Combined traffic control and route choice optimization for traffic networks with disruptive changes

We present a combined traffic control and route choice optimization (CTCRCO) system to quickly find new traffic equilibrium solutions in urban road networks with significant changes. The system iteratively executes a control module which combines a traffic control system (TCS) and a traffic simulation manager (TSM) and an assignment module which combines a route set manager (RSM) and a route choice system (RCS), thus can optimize both traffic flows and route choices for minimizing average travel time of vehicles. We evaluate CTCRCO by testing various traffic scenarios in real-world road networks with significant changes. The results show that TCS and RCS are both significant for achieving a quick and low-cost convergence to an approximate equilibrium in a road network with significant changes. Approximate simulations not only accelerate convergence processes for non-congested cases, but also bypass potential gridlock states for over-congestion cases. The role of different path-finding procedures is also examined.