The city has launched a new system that synchronizes traffic lights in an 8.5 square mile area from Van Nuys to Panorama City. Seventy-one traffic lights in the area bounded by Nobel Avenue, Kester Street and Van Nuys and Laurel Canyon boulevards will now be tied to one another through the city’s Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control center. The computer-based traffic control system, based beneath City Hall East in downtown L.A., automatically monitors traffic conditions throughout the city and adjusts signal times to move traffic more efficiently and address jams. The improvements are expected to reduce travel times by 24 percent and increase speeds by 32 percent.
