An experimental traffic light that was short-lived.

To address both fatalities and gridlock, Dr. John A. Harriss introduced the city’s first permanent traffic lights in 1920: a steel lattice tower with signals operated by a police officer.&nbsp;

The Fifth Avenue Association replaced them with Joseph H. Freedlander’s elegant 23-foot bronze towers, praised as civic art that cut the trip from 57th to 34th Street to just 15 minutes. But by 1929, these ornate beacons were deemed obstructions and replaced with corner-mounted bronze signals topped with statues of Mercury. The Mercuries lasted until 1964, though the original towers vanished without a trace.

By the early 1900s, cars transformed New York’s streets from chaos to crisis. Pedestrian deaths surged, with 221 killed by automobiles in 1912—nearly double just two years earlier.&nbsp;

Unveiled Dec 18, 1922.Designed by Joseph H. Freedlander, and presented by the Fifth Avenue Association Inc, to the City of New York along with six other towers of similar design. Total cost of towers approximately $125,000

1st traffic light in NYC