Is Traffic Signal Synchronization Justifiable?
April 15, 1994 Claims that signal synchronization reduce emissions and save fuel have been used to promote its use in numerous cities around the world. Millions of dollars have been spent to implement it. Traffic engineers use it to justify their employment. And yet these claims have never been scientifically demonstrated. “Classical” traffic engineering has had as its goal the maximal throughput of vehicles, encouraging ever greater volumes and speeds of traffic. Recently, this goal has increasingly been questioned, since it has led to increases in noise, pollution, accidents, global warming, and, in general, a lower quality of life. Instead, traffic calming, and an emphasis on moving (or better still, not moving!) people and goods, rather than vehicles, is taking its place. Traffic signal synchronization (TSS) is a good example of a tool that has received almost universal, and quite unjustified, allegiance. It is obviously extremely popular with motorists, but this is not sufficient
