{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T07:55:34Z","timestamp":1774425334373,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774224000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52272334"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52272334"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52502403"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52502403"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Provincial Key R&D Program of Zhejiang","award":["2024C01180"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024C01180"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004731","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ZCLQ24E0801"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZCLQ24E0801"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004731","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100018978","name":"Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Zhejiang Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["25JCXK001YB"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25JCXK001YB"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100018978","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100022955","name":"Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universities of Zhejiang","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["SJLY2025006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SJLY2025006"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100022955","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Freight-dominant port collection and distribution road networks exhibit strong spatial congestion, early spillback, and heterogeneous vehicle dynamics that challenge conventional traffic signal control strategies. Although Max-Pressure (MP) signal control provides strong decentralized stability properties, its classical queue-based formulation lacks sensitivity to incipient spatial congestion and performs poorly when heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) dominate traffic composition. This paper proposes a gain-modulated Max-Pressure (Gain-MP) control framework, in which conventional pressure computation is augmented by an occupancy-dependent feedback gain that dynamically adjusts phase priorities according to real-time spatial congestion states and current right-of-way conditions. Without altering the decentralized structure of MP, the proposed method introduces a nonlinear feedback mechanism that enhances system responsiveness to congestion formation while suppressing excessive phase switching. The approach is evaluated using microscopic simulation on a signalized grid network representing port access corridors under time-varying demand and high HDV penetration. Results demonstrate that the dynamic Gain-MP controller performs better than classical queue-based MP, PCU-weighted MP, and fixed-time control. Moreover, constant-demand experiments indicate that the dynamic Gain-MP controller maintains bounded vehicle accumulation over a wider empirical demand range than the benchmark MP-based methods under the tested settings.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14030332","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T11:59:36Z","timestamp":1774267176000},"page":"332","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Gain-Modulated Max Pressure Control for Port Collection and Distribution Road Networks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-5457-7815","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yifei","family":"Mao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tunan","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nuojia","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Weijie","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Urban Traffic Technologies, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China"},{"name":"National Traffic Management Engineering & Technology Research Centre, Ningbo University Sub-Centre, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4260-6732","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manel","family":"Grifoll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Barcelona School of Nautical Studies, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTech), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Markos","family":"Papageorgiou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"},{"name":"Dynamic Systems and Simulation Laboratory, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3834-1401","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pengjun","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Urban Traffic Technologies, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China"},{"name":"National Traffic Management Engineering & Technology Research Centre, Ningbo University Sub-Centre, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"104239","article-title":"The impact of port investment along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road on regional port network connectivity and its imbalance","volume":"87","author":"Lin","year":"2025","journal-title":"Reg. Stud. Mar. Sci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1005","DOI":"10.1080\/03088839.2022.2068204","article-title":"Traffic and freight flow predictions and effects of capacity expansion in the urban\u2013port road interface: The case of a port city in Poland","volume":"50","author":"Bernacki","year":"2023","journal-title":"Marit. Policy Manag."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Leng, Z., Lian, C., Yuan, K., and Yuan, Q. (2025). Moving Beyond the World\u2019s Largest Port: Spatiotemporal Patterns of Port Container Truck Flows Linked to the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. Systems, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13121068"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gao, Y., and Levinson, D. (2025). The rise of trucks and the fall of throughput. Transp. A Transp. Sci., 1\u201328.","DOI":"10.1080\/23249935.2025.2477817"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1016\/j.arcontrol.2019.09.006","article-title":"A co-simulation, optimization, control approach for traffic light control with truck priority","volume":"48","author":"Zhao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Control"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2013.08.014","article-title":"Max pressure control of a network of signalized intersections","volume":"36","author":"Varaiya","year":"2013","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"03123001","DOI":"10.1061\/JTEPBS.TEENG-7578","article-title":"Max-pressure traffic signal timing: A summary of methodological and experimental results","volume":"149","author":"Levin","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Transp. Eng. Part A Syst."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124416","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2024.124416","article-title":"Dynamic traffic signal control for heterogeneous traffic conditions using max pressure and reinforcement learning","volume":"254","author":"Agarwal","year":"2024","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.1109\/TCNS.2014.2378871","article-title":"Capacity-aware backpressure traffic signal control","volume":"2","author":"Gregoire","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Control Netw. Syst."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wongpiromsarn, T., Uthaicharoenpong, T., Wang, Y., Frazzoli, E., and Wang, D. (2012, January 16\u201319). Distributed traffic signal control for maximum network throughput. Proceedings of the 2012 15th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Anchorage, AK, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ITSC.2012.6338817"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Tsitsokas, D., Kouvelas, A., and Geroliminis, N. (2022, January 1\u20133). Critical node selection method for efficient max-pressure traffic signal control in large-scale congested networks. Proceedings of the Abstract Book: 10th Symposium of the European Association for Research in Transport (hEART 2022), Leuven, Belgium."