Figure 1 illustrates the modeling process. The network in the current model consists of an abstract of the roadway system as defined in the City of Clovis', City of Fresno's, and the County of Fresno's adopted general plans. This is a simplified representation of streets that provide for general circulation within Fresno County. It is described by a system of nodes and links. Nodes are generally street intersection points.
Links connect the nodes.
The links represent streets and provide information on operating characteristics such as type of facility, length of facility, number of lanes, free flow speed, and capacity. Also represented in the network are gateways or cordon stations. Trips entering or exiting the county pass through these gateways much as cars cross the county boundaries. The amount and type of travel are dependent on the land use put into the model. Traffic analysis zones, or TAZ's, are the land use analysis units of the model.