Synchronized traffic lights can be part of ‘green’ city
By Lethbridge Herald on November 13, 2025.
Editor,
Lethbridge is often praised as a “green” city, with its many parks, beautiful trails, and expanding network of bike lanes. However, one area where the city could make significant progress toward sustainability and efficiency is in synchronizing its traffic lights.
Anyone who has driven through downtown Lethbridge, say along 4 Avenue South, knows the frustration of hitting red lights. Travelling from Stafford Drive to Scenic Drive, you’ll quickly notice that when the light turns red at 8 Street, the lights at 7, 6, and 5 Avenue simutaneously follow the same cycle—red, amber, and green—all at once.
The result? You’re forced to stop at least once and usually twice, even when traffic is light and there’s no real need to halt.
The situation isn’t any better on Mayor Magrath Drive. One recent afternoon, I was stopped at 16 Avenue South, only to find myself halted again at Henderson Lake Boulevard, then at 19th Avenue, 20 Avenue, and finally at 22 Avenue or Scenic Drive.
Five stops within a very short space —not exactly a model of efficiency for a city that prides itself on being environmentally conscious.
Synchronizing our traffic lights would not only improve the flow of traffic but also reduce unnecessary idling, fuel consumption, and emissions. But it would also make our streets safer. Right now, many impatient drivers speed up after getting a green light, hoping to make it through the next intersection before it turns red. This creates dangerous conditions and increases the likelihood of collisions.
Fewer stops mean less frustration for drivers and less pollution in the air we all share. It’s a practical, cost-effective step that aligns perfectly with Lethbridge’s image as a forward-thinking, sustainable community.
If we are serious about being a “green” city, we need to look beyond our parks and bike lanes and address the inefficiencies in our road system.
A co-ordinated traffic signal system throughout the entire city would be a simple, visible, and immediate way to make Lethbridge both greener and more livable.
Ken Moore
Lethbridge
-11
I wonder what percentage of urban emmissions is attributable to the energy needed to accelerate and decelerate a car an unnecessary number of times due to the bad timing of lights?
3.14%
Pi? You’re talking in circles, Gandolf.
traffic circles in a roundabout way lol
I drive MMD every day to go to work . It should be impossible to stop at most lights , but you do.
MMD between 20th ave south and all the way to 34th Ave between 3:30 and 6pm can be gridlocked because lights are red/green/red/green as far as you can see. When your light turns green nothing moves. This, obviously is not all the time
But for sure happens several times a day . A simple coordination (maybe it’s not simple , I really don’t know ), that promoted flow would fix that .
depending where you work, have you considered 43 street or Scenic Drive to 16ave S or 10ave S?
Point taken , sometimes I think diverting to Coaldale would get me there quicker!
Are we certain there isn’t already synchronization happening? People always say “well sometimes I don’t hit all greens, therefore we need to fix this” but that’s not how it works. Synchronizing lights in one direction requires them being out of sync in the other. Sometimes synchronizing them on a feeder road would overwhelm an intersection down the line.
I’m sure there is room for improvement, and it’s possible the city hasn’t looked at this at all, I simply don’t know. But I do know the idea people have of traffic light synchronization is unrealistic.
i think you are talking about traffic count. Once a certain number of cars goes through then it changes color, in either direction. So sometimes you may wait a shorter period to go through, if you have and are the first one at the intersection stopped, then the next time about the same period, give or take 3 min, you would wait longer. Just a thought.
That is part of it – if you change after a certain number of cars, that is going to throw off the synchronization down the street. So I’m not just talking about a traffic count, I’m saying the system is a lot more complex than “why aren’t all the lights green for me?”.
the only way the traffic lights are truly synchronized is after 11pm or midnight. You go north/south bound with all green lights, until someone crosses an intersection east or west, whether they are turning or going straight. Even then, the light doesn’t stay changed for very long
So, being resident of 50+ years, i have taken my broom stick and travelled all over the city on it’s main roads, like Mayor Magrath Drive and 13 street, and I can tell you, as the city grew with more business to turn right into, the traffic slows down to almost a crawl. No point in trying to go 60km down Mayor Magrath or 50km down 13st, even if you are in the middle lane. Why? There are too many turn offs going right in such a short distance to get to a business. One good example is Tim Horton’s on Mayor Magrath Drive. Within a block you have 2 or 3 “right turns” to go to an establishment, or even turn right onto Scenic Drive. Of course you can’t go the speed limit to make these turns so you do have to slow down. Also, bus stops along these major roads heed havoc as well, slowing down traffic. One suggestion, other than synchronizing lights, is to limit the number of turn offs to go right. There’s really no need, in most cases, to have to turn off a major road to get to a shopping center. Super Store is another good example, as soon as you turn left off Mayor Magrath Drive, you can go right where the gas station is, go up a little further to the traffic light, then another turn off at the truck drop off for inventory. Not even two blocks! Synchronized traffic lights would work too, however, and I may have just been lucky these few times, I’ve been able to go from Super Store and head north bound and NOT hit a single red light because I was able to go the speed limit throughout. Sure, some lights I approached were just starting to turn yellow, but I knew that I would not have been able to stop in time safely. So it is possible, but traffic has to cooperate. So, to summarize, it’s not just the lights. It’s the number of turn off points in a short distance as well. Keeping in the middle lane if you are going long distances would help too, but when lights light up like an Xmas tree every second intersection, green – red – green – red, it feels like I am playing an old kids game called “Traffic Stop.” We would have our backs turned and say “green light.” and we would “walk across the street” in the hopes that “red light!” doesn’t get said and he/she turns around to see who’s still moving. Gandolf out and flying a way above traffic like a Jetson.
What a pile of nothing. Try to restrain yourself!
just stating facts there my friend.