With the accelerated pace of urbanization, the growing popularity of motor vehicles, people enjoy the great convenience brought by the vehicle at the same time, but also faced with the confusion of traffic congestion. The direct way to solve traffic congestion is to build more Luqiao in order to improve the capacity of urban road network. However, the construction of Luqiao's huge capital and the strict limits of urban space, so that the effectiveness of the method greatly reduced. Therefore, on the basis of existing roads, improve the level of traffic control and management, rational use of existing transport facilities, give full play to its capacity, is one of the effective ways to solve traffic problems. Since the last century, countries all over the world have started to study the urban traffic control system.

From 1868 London for the first time using gas color light signal, the urban traffic signal machine from manual to automatic, traffic signals by the periodic fixed to variable cycle, the system control method from the point of control to remote control and surface control, from vehicle detector to a vehicle detector, after nearly 100 years of development. By 1963, the city of Toronto, Canada, set up a centralized and coordinated induction and control signal system using the IBM650 type computer, which marked a new stage of development of the urban road traffic signal system. After the United States, Britain, the former Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, Australia and other countries have been built on the computer as the core of the regional traffic control system, the general is also equipped with traffic monitoring system, traffic control center.

Since the reform and opening up, China's national economy has made great progress, urban construction with each passing day, urban road traffic conditions continue to improve. At the same time the ownership of motor vehicles increasing, some of the urban motor vehicle number even increased more than ten times, the construction of urban road far behind the increase of urban motor vehicle, urban traffic problem is more and more serious, to society, economy and environment brought about by the a series of adverse effects, such as the waste of time and energy, air and noise pollution, traffic accidents increase. Therefore, to solve the urban traffic problems has come to the time delay.

The development of modern science and technology provides a new way to solve the urban traffic problems. Practice has proved that under the existing urban road conditions, the use of computer technology, communication technology and control technology with modern urban traffic management technology, the establishment of urban traffic signal control system is a method of investment, taking effect quickly to solve urban traffic problems.