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"431","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2014.11.009","article-title":"Decentralized signal control for urban road networks","volume":"58","author":"Le","year":"2015","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104128","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2023.104128","article-title":"Two-layer adaptive signal control framework for large-scale dynamically-congested networks: Combining efficient Max Pressure with Perimeter Control","volume":"152","author":"Tsitsokas","year":"2023","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.1177\/03611981221095520","article-title":"Microsimulation study evaluating the benefits of cyclic and non-cyclic max-pressure control of signalized intersections","volume":"2676","author":"Robbennolt","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Rec."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"435","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trb.2019.08.005","article-title":"Position weighted backpressure intersection control for urban networks","volume":"128","author":"Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part B Methodol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xiao, N., Frazzoli, E., Li, Y., Wang, Y., and Wang, D. (2014, January 15\u201317). Pressure releasing policy in traffic signal control with finite queue capacities. Proceedings of the 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Los Angeles, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/CDC.2014.7040407"},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Liu, H. (2023, January 8\u201312). TD-MP: A max pressure algorithm considering delay equity. Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, WA, USA."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"896","DOI":"10.1109\/TVT.2017.2760820","article-title":"Delay-Based Traffic Signal Control for Throughput Optimality and Fairness at an Isolated Intersection","volume":"67","author":"Wu","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"206","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ifacol.2024.07.341","article-title":"Max-Pressure Control utilizing Total Movement Delay","volume":"58","author":"Zoabi","year":"2024","journal-title":"IFAC-PapersOnLine"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zoabi, R., and Haddad, J. (December, January 30). Dynamic Cycle Time in Traffic Signal of Cyclic Max-Pressure Control. Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on Management of Future Motorway and Urban Traffic Systems 2022, Dresden, Germany.","DOI":"10.25368\/2023.110"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103803","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2022.103803","article-title":"A novel Max Pressure algorithm based on traffic delay","volume":"143","author":"Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dixit, V., Nair, D.J., Chand, S., and Levin, M.W. (2020). A simple crowdsourced delay-based traffic signal control. PLoS ONE, 15.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0230598"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"275","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2019.10.002","article-title":"Max-pressure traffic controller based on travel times: An experimental analysis","volume":"110","author":"Mercader","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zoabi, R., and Haddad, J. (2022, January 8\u201312). An advanced Max-Pressure traffic controller based on travel time delays. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE 25th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), Macau, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ITSC55140.2022.9922414"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cao, J., Hu, Y., Diamantis, M., Zhang, S., Wang, Y., Guo, J., Papamichail, I., Papageorgiou, M., Zhang, L., and Hu, J.S. (2020, January 20\u201323). A max pressure approach to urban network signal control with queue estimation using connected vehicle data. Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), Rhodes, Greece.","DOI":"10.1109\/ITSC45102.2020.9294361"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijtst.2021.07.002","article-title":"Characterization of heavy vehicle headways in oversaturated interrupted conditions: Towards development of passenger car equivalency factors","volume":"11","author":"Ghanim","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Transp. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1276","DOI":"10.1080\/19427867.2017.1293313","article-title":"Estimation of passenger car unit for heterogeneous traffic stream of urban arterials: Case study of Kolkata","volume":"15","author":"Mondal","year":"2023","journal-title":"Transp. Lett."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijtst.2020.07.002","article-title":"Estimation of Passenger Car Unit on urban roads: A literature review","volume":"10","author":"Sharma","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Transp. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104795","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2024.104795","article-title":"OCC-MP: A Max-Pressure framework to prioritize transit and high occupancy vehicles","volume":"166","author":"Ahmed","year":"2024","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104865","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2024.104865","article-title":"A max pressure algorithm for traffic signals considering pedestrian queues","volume":"169","author":"Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"04024028","DOI":"10.1061\/JTEPBS.TEENG-7956","article-title":"Ped-mp: A pedestrian-friendly max-pressure signal control policy for city networks","volume":"150","author":"Xu","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Transp. Eng. Part A Syst."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103614","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2022.103614","article-title":"Integrating public transit signal priority into max-pressure signal control: Methodology and simulation study on a downtown network","volume":"138","author":"Xu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10491","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ifacol.2023.10.1068","article-title":"Back-Pressure traffic Signal Control in the Presence of Noisy Queue Information","volume":"56","author":"Charalambous","year":"2023","journal-title":"IFAC-PapersOnLine"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104105","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2023.104105","article-title":"Throughput properties and optimal locations for limited deployment of Max-pressure controls","volume":"150","author":"Barman","year":"2023","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1741","DOI":"10.1109\/TITS.2020.2970193","article-title":"A decentralized signal control for non-lane-based heterogeneous traffic under V2I communication","volume":"21","author":"Kumaravel","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103670","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2022.103670","article-title":"Learning the max pressure control for urban traffic networks considering the phase switching loss","volume":"140","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sun, J., Wang, Y., Yang, H., Zhang, Z., Papageorgiou, M., Liu, G., and Zheng, P. (2025). Max-Pressure Controller for Traffic Networks Considering the Phase Switching Loss. Sustainability, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/su17104492"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102828","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trc.2020.102828","article-title":"Max-pressure signal control with cyclical phase structure","volume":"120","author":"Levin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol."}],"container-title":["Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/14\/3\/332\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T06:08:35Z","timestamp":1774418915000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/14\/3\/332"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["systems14030332"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/systems14030332","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-8954"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-8954","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]]}}}