Traffic lights key to reducing fuel use, researcher says

Media General News Service
Published: May 1, 2008

A University of Virginia researcher believes he has found a way to curtail automobile fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The answer, according to engineering professor Byungkyu “Brian” Park, is relatively simple - tweak the timing of traffic signals.

Park and his collaborators gathered reams of data from four busy Charlottesville intersections. They counted the number of cars, the number of trucks, measured how far the queue backed up, how many motorists turned, how fast people were driving and much more.

The researchers then plugged all the data into a computer simulator program that analyzed the best ways to optimize the traffic signal.

Under Park’s idea, a local government could replicate his computer modeling research and reset the timing of its traffic lights. As a result, Park said, cars would flow through intersections more smoothly.

“The computer model can replicate what is happening in the real world intersections,” he said.

By curbing the amount of time a car is stopped at a light, fewer gas emissions are pumped into the air and less fuel is consumed by the car’s starting and stopping.

“We can optimize signals to maximize fuel efficiency and lower emissions,” said Park, who is part of UVa’s Center for Transportation Studies.

Traffic light optimization is not a new idea. But Park said recent advances in computer modeling have allowed engineers to time traffic signals with pinpoint accuracy.
Gas prices in the Charlottesville area are at an average of $3.54 a gallon, self-service, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.