城市交通控制的演变--政策与技术变更

在过去的一个世纪里，城市交通控制始终在演变，以适应日益复杂的政策目标和不断增长的交通需求。一个高效的交通控制系统可以带来很多收益，例如缓解拥堵、提高经济效益以及改善道路安全和空气质量。车辆检测和通信技术方面取得的显著进步为交通控制系统的调控能力带来了一系列阶段性变化：从早期（固定配时）信号控制发展到现代化的集成系统。多种类型的交通控制系统在全球不同地区建设完成，每种系统都有各自的优势和不足。首先通过对比分析目前占据领先地位的商用系统（以及一些较少为人所知的系统），凸显交通控制系统的关键特征和差异，然后评估目前的交通控制系统是否能实现现代交通政策的职能和需求。最后，探讨了当前及未来的交通政策，以及未来10年交通控制发展的技术性蓝图，指出交通控制有望通过技术进步从有限数据时代迈入大数据时代。

The Evolution of Urban Traffic Control:Changing Policy and Technology

The history of urban traffic control （UTC） throughout the past century has been a continued race to keep pace with ever more complex policy objectives and consistently increasing vehicle demand. Many benefits can be observed from an efficient UTC system, such as reduced congestion, increased economic efficiency and improved road safety and air quality. There have been significant advances in vehicle detection and communication technologies which have enabled a series of step changes in the capabilities of UTC systems, from early （fixed time） signal plans to modern integrated systems. A variety of UTC systems have been implemented throughout the world, each with individual strengths and weaknesses; this paper seeks to compare the leading commercial systems （and some less well known systems） to highlight the key characteristics and differences before assessing whether the current UTC systems are capable of meeting modern transport policy obligations and desires. This paper then moves on to consider current and future transport policy and the technological landscape in which UTC will need to operate over the coming de-cades, where technological advancements are expected to move UTC from an era of limited data availabili-ty to an era of data abundance.