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Garfield County now has its first full traffic signal system, giving tourists another reason to stop besides visiting Bryce Canyon National Park.

Thet signals appear 102 years after the world's first traffic light made its debut in Salt Lake City at the corner of Main Street and 200 South.

"It's incredible to think that Garfield County has 5,000 square miles and only one stop light," Bryce Canyon City Mayor David Tebbs said in a news release. The county is roughly the size of Connecticut.

Bryce Canyon City has only 159 year-round residents, but receives 1.3 million visitors every year because it is the only way to enter Bryce Canyon National Park.

The city says the lightsa on Main Street are vital to pedestrian safety.

"We're still as rural as you can get," Tebbs said. "But now pedestrians headed to Bryce Canyon can safely cross the highway at the intersection's crosswalk."

The signals are a big enough deal that Gov. Gary Herbert recently posed in front of them along with proud local officials.

Panguitch, the county seat with a much bigger population of 1,500, has a constantly blinking traffic light, but not one that cycles through red, green and yellow.

The new signals are part of enhancements to Main Street in Bryce Canyon City that include new sidewalks, curb, gutters and street lighting. The city says the street's new configuration will better accommodate tour buses and shuttles, and will provide connections for regional bike- and walking-trail systems.

"Visitors from all over the world visit Bryce Canyon," said Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock. "The new Main Street affords visitors a better, safer experience as they enter one of the nation's most beautiful national parks."

The city says limiting light pollution was a high priority for the project, and it was engineered to comply with recommendations from the National Park Service.

"Bryce Canyon has been classified as having one of the darkest skies in North America," said Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent Jeffrey Bradybaugh. "We appreciate the extra effort the city went to in order to preserve our ability to see thousands of stars on a nightly basis."

Utah claims it is the site for the world's first electric traffic light, a design by Lester Wire installed in 1912 — but the design did not receive a patent. Cleveland has a competing claim, saying it was the first with a patented design to be used on Aug. 15, 1914.