Almost everyone has merged in rush hour traffic trying to get on the Lions Gate Bridge from either North or West Vancouver. The traffic crawls to a snarling pace of 4km/hr as your lane alternates with the other lanes from other areas of the North Shore. The lanes get backed up and greenhouse emissions build up as the cars inch along at a safe merging speed.

So how do I propose to speed up traffic safely? By installing traffic lights for each lane and alternating the lights the way one merges Cornwall Street and Burrard Street when traffic is trying to get on the Burrard Street Bridge in order to go downtown.

Currently when merging onto the Lions Gate Bridge during rush hour there are 4 lanes of traffic with each lane going at an approximate speed of 4km/hr. That is a throughput equivalent of 4 lanes X 4 km/hr or 16km/hr if compressed to one lane.

If, however, there are traffic lights installed at the merging point, traffic does not need to slow down and merge. This means traffic can go through the green lights at 50km/hr and the red lights at 0 km/hr. That is the throughput equivalent of 2 lanes X 50 km/hr and 2 lanes at 0 km/hr thereby yielding a single lane throughput equivalent of (100km/hr+0km/hr)/4lanes = 25km/hr.

Hence according to these calculations, it is plausible to say that by installing traffic lights at the merging positions the traffic throughput actually increases from the single lane throughput equivalent of 16km/hr to 25km/hr, an increase in single lane equivalent throughput of 9 km/hr during rush hour traffic. During non-rush hour traffic, the light timing could be altered to allow merging.

Furthermore, because Hybrid Zero Emissions Vehicles are stationary at a red light, there are no emissions during the time waiting for the light to change. Also as 50km/hr lane speeds are more efficient for any car than 4 km/hr merging speeds, my traffic light proposition will greatly reduce greenhouse traffic emissions during rush hour with minimal regulatory imposition on the driver.