Manhattan traffic is getting a human touch to help it along.

According to the New York Post, Mayor Bloomberg launched a first-of-its-kind, live, "congestion-busting system" Monday that allows city employees to remotely control traffic lights.

[Bloomberg] hailed it as the greatest traffic innovation since the city's grid system, saying engineers with the city Department of Transportation will use data from live street feeds to battle gridlock at the very moment motorists are leaning on their horns and giving each other the one-fingered salute. "They will be able to clear up Midtown traffic jams at the touch of a button," Bloomberg said at the DOT traffic-control room in Long Island City.

Dubbed "Midtown in Motion," the $1.6 million system relies on more than 100 motion detectors, dozens of cameras and data gathered from drivers' E-ZPasses to compile immediate info on the most congested streets in the city.

Data collection began yesterday within a 110-square-block area -- from 42nd St. to 57th St. within Second to Sixth avenues.

In six months the data will be analyzed and if it shows improvements, the system will be expanded to other parts of the city.

Bloomberg hopes the program will help moderate the $13 billion in lost revenue congestion costs the city every year.

