Policy-driven Network Management
Opportunity area: Orchestration
Helps cities steer traffic by clear goals, such as fewer stops for cyclists and pedestrians, instead of by car flow alone. First pilot in Groningen, with Technolution’s MobiMaestro.
What problem are we trying to solve?
Traffic lights decide who waits and who moves. Today, nobody can easily check whether they follow the city’s goals.
01
Policy stays on paper
Cities aim to put walking, cycling and buses first. At the junction, lights are still mostly set for cars, as cars dominate the detection data.
02
No clear yardstick
There is no agreed set of measures to judge how well a junction contributes to a city’s policy goals.
03
Junctions work alone
Each traffic light is tuned on its own, unaware of what happens elsewhere in the network.
How does it work?
Clear targets
A manageable list of absolute measures (e.g. maximum waiting times) and comparative ones (e.g. cyclists always wait less than cars).
Learns from the lights
Uses data that is already available, and adds more where needed through extra detection or model estimates.
One step at a time
Starts with a corridor, then the wider network.
How is it being tested?
Pilot in Corpus den Hoorn, Groningen, around the Martini Hospital, from April 2026 to mid-2027.
STEP 1 · FIVE JUNCTIONS
Reading what the lights already do
Data from five junctions on Laan Corpus den Hoorn shows where people wait without need.
STEP 2 · ACTIVE MODES COUNT
Adding new sensors for cyclists and pedestrians
Smart cameras (FlowCubes) will count cyclists and pedestrians at four junctions, which traffic lights barely measure today.
NEXT
Testing which mix of measures best serves the city’s goals. Results are built into MobiMaestro and MVVS.
How does it fit into DMI?
CITY
Cities can steer on policy goals instead of maximum throughput for the road users that dominate the detection data
APPLICATIONS
Network Management Traffic Prediction
VISUALISATION
Policy perception layer on top of the digital twin
PLATFORM
Technolution’s MobiMaestro network management system and Goudappel’s MVVS
DATA
Traffic light logs, national road sensors (NDW) and new cyclist and pedestrian counts
A method other cities can reuse to check their traffic lights against their own policy goals.
OPPORTUNITY AREA
Orchestration
COLLABORATORS
Curious what this could mean for your city?
Schedule a demonstration to learn more about how DRO partners are co-developing this and other applications for better management of the public space.
digitaleregie.openbareruimte@amsterdam.nl