THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CENTRALIZED CONTROL SYSTEM FOR TRAFFIC SIGNALS WITH AN EXPLANATION OF THE USE OF THE CONTROL MODEL "VEHICLE ACTUATED AREA CONTROL" IN OBERHAUSEN

The large growth in inner city traffic and the occasional sudden additional loading of city streets from non-local traffic made it necessary in Oberhausen-a Ruhr City with one quarter of a million inhabitants and a road network of 440 km - to renew the ageing traffic signal network in the old area of the city. A part area traffic control technique was chosen, which is a combination of area traffic control and other control. The control equipment is organised by switch-technology into phase-groups. In connection with an overriding area traffic control unit this system offers the possibility of determining at will the phase-sequence, the phase duration and a time-related grading of desirable routes. A detailed description is given of the construction of the installation carried out by the signal construction Huber-Designa GMBH of Munich. Area traffic control is carried out using two synchronised hp 2100a processing computers. There is a total of 290 detectors connected to the system. The following are used as parameters: number of vehicles, traffic flow, traffic density, time lapse, presence (requirement), duration of occupation (tail backs), degree of occupation, speed. Tracon was the adopted program system, which is easy to understand and permits the traffic engineer with only a brief introduction and without prior knowledge of the program language to make changes and new traffic situations in the program language. An extension of the signal system to the remaining areas of the city is anticipated. (TRRL)