Ramp metering has been shown to be a useful tool for increasing the overall efficiency of the freeway system. However, they can have negative side-effects such as user rejection, encouragement of congestion inducing trip choices, and even urban sprawl. To reduce the burden of these side-effects, this paper develops the building blocks of a supplementary algorithm which is able to address some of these issues. An analytical framework is developed to better justify the choices made in developing the algorithm and is used to compare the proposed solution to the system optimal and the typical equity strategy adopted in the literature. The results show that some of the side-effects examined are addressed whilst still operating close the system optimal efficiency.