Los Angeles syncs up all 4,500 of its traffic lights
Baku, April 8 (AZERTAC). Los Angeles is the first city in the world to synchronize all of its traffic lights, hoping to unclog its massive roadway congestion. It has taken 30 years and $400 million, but Los Angeles has finally synchronized its traffic lights in an effort to reduce traffic congestion, becoming the first city in the world to do so. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa said with the 4,500 lights now in sync, commuters will save 2.8 minutes driving five miles in Los Angeles, The New York Times reported. Villaraigosa also said that the average speed would rise more than two miles per hour on city streets and that carbon emissions would be greatly reduced as drivers spend less time starting and stopping. According to CBS News, less idling will mean a 1-ton reduction in carbon emissions every year. The initiative, named Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control, began ahead of the 1984 Olympics to pre-empt traffic snarls as visitors swarmed to events. Today, it uses underground magnetic censors to measure traffic conditions. That data is sent through fiber-optic cables to a central control where, without human intervention, it`s analyzed and stored to predict future patterns.
According to the Times, the control system adjusts traffic signals and has the ability to extend green lights for buses traveling in bus-only lanes during periods of heavy congestion. It also accounts for special events, like the Oscars or a presidential visit, by releasing light patterns to vehicles that advise them of alternative routes. The censors also detect bicycles and pedestrian traffic in certain neighborhoods.
Despite what the city is calling a victory for commuters and the environment, experts aren`t so sure the expensive innovation can combat greater factors at play. According to a Texas A&M Transportation Institute report, drivers nationwide have wasted more time commuting since 2008. In 2011, they were delayed almost 5.5 billion hours on the road, up from 1.1 billion in 1982. Individuals spent 38 hours delayed in 2011.
Experts warned quicker travel times could actually convince more Los Angeles residents to hit the streets.
"If we reduce average travel time in Los Angeles by 20 percent, then we will see more people traveling," professor James E. Moore II, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, told the Times. "It`s money well spent, but part of the benefit is not speed but throughput."
Moore suggested that the best method to decongest Los Angeles streets would be to remove vehicles. To accomplish that, he said, cities should charge drivers for traveling on the busiest sectors.
A measure last November enacted just that — an optional toll of $1.40 per mile for single drivers who want to motor through 11 miles of Interstate 110 in Los Angeles County, where they can expect less traffic and their average speeds should never dip below 45 miles per hour, according to the Times. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, these vehicles are shaving 15 to 20 minutes off their trips.
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