Combination of travel time and delay measurements in an urban traffic controller : A case study of Zuidas

Abstract: Increasing traffic volume in the urban areas is leading to a series of negative effects such as congestion or emission of air pollutants. The city of Amsterdam is no exception to this trend and a sustainable solution is sought in the area of Traffic Management and Intelligent Transportation Systems. The goal of this study is to develop a traffic management strategy that enhances the traffic performance in distributor roads (Plus Network Auto in Amsterdam) during saturated conditions (AM and PM peak). After the analysis of the current state of the traffic management in the municipality of Amsterdam, an opportunity has been detected in which a combination of the different systems in place can be used to improve the traffic performance of the local road network. Travel time and delay measurements retrieved from inductive-loop detectors, automatic number plate recognition cameras and floating car data are used in a top-level urban traffic controller that combines the traffic responsiveness of a vehicle-actuated controller with the effective coordination of a fixed-time controller. The proposed controller can act locally when the delay measurements show congestion at a single intersection or along the whole corridor when the average speed drops below a specified threshold. A microscopic simulation model of the Zuidas district for the year 2030 and the PM peak has been used to evaluate the proposed top-level controller compared to the currently used vehicle-actuated controller and the coordinated fixed-time controller. The results show that the average speed in the main corridor has been increased by 28,5% and meets the desired speed set by the municipality for the Plus Network Auto. Overall delays at the intersections are reduced in average by 11,60% while the effect on the public transport modes remains similar. However, the coordinated fixed-time controller has shown even a better performance than the proposed top-level controller, for which a series of recommendations have been issued.