Peter G. Furth
Professor,
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Office
- 437 Snell Engineering Center
- 617.373.2447
Research Focus
Bicycle transportation, traffic signal control including transit priority, and urban street design
Education
- Ph.D., Transportation Systems, MIT, 1981
- M.S., Civil Engineering, MIT, 1980
- B.S., Civil Engineering, MIT, 1977
Honors & Awards
- 2023 Best Paper – Committee on Traffic Signal Systems, Transportation Research Board
- 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Pedestrian & Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
- 2017 ITE Innovation in Education Award
- 2004 Best Paper – Committee on Traffic Signal Systems, Transportation Research Board
- 1987 Best Paper – Committee on Transit Performance and Management, Transportation Research Board
- 1985 Excellence in Teaching – Northeastern University Chi Epsilon chapter
Professional Affiliations
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals
- Institute of Transportation Engineers
- National Academy of Sciences
- Transportation Research Board
Research Overview
Bicycle transportation, traffic signal control including transit priority, and urban street design
Dr. Furth is a leading research on bicycle network analysis, having invented the “Level of Traffic Stress” criteria and methods for evaluating low-stress bike accessibility. He continues to develop new frontiers in bike network analysis.
He is also a leading thinker in traffic signal control, developing new techniques and algorithms for transit priority, for better serving pedestrians and bicycles, and for improving safety. He pioneered the concept of “speeding opportunities,” showing how traditional signal timing methods create many opportunities and incentives for drivers to speed on urban and suburban arterial roads, and showing how a different signal timing approach can drastically lower speeding opportunities while still providing good service.
Selected Research Projects
- Using Traffic Signals to Reduce Speeding Opportunities
- – Principal investigator, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
- Low-Stress Bicycle Network Planning: New Methods for Network Analysis and Improvement, with Application in Greater Boston
- – Principal Investigator, Helen and William Mazer Foundation
- Traffic Signal Design and Operations Strategies for Non Motorized Users
- – Principal Investigator, National Cooperative Highway Research Program
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Saeidi-Razavi, Ray and Peter Furth. “Head Start in Time or in Space? Determining Needed Leading Pedestrian Interval Length as a Function of Intersection Layout.” Transportation Research Record (2023): 03611981221151023.
- P.G. Furth, Y.D. Wang, M.A. Santos, M.A., Multi-Stage Pedestrian Crossings and Two-Stage Bicycle Turns: Delay Estimation and Signal Timing Techniques for Limiting Pedestrian and Bicycle Delay, Journal of Transportation Technologies, 9(04), 2019, 489
- P.G. Furth, P. Moser, T.V.V.K. Putta, Measuring Low-Stress Connectivity in Terms of Bike- Accessible Jobs and Potential Bike-to-Work Trips: A Case Study Evaluating Alternative Bike Route Alignments in Northern Delaware, Journal of Transport and Land Use, 11(1), 2018, 815–831
- P.G. Furth, , A.T. Halawani, J. Li, W. Hu, B. Cesme Using Traffic Signal Control to Limit Speeding Opportunities on Bidirectional Urban Arterials, Transportation Research record, 2672(18), 2018, 107-116
- M.B. Lowry, P. Furth, T. Hadden-Loh, Prioritizing New Bicycle Facilities to Improve Low-Stress Network Connectivity, Transportation Research, 86, 2016, 124-140
- Furth, Peter G., Maaza C. Mekuria, and Hilary Nixon. “Network connectivity for low-stress bicycling.” Transportation research record 2587, no. 1 (2016): 41-49.
- Cesme, Burak, and Peter G. Furth. “Self-organizing traffic signals using secondary extension and dynamic coordination.” Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 48 (2014): 1-15.
Jan 10, 2025
Furth Wins Transportation Research Board Exceptional Paper Award
CEE Professor Peter Furth and his former student Milad Tahmasebi, PhD’24, civil engineering, won the Exceptional Paper Award at the 104th Annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) Meeting for “Reducing Speeding by Removing Speeding Opportunities: Field Test of Safe Waves Traffic Signal Timing.”
Jan 10, 2025
Reducing Traffic Congestion: Lessons From New York and Beyond
CEE Professor Peter Furth was featured in the CNN interview “Reducing Traffic Congestion: Lessons From New York and Beyond.”
Nov 20, 2024
Signal, Infrastructure Changes Coming to BU Bridge Corridor After Cyclist Killed
CEE Professor Peter Furth was featured in the Boston.com article “Signal, Infrastructure Changes Coming to BU Bridge Corridor After Cyclist Killed.”
Aug 26, 2024
PhD Student Reflects on the Sustainable Transportation Dialogue of Civilizations in Holland
Nathan David Obeng-Amoako, PhD, civil and environmental engineering, advised by CEE Professor Peter Furth, shares his experience joining Furth’s Dialogue of Civilizations course in the Netherlands, which explored themes of sustainability in transportation.
Jun 12, 2024
Co-op to Career Position
Jennifer Dueñas López, MS’23, civil engineering, completed a bachelor’s degree in transportation and highway engineering in her home country of Colombia before moving to the Boston area. After graduating from Northeastern with a master’s degree in 2023, she returned to her co-op at HDR to work full-time.
Mar 28, 2024
How Congestion Pricing Is Shaping the Future of Transportation
CEE Professor Peter Furth explains the benefits of congestion pricing, which aims to reduce traffic and pollution by charging fees to drive in metropolitan areas. It has been deployed in London, Stockholm, and Singapore and is scheduled to begin in June in sections of New York City.