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traffic control
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A commercial airplane lands on a runway in front of the tall, white airport traffic control tower at Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport. Airport control tower in the foreground with a blue and white jet ascending into the sky in the background. aircraft landing sequence
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A commercial airplane lands on a runway in front of the tall, white airport traffic control tower at Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Airplane landing in front of the air traffic control tower at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, northern Kentucky, U.S.

traffic control

transportation
Written by
F.D. Hobbs
Head, Environmental Modelling and Survey Unit, University of Birmingham, England. Author of Traffic Planning and Engineering.
F.D. HobbsAll
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

traffic control, supervision of the movement of people, goods, or vehicles to ensure efficiency and safety. Traffic is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. The movement typically occurs along a specific facility or pathway that can be called a guideway. It may be a physical guideway, as in the case of a railroad, or it may be an agreed-upon or designated route, marked either electronically (as in aviation) or geographically...

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