Effects of relaxing the confluent flow constraint in epg

Characterize how the theoretical properties of the Evacuation Planning Game (epg) change when the confluent flow constraint is relaxed to permit non-confluent evacuation routes, including identifying which guarantees and bounds continue to hold or require modification.

Background

The analysis in the paper relies on confluent evacuation routes, a practical constraint motivated by leader–follower behavior and ease of enforcement, and under this constraint the authors show equilibrium existence and provide Price of Anarchy bounds.

The authors explicitly note that understanding the implications of removing the confluent constraint—allowing routes to split at intersections—is an open problem, as it could alter equilibrium structure, feasibility conditions, or inefficiency guarantees.