The implementation of SCOOT in the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands

Trying to reach a new and better balance between the conflicting interests of transportation on one side and the environment on the other side is the challenge of the Second Transport Structure Plan, which is approved by Parliament. This plan has three main objectives: improve access to urban centres and reduce congestion, contain the growth of vehicle mileage and improve environmental conditions and traffic safety. Real-time control systems are considered as possibilities to come to a better utilization of the urban and interurban networks. It was decided to implement such a system in Nijmegen in order to assess the traffic performance of an online optimized real-time control system against the existing control system. This paper describes the implementation and plans for the evaluation of SCOOT in Nijmegen. It was explicitly decided not to develop a new real-time control system, but to consider the possibilities and applicability of an existing system.