.
    17. Van Acker, Véronique & Mulley, Corinne & Ho, Loan, 2019. "Impact of childhood experiences on public transport travel behaviour," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 783-798.
    18. Ai, Hongshan & Zhou, Zhengqing & Li, Ke & Kang, Zhi-Yong, 2021. "Impacts of the desulfurization price subsidy policy on SO2 reduction: Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Liu, Jing-Yue & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2021. "Has carbon emissions trading system promoted non-fossil energy development in China?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    20. Qixuan Li & Xingli Chen & Sheng Jiao & Wenmei Song & Wenke Zong & Yanhe Niu, 2022. "Can Mixed Land Use Reduce CO 2 Emissions? A Case Study of 268 Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:123:y:2025:i:c:s0966692325000195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.