Frankfurt’s First Traffic Light Turns 100

It has now been 100 years since Frankfurt’s very first traffic light was presented in the Festhalle. Visitors were able to view this at the “Traffic Control Show” from April 3-14, 1926, and Frankfurt’s first traffic light went into active service on April 7, 1930. This development is still continuing with the connected electronic systems found in vehicles today. The latest solutions from the field of electrical and electronic systems will be on show at the upcoming Automechanika Frankfurt from September 8-12, 2026.

While Germany’s first traffic light was inaugurated in Berlin in 1924, Frankfurt’s first traffic light was set up in the city centre, where it was trialled at the intersection of Kaiserstrasse and Neue Mainzer Strasse starting on 7 April 1930. This marked the start of electrical traffic control. Even so, this traffic light was still operated manually by a traffic police officer using a switchbox located on the pavement.

This drew throngs of curious passers-by, so the police officer was usually unable to maintain an overview of the traffic. As a result of this, the new traffic light was switched off a week later and equipped with an automatic control system that changed the light at fixed intervals. Traffic volumes continued to grow, and the number of accidents increased at this intersection. Because it was only possible to install the traffic light above the overhead tram lines, the traffic light was placed so high up that people unfamiliar with the area often did not even know it was there. By 1937, the Frankfurt Building Authority decided to remove the traffic light.

Due to the war and its impact, it was not until 1951 that Frankfurt once again installed traffic lights. In the 1960s, the City of Frankfurt set itself the goal of implementing a centralized electric control of the city’s traffic lights – a goal that was achieved with the opening of the new traffic control centre in 1992. From the first mechanically controlled traffic lights to highly networked electronic systems, the development of traffic control technology has mirrored the rapid progress being made in mobility.

Be it state-of-the-art engine electronics, intelligent lighting systems or complex electrical system architectures, at Automechanika Frankfurt, some 200 exhibitors will be presenting the latest developments from the field.

Source: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

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