I live in Maine, which means I often have to brave Boston traffic to do “big city things.” The age and high population density of the Massachusetts metropolis make it one of the most miserable places to drive in the country, worse than Los Angeles in many areas. The city is trying to address the problem with a new partnership with Google’s Project Green Light, which relies on artificial intelligence to traffic light patterns in the hope of reducing congestion.
Boston Street Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge said WCVB that the system “provides our traffic engineers with important data to adjust a signal by seconds, which can help reduce congestion along a corridor.” The city also said the technology should help traffic flow more smoothly stop and go traffic and cut emissions.
The partnership has proven successful in limited early tests so far. Officials said, “At the intersections of Huntington Avenue and Opera Place, and at Armory Street and Green Street, stop-and-go traffic has been reduced by more than 50 percent. Cities around the world using Project Green Light have seen an average 10 percent reduction in emissions.”
Boston consistently ranks in the top 10 worst cities in the US for traffic. Earlier this year, CNBC noted that motorists spent an average of 42 hours in traffic jams in 2023, so any improvement in travel time is an advantage that everyone can support.
Google Product Manager Matheus Vervloet said: “Through Project Green Light, we are using AI to improve the lives of people in cities around the world by reducing traffic and emissions. Green Light’s success is only possible because of the partnerships we have with cities like Boston. We are encouraged by the early results we have seen in Boston and look forward to working closely with the city to scale this technology to more intersections.”
Project Green Light is still a new project, with Seattle the only other U.S. city in the pilot program. Google said the project is live at more than 70 intersections worldwide, impacting 30 million car trips per month. The company plans to expand to “hundreds of cities and tens of thousands of intersections over the next few years.”