It would also save countless lives.
So says a new study from the National Transportation Operatons Council, an alliance of national associations and private sector groups that seek to improve the country's transportation infrastructure.
The impact isn't trivial. Even changing the delay of lights by a few seconds could reduce road congestion by as much as 10%. It would reduce air pollution from vehicles by as much as one-fifth, cut accidents at intersections and save about five tanks of gasoline per household each year.
So why aren't we doing this? Read after the jump.
Even cities that time their lights to reduce congestion typically do so only through major arteries. And traffic patterns constantly shift. To keep traffic flowing, the timing on lights must periodically change to meet new conditions. It should also change throughout the day. Many small and mid-sized cities simply don't have the money to conduct traffic studies that would ease congestion. And even in large cities, we all know intersections in which a light may have served an important function once upon a time, but now it only grants green to a ghost lane of traffic while we sit at the busy thoroughfare burning gas while listening to bad 90's music.
Currently, three of four timed traffic lights in the country need adjustment, according to the Department of Transportation. But traffic engineers are in short supply. City and town politics tend to give the issue very low priority. And as for federal aid? Are you kidding?
Photo by Flickr user Thomas Hawk.
