New Traffic Lights Speed Seattle Traffic

28 January 2001 - 6:00am

Seattle improves traffic flow with newly optimized traffic lights.

"Although programming traffic lights may appear simple...it works only when based on extensive and accurate data. Once the data are collected, the programmers must balance the needs of everyone that uses intersections. The basic philosophy is to increase the number of green lights a motorist can travel through before eventually encountering a red light. But that must be balanced with the needs of side-street motorists, -- bicycles and pedestrians..."

Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 25, 2001
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Its very unsuitability for an urban center justifies its current usage as a suburban or ex-urban pattern.