Traffic engineering principles are well rooted in ancient history. Records indicate that many of these principles were utilized in Rome, such as one-way streets, roadway guide signs, parking regulations, and prohibiting vehicles on certain roadways.

Traffic engineering, as it is known today, has evolved from the advent and growth of the motor vehicle. Records indicate the first gasoline driven motor vehicles available to the general public were offered for sale in 1888 by the Connelly Motor Company of New York, New York. The rapid growth in the number of motor vehicles in the U.S. began to generate a tremendous demand by the general public for improved highways.

Responding to this public concern, the federal government entered into the field of highway construction through the establishment of policies that significantly affected the development of the national highway system. The first major transportation legislation was the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1934 which was restricted to rural areas. However, the most important transportation legislation was the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 which authorized the construction of a 41,000 mile National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. This marked the beginning of the largest peacetime public works program in history.

As years went by, the growth of the motor vehicle began to increase traffic congestion in urban areas. Before 1962, most federal government policies were focused on rural areas. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 brought relief to urbanized areas of over 50,000 population. The most significant transportation legislation for urban areas was the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968. This Act enacted many provisions which are still in place today such as the Relocation Assistance Program for families and businesses displaced by highway construction and that public hearings must consider social and environmental impacts in planning highways, not just the economic impacts as was previously required.

The 1968 law also provided for two years (1970 and 1971) of traffic engineering improvement programs with the creation of the "Traffic Operations Program to Increase Capacity and Safety", or TOPICS as it was known. The TOPICS program covered such improvements as the channelization of intersections, additional lanes at signalized intersections, pedestrian overpasses, traffic control systems, special lanes for buses, and the elimination of spot safety hazards. Canton participated in the TOPICS program with the installation of our first computerized traffic signal system which consisted of 56 traffic signals in the downtown area. This system, which could be seen operating on the main level in City Hall, was finally replaced in 1998. It should be noted that Canton, a model city for this system, was one of two cities nationally selected to participate. Canton also hired their first traffic engineer in conjunction with this program.

Initially, the traffic engineer primarily worked with traffic control devices and traffic surveys. As the complexity of the field increased, so did the functions of the traffic engineer. In general, these functions now include the involvement of the traffic engineer in traffic studies, traffic planning, traffic operations, geometric design, public relations and education, traffic administration, traffic permits, traffic laws and ordinances, and highway lighting.

Today, the traffic engineer is constantly being challenged with a dilemma in that congestion, especially on city streets and urban freeways, will continue to become more severe, while it is increasingly more difficult to acquire the right-of-way needed to improve existing facilities or to construct new facilities. However, the construction of new facilities is not always the best solution for relieving traffic congestion. Therefore, the traffic engineer has an obligation to get maximum utilization out of existing facilities through traffic control improvements.

“One blast of the police whistle indicates that north and south traffic shall stop and that east and west traffic shall proceed. Two blasts mean that east and west traffic shall stop and that north and south traffic shall proceed. Three blasts or more is a signal of alarm and indicates the approach of fire engines or some other danger.”

The first traffic control device to be accepted was the semaphore. These devices were operated manually or mechanically at an intersection and would usually contain the words “Stop” and “Go” to control traffic. The first indication of a manual semaphore being operated was in 1908 in Toledo, Ohio and the first indication of a mechanical semaphore being operated was in 1913 in Detroit, Michigan. Even though the semaphore was accepted by the general public, the semaphore required a police officer to operate it. This led to the development of an electronic semaphore in 1910. The electronic semaphore presented operational problems and there is no known records of its installation.

In this same time period, traffic towers were constructed in the middle of intersections to locate police officers above the plane of traffic to widening his observation range while controlling traffic. The first traffic tower was on October 9, 1917 in Detroit, Michigan at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Woodward Avenue. The problem with these towers was that required a police officer to operate them and that they impeded traffic flow in the middle of the intersection.

The indication of the first electric traffic signal was installed on August 5, 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio at the intersection of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. This signal contained only red and green indications, with the red indications located on the near side of the street and the green indications located on the far side of the street. When the signals changed from red to green or vice versa, a bell would sound to warn traffic of the change. This signal also had emergency preemption capability since a fire station, that was located a half-block away, could stop traffic in all four directions by a switching arrangement.

The first indication of the first electric, four-way, red-yellow-green indication traffic signal was installed in December 1920 in Detroit, Michigan at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Fort Street. This was the first time that a yellow indication was used to warn traffic of the change between red and green indications or vice versa. These traffic signals are basically like the ones in operation today.

However, these electric traffic signals provided little flexibility in traffic coordination as compared to the observations of a police officer. This led to the development of traffic signal coordination. The first coordination development was the simultaneous traffic signal system which was installed in Houston, Texas in 1922. In this system, all the traffic signals on the main roadway would change to green at the same time. After that, the next coordination development was the alternate traffic signal system which was installed in the District of Columbia in 1926. The alternate system is the type of coordination system that is used today.

Traffic Signs and Pavement Markings: One of the earliest documented traffic signs was the milestone set up by the Romans dating back to 250 B.C. These milestones were shafts made of marble or granite usually about six feet in length. The general belief is that the mileage started at the golden milestone set up in Rome. Within a 100-mile radius, the milestones showed the distance from Rome. Beyond the 100-mile radius, the milestones showed the distances to the nearest town or post station. In addition to the milestone, the Romans also used directional signs on their roads.

