This paper presents a practical guidence for determining an optimal traffic control system at intersections in the urban areas in Korea. Two alternative systems, unsignalized and signalized, are considered. For analyzing the unsignalized system, two kinds of simulation model are developed ; gap acceptance model and first -in -first - out model. For the signalized system the total delay function for general arrival distribution is developed under the assumption that departure time is constant and it is used to find an optimal cycle time. Finally, the results in these two alternative systems are compared under the minimum average delay criterion and an optimal traffic control system is determined. This approach supports the decision making whether to install a traffic signal system in an intersection with given traffic flows and, if installed, determines what is the optimal cycle time and how the traffic signal phases are divided. And it also gives upper bounds of traffic flows to be passed in the unsignalized and the signalized system, which can be effectively used whenever an intersection is designed.