Managing a city's transportation network—a case study

As pressures on the transportation network continue to increase, the Traffic Management Act 2004 places a duty on the network manager to monitor and manage the network in normal and abnormal conditions. Birmingham City Council, UK, is creating the services to address these needs by implementing an urban traffic management and control system. The system will be open-ended, with an emphasis on helping public transport. The Birmingham system will become part of a larger countywide system, so that in the event of an emergency, the county's transportation network can be managed from any location, to support the emergency services and controlling delay on the network. A key element of the service will be the relationship of the seven West Midlands county metropolitan authorities with the Highways Agency and the eventual development of automated and shared strategies.