Arduino LED traffic lights

This is a bit enhanced version of the “hello world” blink application for Arduino: traffic lights emulator. The top three LEDs control car traffic and the bottom two are fore pedestrians.

int carRedPin =  13;
int carYellowPin =  12;
int carGreenPin =  11;
int pedestrianRedPin =  10;
int pedestrianGreenPin =  9;

// The setup() method runs once, when the sketch starts

void setup()   {
  pinMode(carRedPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(carYellowPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(carGreenPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(pedestrianRedPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(pedestrianGreenPin, OUTPUT);
}

// the loop() method runs over and over again,
// as long as the Arduino has power

void blink(int light)
{
  digitalWrite(light, LOW);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, HIGH);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, LOW);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, HIGH);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, LOW);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, HIGH);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(light, LOW);
}

void loop()
{
  digitalWrite(carRedPin, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(pedestrianGreenPin, HIGH);
  delay(3000);

  blink(pedestrianGreenPin);

  digitalWrite(pedestrianRedPin, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(pedestrianGreenPin, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(carYellowPin, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(carRedPin, LOW);
  digitalWrite(carYellowPin, LOW);
  digitalWrite(carGreenPin, HIGH);
  delay(3000);

  blink(carGreenPin);

  digitalWrite(carYellowPin, HIGH);
  delay(2000);
  digitalWrite(carYellowPin, LOW);
  digitalWrite(carRedPin, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(pedestrianRedPin, LOW);
}

The code above is straightforward: just enabling and disabling LED at certain time. Traffic lights in action:

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7 thoughts on “Arduino LED traffic lights”

  1. THANKS , i always thought that this project would be difficult , but it seems as u said STRAIGHTFORWARD ;)

  2. Can’t see any current limiting resistors. Are the outputs of the IC current limited or do the leds have built in resistors? If not the Arduino could be damaged

    1. You are right! This was one of my first projects on Arduino so I didn’t know that there should be current limiting resistors for each LED. They should be added in series to the LEDs, but you probably know that already ;)

  3. please how can i use the same idea to construct an intelligent traffic light( i mean the program code needed)

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