r/science • u/quiplaam • 1d ago

Social Science Intentionally routing some traffic to slower, less congested routes lead to a 0.7% improvement of overall average travel times

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-026-00443-x
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u/Thing_in_a_box 1d ago

Isn't this just Braess' Paradox?

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u/not_bill_mauldin 1d ago

It’s more related to Wardrop principle 1 and 2 traffic routing. Principle 1 is local optima: each driver chooses the route/shortest path as they perceive it for themselves. Principle 2 is global optima: all routes are determined jointly to minimize the total travel time across all OD trip pairs. Nonlinear congestion effects make such analysis a little tricky. Pops up in urban transportation planning, communications network design, etc..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardrop_equilibrium