Analysis of Factors Influencing Travelers' Route Choice for Expressway and Urban Ordinary Road

To ensure balanced use of expressways and ordinary roads, analyzing travelers' preferences between them is crucial. However, targeted research on this selection and comprehensive analysis of external and individual factors influencing preference are lacking. In this paper, 46 external and individual factors are selected. A Revealed Preference survey is designed to capture travelers' preferences based on these factors. Correlation analysis identifies historical one-way travel distance as a significant indicator. Fisher optimal segmentation divides travelers into two categories. A structural equation model is established to identify the key influencing factors of the two categories. The results show that both traveler categories are affected by route travel time, route travel time differences, and congestion level when choosing between expressways and ordinary roads. However, they vary in other influencing factors. Travelers with a historical one-way travel distance of less than 20 km are influenced by route travel distance as well, indicating a priority for subjective feelings and a desire for shorter travel time and distance. While for others, route travel distance is not important and they are more time-sensitive. The results can provide a basis for decision-making on road network traffic allocation and traffic control strategies for expressways and urban ordinary roads.