"Midtown in Motion": A New Active Traffic Management Methodology and Its Implementation in New York City

This paper summarizes a new active traffic management methodology developed and deployed in New York City. The design, development and implementation of the methodology are driven by the availability of extensive real-time travel time data, the upgraded ITS infrastructure and the need of a reliable and robust real-time signal control system for congestion management in a complex urban traffic environment. The primary objective is to maintain mobility in the subject control zone by preserving capacity and avoiding breakdown within the zone. To that end, multi-regime adaptive signal control strategies, ranging from strategically regulating traffic demand to balancing queue-storage ratio at critical intersections, work in concert to proactively manage congestion. Large-scale real-time travel time data (nearly 1 million records of individual trips per day) are utilized for effective control. This renders the system perhaps the first large-scale active traffic management framework that uses travel-time based adaptive control for congestion management in an urban grid network. In addition to running autonomously, a new mode of operator-in-the-loop allows the operators to interact with important signal timing decisions when the traffic pattern changes abruptly or switch of control policies is involved. The system has been deployed in a congested urban central business district in Manhattan, New York City. The initial deployment, called “Midtown-in-Motion”, includes a core 110 square block zone of Midtown Manhattan, from 2nd Avenue to 6th Avenue, and from 42nd to 57th Streets. New expansion is currently underway, covering more than 270 square blocks of Midtown Manhattan, from 1st to 9th Avenue, and from 42th to 57th Street.

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