Reserve capacity of a signal-controlled road network

The concept of reserve capacity has been used extensively for performance measure and timing design of individual signal-controlled intersections. In this paper, we extend this concept to a general signal-controlled road network under time-stationary conditions. The whole capacity of a road network is controlled by intersections whose capacity depends on traffic signal settings. We first define and formulate the reserve capacity of a whole signal-controlled road network, and then show how a hi-level programming method can be used to determine signal setting for maximization of the network reserve capacity. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the concept and the calculation procedure. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.