Integrated Network Management: Toward an Operational Control Method

Integrated Network Management (INM) deals with the coordinated deployment of traffic management measures, such as mainline and ramp-metering, intersection control, and route guidance. Many theoretical studies show the potential of INM for small test cases, but the complexity of the control problem has hampered application of INM for regional networks of realistic size. Furthermore, the links between regional policies and traffic management are seldom made explicit. This paper puts forward a control framework that is able to deal with the complexity, and linking into regional traffic management objectives. The paper discusses the traffic engineering foundations, the control principles, and the expected impacts using a simulation study for a medium-sized city in the Netherlands.