AREA CONTROL OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS IN GLASGOW

FIVE DIFFERENT CONTROL SCHEMES HAVE BEEN TESTED. TWO OF THE SYSTEMS TESTED, THE COMBINATION METHOD AND TRANSYT, CONSISTED OF SIMPLE FIXED TIME SCHEMES, CHANGED BY TIME OF DAY, AND WERE BASED ON OFF-LINE TECHNIQUES FOR OBTAINING MINIMUM JOURNEY TIMES IN THE NETWORK. IN THE FLEXIPROG AND EQUISAT SCHEMES, THE SUBDIVISION OF THE COMMON FIXED CYCLE AT EACH INTERSECTION WAS VARIED WITH LOCAL TRAFFIC CONDITIONS, BUT THE COORDINATION BETWEEN ADJACENT SIGNALS WAS BASED ON THE COMBINATION METHOD. THE FIFTH SYSTEM, PLIDENT, DID NOT INCORPORATE ANY FORMAL LINKING. PLATOONS OF TRAFFIC ON MAIN ROADS WERE IDENTIFIED AND THEIR ARRIVAL TIMES AT DOWN-STREAM SIGNALS WERE PREDICTED. GREEN TIMES WERE ADJUSTED TO SUIT THE LENGTH OF PLATOONS, UP TO POSSIBLE 3-MINUTE MAXIMUMS. SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN JOURNEY TIMES WERE OBTAINED WHEN THE COMBINATION METHOD AND TRANSYT WERE COMPARED WITH THE SYSTEM OF LINKED AND ISOLATED VEHICLE-ACTUATED SIGNALS WHICH EXISTED IN GLASGOW IN 1967. NEITHER FLEXIPROG NOR EQUISAT APPEARED TO GIVE A MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT OVER THE BASIC FIXED TIME LINKED SYSTEM. PLIDENT, THE MOST ELABORATE AND FLEXIBLE OF THE SYSTEMS TESTED, PRODUCED THE LONGEST AVERAGE JOURNEY TIMES RECORDED IN THE EXPERRIMENT. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 5, Part 3, PAPER NO 654, PP 266-276, 4 FIG, 9 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Holroyd, J
  • Hillier, J A
  • Thompson, K E
  • Potts, R B
• Conference:
  • Australian Road Research Board Conference Proc
• Publication Date: 1970

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Control systems; Pretimed traffic signal controllers; Traffic actuated controllers; Traffic signal control systems; Travel time
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00226200
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 20 1972 12:00AM