Highway traffic surveillance and control research

The Burean of Public Roads of the U. S. Department of Transportation, through the Traffic Systems Division of its Office of Research and Development, is conducting a major research program in the fields of highway traffic surveillance and control. The effort involves in-house, coatract, and cooperative Federal-State research. Being given individual as well as integrated systems consideration are urban highway networks, freeways and rural multilane highways, and two-lane rural highways. Among the many projects trader way or being planned are several "major emphasis" projects, offering particularly great potential for rapid payoff, together with related theoretical research. These include: 1) an urban traffic control system, utilizing a digital computer, for research into advanced signal control concepts 2) a refined ramp-freeway merging control system 3) advanced freeway flow modelling and surveillance techniques and possible automation of flow 4) a passing aid system for two-lane rural highways, to permit passing on roads with restricted sight distances 5) an electronic route guidance system to supplement signs 6) use of cooperative passing motorists to advise of drivers needing help 7) overall systems analysis of highway communications. Also under way is a broad long-range analysis of the function of transportation.