Traffic Signal Benchmarking
The 2012 score is a 69, equivalent to a D+ letter grade, only a modest four point improvement over the 2007 result of a D letter grade (65). Agencies are beginning to reorganize, working smarter to focus resources on operations and maintenance, and collaborating regionally to take advantage of distributed expertise and to compete for resources more effectively to improve their capabilities.
Although the overall score increased to 65, a D letter grade, by focusing on how traffic signal operations affect performance outcomes the 2007 National Traffic Signal Report Card showed that small changes make a big difference at agencies whose score improved significantly from 2005.
The first National Traffic Signal Report Card was released April 20, 2005 with an overall score of a D- meaning that that traffic signals are not operating as efficiently as they could be. This results in unnecessary delay to travelers, with valuable time wasted sitting at an intersection. It also means that our air is being unnecessarily polluted by vehicles that start and stop inefficiently and that we’re using more fuel than necessary.
