STATE OF THE ARTOF REGIONAL TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PLANNING IN THE NETHERLANDS

In the Netherlands, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are part of a more comprehensive Dutch national policy to cope with the growth of traffic mobility. Although the application of ITS in the past decades shows an impressive positive cost-benefit relation, it became more and more recognized that a shift from a technique-oriented approach to a result-oriented approach of ITS was needed to cope with the increasing traffic problems. To support this shift the Dutch Traffic Control Architecture (TCA) was developed. The TCA provides the user with a framework for setting up and using traffic management from a user perspective rather then from a technological perspective which is the focus of most ITS Architectures. The Dutch national TCA covers the entire process of traffic management, from the initial intent to improve a local traffic situation right up to an integrated traffic management concept. This process is described in the Handbook for Sustainable Traffic Management. This Handbook is applied throughout the Netherlands on a national, regional and local level resulting in a very structured and user oriented approach of traffic management in the Netherlands.