ROLE OF COMPUTERS IN WIDE-AREA TRAFFIC CONTROL OF ROAD TRAFFIC, PART 4

This brief article is concerned with the wide-area computer control of traffic in Great Britain. The author first outlines two investigations which were initiated in 1966 in west London and Glasgow respectively. The object of the west London experiment was to minimize journey time and it is considered that the experiment will have been deemed a financial success if it has a life of ten years. The Glasgow scheme allowed experimentation with a wide range of control techniques. The author points out that neither scheme was able to show a marked advantage of a "traffic sensitive" control system over a "fixed-time" system, and therefore wide-area control policies in Great Britain have been based on a multiple-plan "fixed-time" control system. These use at least three plans held in a central computer system, the operational plan being selected by time of day. The remainder of the article is concerned with the traffic management schemes that have been put forward by local government authorities at the request of the Department of the Environment. Those of Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Northampton have already been granted approval, and it is hoped that those of Leicester and Liverpool will become operational in autumn 1974. See also IRRD abstracts nos. 211595-211597. /TRRL/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also HRIS 096738, 096739 and 096740.
• Corporate Authors:

  IPC Building and Control Journals, Limited

  Dorset House, Stanford Street
  London SE1 9LU,   England 
• Authors:
  • Honey, D W
• Publication Date: 1974-9-13

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 44-45
• Serial:
  • Surveyor - Public Authority Technology
  • Volume: 144
  • Issue Number: 4292
  • Publisher: IPC Building and Contract Journals Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Actuated traffic signal controllers; Area traffic signal control; Digital computers; Highway traffic control; Information processing; Time; Traffic actuated controllers; Traffic control devices; Traffic signal control systems; Travel; Travel time; Trip length; Urban areas; Video imaging detectors
• Uncontrolled Terms: Trip
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Old TRIS Terms: Time factor; Wide area traffic control
• ITRD Terms: 669: Area traffic control; 8673: Digital computer; 697: Journey time; 597: Linked signals; 8119: United Kingdom; 313: Urban area; 557: Vehicle actuated
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00096741
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 30 1975 12:00AM