Multi-period location of flow intercepting portable facilities of an intelligent transportation system

• The role of the variable message signs (VMS) for urban traffic management is discussed.
• The portable VMS dynamic location problem is studied.
• We formulate the VMS location problem as a multi-period facility location problem (MP-FIFLP).
• We propose two different approaches (sequential and integrated) for the MP-FIFLP.
• Several hints about the applicability of the proposed approach are given.

Intelligent transportation systems are of great importance in urban traffic management. In this context variable message signs (VMS) play a major role in providing drivers with useful information during their trips.In this paper we consider the problem of finding the optimal location of a set of portable VMS on an urban network where flow patterns change during a time horizon.We propose two original solving approaches based on flow intercepting facility location ILP models.The paper presents an application of the proposed approaches to real-like test networks and discusses the results obtained providing some indications on their practical applications.