Abstract
An important type of control which can be used for the control of traffic in urban areas is termed route control. In this paper, route control is defined and a comprehensive review of the related literature is presented. The paper described the basic problems and principles of route control by drawing together the conclusions from the previous work and shows how they lead to the setting up of a series of route control experiments, using simulation. The simulation model, validation tests and the route control experimental results are given in a subsequent paper.