A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE TRAFFIC CONTROL

This paper describes a bottom-up approach to road traffic control. The approach is intended as a supplement to the more traditional top-down approach to traffic control by traffic management centres applying traffic control measures according to control scenarios. The essence of this bottom-up approach consists of communicating road elements: nodes and links in the network measure their traffic state and communicate about it to other nodes and links. The combination of the two control mechanisms is a promising way of implementing the control part of Sustainable Traffic Management. The approach is currently being applied in two real-life projects: the DRIP control systems on the Dutch motorways A1, A6 and A9 and the project HARS: traffic control on the belt road around Alkmaar.