STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT FOR AN URBAN CORRIDOR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

A FREEWAY CORRIDOR CONNECTING DOWNTOWN DALLAS WITH SUBURBS 12 MILES TO THE NORTH IS SERVING AS A TEST BED FOR A FLOW- OPTIMIZATION RESEARCH PROJECT WHOSE OVERALL OBJECTIVES ARE TO: (1) DETERMINE THE FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR OPTIMUM FREEWAY CORRIDOR CONTROL; (2) DEVELOP THE SYSTEM DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS FOR CORRIDOR SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL; AND (3) DEVELOP CONTROL LOGIC AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR INTEGRATING LOCAL RAMP MERGING CONTROL. LOCAL INTERSECTION CONTROL, AND SELECTED FREEWAY AND SURFACE STREET INPUTS INTO OVERALL ADAPTIVE CONTROL BY A CENTRALIZED DIGITAL COMPUTER. THE TOTAL CONTROL AREA IS LARGE AND HIGHLY VARIABLE IN CONTROL EQUIPMENT AND GEOMETRY, WHILE THE CONTROL PROCESS IS COMPLEX AND, AT BEST, NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD. THE TRAFFIC FLOW PERFORMANCE VARIABLES OF SPEED, VOLUME, ETC., AND THE TRAFFIC FLOW CONTROL VARIABLES OF TRAFFIC DEMAND, PHASING ETC., ARE INTERRELATED AND TIME-SPACE DEPENDENT. EVEN IF A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE ENTIRE URBAN AREA TRAFFIC FLOW COULD BE DEVELOPED, THE ASSUMPTIONS REQUIRED TO MAKE THE MODELING ATTAINABLE AND THE REQUIRED COMPUTER TIME AND PERFORMANCE WOULD PRECLUDE ANY EFFECTIVE OVERALL CONTROL MODEL. AFTER CONSIDERATION OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF FOLLOWING THE GROSS MACROSCOPIC VIEW, A BUILDING BLOCK APPROACH TO THE CONTROL OF TRAFFIC IN AN URBAN AREA BASED ON A MULTILEVEL-MULTIPROCESS CONCEPT IS BEING PURSUED. THE URBAN AREA WOULD BE DIVIDED, WHERE POSSIBLE, INTO IDENTIFIABLE CORRIDORS OF TRAFFIC MOVEMENT NORMALLY WITH A FREEWAY/EXPRESSWAY SERVING AS THE PRIMARY ARTERY OF THE CORRIDOR. WITHIN THE CORRIDOR, THE CONTROL OF TRAFFIC FLOW IS VIEWED AS THE CONTROL OF THREE COORDINATED PROCESSES: (1) THE FREEWAY FLOW, (2) THE FRONTAGE ROAD FLOW, AND (3) THE CORRIDOR STREET FLOW. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Traffic Engineers

  2029 K Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20006
• Authors:
  • Whitson, R H
  • Messer, C J
• Publication Date: 1972-9

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 173-82
• Serial:
  • Institute of Traffic Engineers, Proceedings

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Freeways; Highway corridors; Highway operations; Information processing; Interchange ramps; Ramp metering; Streets; Television; Traffic; Traffic actuated controllers; Traffic control; Traffic flow; Traffic surveillance
• Old TRIS Terms: Freeway ramps; Traffic control systems
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00226564
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 17 1973 12:00AM