The Nation - News from June 2, 1988

Kennedy International Airport in New York became the nation’s first airport to begin using traffic lights on a taxiway, a new safety feature aimed at lowering the risk of collisions between planes on the ground. At each taxiway intersection to one of the airport’s main runways, five red stoplights were switched on, launching a yearlong test of a system to visually reinforce ground controllers’ verbal instructions to pilots not to cross the runway. When the pilots receive verbal radio clearance to proceed, the lights turn green. There are 105 traffic signals in all strung along the runway. The new $600,000 lighting, called a stop bar control system, is a joint project of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, and the Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the control tower.