Optimum network control using traffic signals

Most traffic control strategies are designed considering effects at the junction and in the rest of the network in the short and medium term, but not the long-term consequences when drivers vary their routes because of the change in traffic flow. The paper argues for the use of responsive signals, with network capacity (rather than total travel cost) as control criterion. The capacity of the network is maximised if the signals operate so as to equalise traffic pressure on the most pressurised parts of the network