During the early years of the motor vehicle, signs were terrible despite many efforts of various motor clubs. Bold adventurers who took trips far from home often lost their way. Too often there were no signs at all. A motorist’s life was usually described as perplexing and aggravating.

One of the earliest measures of relief to the poor sign situation was the formation of Trail Associations. One of the first ones formed was the Lincoln Highway Association, organized in 1913, which was created by a highly publicized crusade for a coast-to-coast highway. Opened in 1914, the Lincoln Highway covered over 3,300 miles and linked New York to San Francisco. It should be noted that this highway traverses through Canton which is now called Tuscarawas Street. Outside the city corporation limits, this road is still called Lincoln Highway. The sign on the left is still posted in Canton to designate the route.

In 1918, Wisconsin was the first state to start putting sense into signing through the state’s Highway Commission. This commission primarily addressed route markers on their state highway system. In 1921, Minnesota started to apply similar standards to their highway system. Eventually, the Minnesota Highway Department on April 1, 1923 published what is believed to be the first state manual entitled “Manual of Markers and Signs”.

Other states started to apply standards their highway systems which led to the formation of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways in 1924. The Joint Board, as it was called, was originally comprised of 21 state highway departments and the federal government’s Bureau of Public Roads. After many meetings and discussions by the Joint Board, the first manual issued as a nationwide set of standards was published in January 1927 and was entitled “Manual and Specifications for the Manufacture, Display and Erection of U.S. Standard Road Markers and Signs”. In November 1935, the majority of this manual was consolidated into the “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices” (MUTCD) in which, by rule, traffic engineers adhere to today.

The evolution of pavement markings is more obscure than signs. Records indicate that the first appearance of a centerline was in Mexico around 1600 A.D. on a roadway between Mexico City and Cuernavaca.

In the U.S., the first indication of paint lines on the roadway was in 1907 in Portsmouth, Virginia which were stop lines. Other first indications include: the first crosswalk lines were painted in 1911 in New York, New York, the first lane lines were painted about 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the first centerline pavement markings were painted in 1918 in Detroit, Michigan. Although a date is not known, indications show that Cleveland, Ohio was the first to utilize reversible lane stripping on what is the High Level Bridge.

As more and more communities turned to pavement markings, an acceptable paint mixture balance between economy and durability was sought. In addition, other materials were being introduced in lieu of paint. In 1925, Memphis, Tennessee experimented with both tile and rubber as alternatives to paint. After many years of evaluations, these systems were abandoned.

The primary undoing to the early pavement marking systems was its visibility at night. This led to the first public application of a reflective painted stripe on the Dragoon Trail, in South Bend, Indiana on August 12, 1937. In the late 1940's, pavement markings took a giant leap forward when thermoplastic materials were first installed in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. In the early 1960's, additional innovations in pavement markings led to the quick drying process.

Parking Regulations and Parking Meters One of the earliest documented parking regulations was in Rome where special off-street parking facilities were provided to get vehicles off the traveled way. In addition, Romans prohibited vehicles from entering the business districts of their largest cities during certain hours because of traffic congestion. In the early part of 1900's, businessmen in downtown cities were becoming aggravated that people working in the central business district were parking on the streets and staying there all day, leaving few spaces for shoppers and others who visited the area. In response to the growing problem of parking congestion, a thought was to create a traffic control device which would charge for the use of the parking space and turn over those spaces that would otherwise have been filled by people parking all day. This led to the development of the parking meter, which was originally called a “coin controlled parking meter”, in 1932. The first parking meter installed on a street was in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 16, 1935. The early parking meters were totally mechanical. These parking meters were powered by a clock-type mainspring, which required periodic winding. There were two general approaches to accomplishing winding: automatic and manual. With an automatic parking meter, a parking meter maintenance employee would periodically walk the streets to wind the parking meters. With a manual parking meter, the person who parked would wind the parking meter after they had insert a coin, thus eliminating the need for a parking meter maintenance employee to wind the parking meters. As parking meters became more and more common, it was a certainty that the criminal element would eventually discover that each one of those parking meters could contain a somewhat respectable amount of money, even if it was all in small change. It was relatively easy to break into a parking meter and help oneself to its contents. Parking meter burglaries were fairly regular occurrences almost everywhere parking meters were installed. This lead to security improvements by the manufacturers. By the mid 1960's, most parking meters were available with armored coin boxes. Although many cities were able to reduce their personnel costs by using manual parking meters, money still had to be collected from the parking meters on a regular basis, and this required manpower. Manpower was also required in the installation of the posts upon which the parking meters were mounted. Occasionally, those posts got hit by a vehicle and had to be straightened or replaced. For every metered parking space, there were one post and one parking meter. To reduce costs, the dual head parking meter was developed. Except for some end spaces on a block, the number of parking meter posts could be cut in half. This served to reduce labor costs in several ways. First, the number of parking meter posts that had to be installed was reduced. Second, the number of parking meter posts for wayward vehicles to hit was reduced. An additional bonus was that cutting the number of parking meters and posts in half greatly reduced the amount of sidewalk clutter. In 1992, a fully electronic parking meter was developed. Electronic parking meters provide the capability to adjust rates for different times of the day and for on-board data storage, which could be transferred later to a central database for analysis. This data includes such information as the amount of money collected, coin counts, usage patterns, and violation statistics.