Analysis and comparison between urban traffic control systems

Abstract

The problem of today's congested traffic in big cities is an ever-increasing one because the number of vehicles participating in traffic is constantly growing. Congested traffic means much more time spent in the car, on the road, higher fuel consumption, as well as a source of stress and frustration due to lost time. Another consequence of traffic jam is represented by the increased level of pollution that affects the entire planet. In spite of all the recent road improvements, the construction of new highways and new connections, the problem of congested traffic still persists, especially in the big cities. That's why different urban traffic control systems have been created and implemented over time, since the 1970s, to help decongest it and spend as little time as possible in the vehicle. These urban traffic control systems are based on recording various data related to traffic, analyzing them and acting on the basis of the data to adjust traffic light times; traffic lights are an essential element for urban traffic, they can be controlled in real time to improve road traffic. In this paper, the main urban traffic control systems (Traffic Network Study Tool – TRANSYT, Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique - SCOOT, Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System - SCATS, Urban Traffic Optimization by Integrated Automation - UTOPIA) will be analyzed and compared, respectively a case and statistics related to the congested traffic in the city of Bucharest will be presented.