Congestion on road networks causes severe problems in and around large cities. It is the source of pervasive economic inefficiencies as individuals, households and firms adjust their activities to avoid or compensate for time lost in traveling and to hedge against the possibility that trips take longer than expected. Since societal and environmental constraints prohibit large-scale extension of available network infrastructure, solutions need to be sought in using the existing traffic networks more efficiently. Dynamic Traffic Management (DTM) provides efficient tools to reduce the aforementioned problems within the boundaries of a sustainable transportation system. The AMICI R&D program focuses on traffic congestion management in and around large cities, such as Beijing, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Shanghai. In particular, it aims at coming up with solutions to efficiently manage traffic congestion by means of Dynamic Traffic Management. It is argued that to improve congestion management, approaches should considered the motorway network and the underlying urban and rural networks in an integrated way. Judging from the first explorations, it is believed that approximately 30% of all traffic congestion can be solved using an integrated approach. Furthermore, traffic management measures should be coordinated rather than isolated: a lot can be gained by jointly considering ramp metering and providing queue length information. Finally, efficient approaches will need to anticipate on future traffic conditions, rather than merely reacting to them. (Author/publisher)
Abstract