Abstract: Intelligent traffic control devices that are spatially distributed at strategic locations on streets, highways, and intersections communicate bi-directional complex information to control the movement of various users in a safe and efficient manner. The intelligence of the traffic control devices is based on the capability of each device to operate in manners normally associated with computer-based controls. Such actions include the ability to react to complex instructions, perform logical and arithmetical computations, make records of sequences of events, perform self-diagnostic assessments, take reliable and predictable autonomous actions, and communicate information collected from environmental sensors or internal state of operation. Such devices may contain varying degrees of binary coded descriptions that describe device capability and performance characteristics to other traffic control devices that may require access to sensory information and/or control functions.