Dynamic traffic management is an important part of the Dutch transport policy. All kinds of measures have been implemented and assessed on the motorway network, such as the motorway traffic management system with speed limits and queue tail warning, ramp metering, variable message signs, dedicated lanes, peak lanes, incident management, etc. In this paper the focus is on ramp metering, which is the management of traffic on an on-ramp, depending on the traffic conditions on the motorway and the on-ramp. The main purpose is the improvement of traffic conditions on the motorway, taking into account the conditions on the on-ramp and surface roads. History, principles, assessment studies and future plans are discussed.@en

FLEXSYT-II- is a microscopic simulation program for small scale networks, which can be used to study effects of all kinds of geometric alternatives, like bus lanes, roundabouts, separate left turnes, etc. and all kinds of traffic management measures, such as traffic control strategies, priority measures, ramp-metering, main-line metering, HOV lanes and toll-gates. A good example is the use of FLEXSYT to study the effects of ramp-metering. The model is validated with real-life measurements@en

The real time traffic network optimization program SCOOT is well known worldwide as an optimization program for controlled networks in urban area's. Apart from applications in the United Kingdom, the use of SCOOT has been reported from Beijing (China), Toronto (Canada), Madrid (Spain) and from Minneapolis (United States). This paper describes the way in which SCOOT was implemented, calibrated, tested and assessed against the existing control system in the city of Nijmegen in The Netherlands. It was explicitly decided not to develop a new real-time control system, but to consider the possibilities and applicability of an existing system. After a call for tender, the implementation started in July 1991. Completion was foreseen by the end of 1992 but turned out to be somewhat delayed, due to several reasons which will be explained. The calibration was completed in September 1993. In the assessment phase, attention was paid to the differences with respect to the measurement of journey times through the network, not only for passenger cars, but also for public transport, pedestrians and bicycles. Other important aspects were the number of stops and the queue length. These aspects were measured on several locations in the network, including those locations where the gating mechanism was active. The data-processing and -analysis finished in January 1995. The analysis showed that the starting-point of the assessment (a SCOOT system that is validated correctly) was not entirely correct which put a finger on a weak spot. In general the differences are varying. SCOOT gives a better performance in the morning peak, but a worse performance in the evening peak. On the whole there is no difference between the SCOOT system and the old system and that accounts for all modes of transport.@en