A PROBING LOOK INTO CUTTING-PLANE ALGORITHMS FOR BANDWIDTH MAXIMIZATION

Progression systems synchronize traffic signals to maximize the green band, so that vehicles entering the band at one end of the arterial can pass the other unimpeded. Although traffic control systems optimize other criteria, such as travel time and traffic flow, synchronization remains a desirable feature as drivers are averse to frequent stops. This paper gives a short account of progression systems based on bandwidth maximization, including MAXBAND and MULTIBAND, which can be cast as mixed-integer linear programming problems. To this end, the paper offers a brief review of cutting-planes, before developing a Chvátal-Gomory-based cutting-plane algorithm for bandwidth maximization and reporting numerical results. The cutting planes proved to be effective in the first iterations, inducing a substantial reduction on the upper bound for the maximum green band, but became ineffective in the remaining iterations. This paper finalizes with a research agenda to develop fast, effective algorithms for real-time applications.