The invention discloses a traffic bottleneck identification method in an urban traffic network, and relates to the technical field of traffic information control, and the method comprises the following steps: 1, constructing virtual road network information; 2, collecting traffic flow data in the virtual road network; 3, carrying out fusion processing on the collected data; 4, generating a virtualroad network PA back-stepping model by using a PA back-stepping technology; 5, establishing a virtual road network database based on the original road network database; 6, calculating the data in thevirtual road network database; 7, calculating and mining according to the data to obtain bottleneck points, and diagnosing real bottleneck points; 8, outputting reasons of the bottleneck points. According to the method, the road traffic flow information is monitored through the architecture virtual nodes and the virtual road sections, the real-time model is generated through the PA back-steppingtechnology, the road traffic flow information is simulated through the model, the bottleneck points are accurately deduced, and more accurate and scientific suggestions are provided for traffic jam treatment and optimization.