Application of area traffic control using the max-pressure algorithm

Abstract

This paper proposes an application of max-pressure control for network-wide signal control at Bandung, Indonesia. The max-pressure approach is employed for a specific disturbed network system synthetic scenario, created with the aim to simulate spillback conditions which causing long congestion across road segments in real traffic conditions. The max-pressure controller is implemented for a network of six signalized intersections in PTV Vissim, a traffic micro-simulation platform. The validated model is generated before implementing in the Vissim traffic simulation. Three types of controller are studied: the currently implemented controller (fixed time controller), cycle-based max-pressure and slotted-based max-pressure. The simulation results show that max-pressure control is more powerful than the currently implemented technique in terms of the capability to avoid congestion by spreading vehicles to other road segments with respect to some events that can be seen as a disturbance.