For another meaning of the term "traffic engineering", please see Telecommunications traffic engineering
Traffic engineering is a branch of
civil engineering that describes the use of engineering techniques to achieve the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. These techniques include the use of signs, signals, and markings to move traffic more efficiently. An early traffic engineer
Henry Barnes, who served as Commissioner of Traffic in many cities, including
Baltimore, Maryland and
New York, New York, developed coordinated traffic signal timings, so that traffic lights form green waves along major traffic arterials. Traffic flow is often described by a
Level of Service Ranging from A (which is a low density of traffic) to F (which is severely congested).
Traffic engineering is now taught with other aspects of Transportation engineering, including Highway Engineering[?], Transportation Planning, Traffic Flow Theory[?], and Transit Planning[?].
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