SAN JOSE TRAFFIC CONTROL PROJECT, FINAL REPORT

THE CITY OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA AND IBM CONDUCTED JOINT STUDY TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A DIGITAL COMPUTER FOR THE CONTROL OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS. ONE YEAR LATER, THE ACTUAL CONTROL OF SIGNALS BY A COMPUTER BEGAN. THE PHILOSOPHY, DESIGN, PROCEDURE, AND RESULTS OF THAT PROJECT ARE DESCRIBED. THE MAJOR PROJECT GOALS REQUIRED THE USE OF OLD SKILLS AND THE LEARNING OF NEW ONES; IT DEMANDED A HIGH DEGREE OF COORDINATION BETWEEN ALL CITY DEPARTMENTS AND BETWEEN THE CITY AND IBM; IT DEVELOPED THE CITY'S INSIGHT INTO ITS OWN TRAFFIC PROBLEMS; AND IT ENHANCED IBM'S KNOWLEDGE OF TRAFFIC AND CONTROL SYSTEMS. IN A CITY LIKE SAN JOSE, SEEMINGLY SMALL IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAFFIC FLOW CAN HAVE A TREMENDOUS FINANCIAL IMPACT ON THE MOTORING PUBLIC. CONCLUSIONS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (1) TRAFFIC FLOW WAS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED, NOTABLY BY REDUCTIONS IN AVERAGE VEHICLE DELAY, PROBABILITY OF A STOP, AND TRIP TIME OF TEST CARS; (2) FOR THE FIRST 32 INTERSECTIONS, THE ABOVE REDUCTIONS RESULTED IN AN ANNUAL COST REDUCTION OF MORE THAN $250,000 TO THE MOTORING PUBLIC; (3) WITH THE ENLARGED CONTROL AREA OF 59 INTERSECTIONS, THE ANNUAL COST REDUCTION WAS ABOUT $300,000; (4) FLEXIBILITY OF CONTROL, EVALUATION CAPABILITY, AND HIGH RELIABILITY WERE ADVANTAGES OF THE COMPUTER SYSTEM; (5) THE COMPUTER PROVED TO BE A MAINTENANCE WATCHDOG BY INDICATING THE APPROACHING FAILURES OF EQUIPMENT ON THE STREET BEFORE THEY BECAME CATASTROPHIC; AND (6) THE SYSTEM SHOWED THAT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT CAN BE EFFECTED BY A STEADY PROGRAM OF ANALYSIS AND STUDY BY TRAFFIC ENGINEERS. /BPR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Ibm Tech Publ Dept

  ,    
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: City government; Cooperation; Costs; Digital computers; Information processing; Intersections; Private enterprise; Savings; Traffic control; Traffic flow; Traffic signal controllers
• Old TRIS Terms: Traffic control systems
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225711
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Traffic Systems Reviews & Abstracts
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 25 1970 12:00AM