A Hybrid Strategy for Real-Time Traffic Signal Control of Urban Road Networks

The recently developed traffic signal control strategy known as traffic-responsive urban control (TUC) requires availability of a fixed signal plan that is sufficiently efficient under undersaturated traffic conditions. To drop this requirement, the well-known Webster procedure for fixed-signal control derivation at isolated junctions is appropriately employed for real-time operation based on measured flows. It is demonstrated via simulation experiments and field application that the following hold: 1) The developed real-time demand-based approach is a viable real-time signal control strategy for undersaturated traffic conditions. 2) It can indeed be used within TUC to drop the requirement for a prespecified fixed signal plan. 3) It may, under certain conditions, contribute to more efficient results, compared with the original TUC method.