Boston Implements First AI-Recommended Traffic Flow Changes

Traffic is flowing differently at four Boston intersections today after implementing changes developed in partnership with artificial intelligence, city officials announced Thursday. “It provides our traffic engineers with critical data to adjust signals in seconds, which can help reduce congestion along the corridor,” Boston Streets Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge said in a statement. Boston is one of two cities in the country to partner with Google’s Project Green Light, officials said. Since the partnership began in February, it has analyzed data from hundreds of intersections to develop recommendations for improvement, which are then evaluated by Boston Department of Transportation traffic engineers. “The technology uses artificial intelligence to model traffic patterns and create signal timing recommendations that can reduce stop-and-go traffic and emissions,” the city said in a statement. So far, the city said the project’s signal timing recommendations have been implemented at four intersections in the Fenway-Kenmore, Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods. “At the intersections of Huntington Street, Opera Place, Amory Street and Greene Street, stop-and-go traffic has decreased by more than 50%. Cities around the world that have used Project Green Light have seen an average reduction in emissions of 10%,” the city said in a statement. “That’s a lot, when you think about how much time you spend in a vehicle or perhaps standing on a street corner waiting to get through an intersection,” said Stacey Thompson, executive director of the Livable Streets Alliance. Additionally, the city said working with Project Green Light has helped ensure that its monitoring infrastructure is working properly. “This innovative work with cutting-edge technology from Project Green Light from Google will help alleviate the frustrating congestion that many of our residents face, while helping to reduce emissions and inefficiencies on our city streets,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. The only other U.S. city partnering with Project Green Light is Seattle. “Through Project Green Light, we’re using AI to help improve people’s lives in cities around the world by reducing traffic and emissions,” said Mathias Verfloet, a product manager at Google. “The success of Green Light is only possible because of the partnership we have with cities like Boston. We are encouraged by the early results we’ve seen in Boston and look forward to working closely with the city to scale this technology to more intersections,” Thompson said. “I want to understand how this very specific tool fits into their larger vision of safer, more efficient streets.” Wu said the software is just one piece of the puzzle. “It comes with a lot of personalization and real human analysis but even having that starting point helps us target in a more effective way,” she said.