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Sign Lighting

Started by Alex, November 16, 2014, 11:25:17 AM

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Roadrunner75

Quote from: jeffandnicole on November 18, 2014, 10:51:31 AM
More or less, if the lighting is there, it's still maintained by NJDOT.  Having said that, they don't rush out to replace the bulbs...many signs, when you look carefully, many have one or more lights not working.  For almost all new overhead signage, there is no lighting.
With respect to my second GSV example (NJ 34 NB at ramp to 138 EB), none of the lights on the overheads are working.  I've passed it enough times at night recently - tonight going in the opposite direction which gave me a good view of the signs without hitting it with the headlights - that I could see they're not on.  I think some of the other overheads at that interchange also have them all out, but not entirely sure. 


Bitmapped

Quote from: Sherman Cahal on November 18, 2014, 11:06:26 AM
West Virginia is replacing all of their older lighting with new LED fixtures. Kentucky long ago abandoned sign lighting, with as HB noted, still exists in some downtrodden fashion in Louisville. I can't think of any place that still has the gantries with the fixtures intact. Ohio is removing the fixtures on sign replacements.

The LED sign lighting replacements in West Virginia are happening as part of larger sign replacement projects.  WVDOH is keeping the existing fixtures in place otherwise, even when there are one-off replacements of the overhead BGS.

Pink Jazz

And actually, it looks like ADOT in Arizona is no longer installing lighting fixtures for their newest installations.  The new signs with the graffiti shields lack them, as well as the signs at the Loop 202/SR 24 interchange.

SignGeek101

GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/A97IZ

I'd be surprised if this one still works.

Soludos2

#29
Quote from: Alex on November 16, 2014, 11:25:17 AM
Any other states besides Florida and Maryland actively still installing and maintaining overhead sign lighting?

North Carolina and Virginia used to be good about it, but more recent sign replacements in both states include the removal of lighting fixtures.

Georgia wholesale did away with their signing lighting on their Interstates when they renumbered the exits system wide in 1999.

Delaware dropped sign lighting around 2000.

Alabama generally stopped lighting signs sometime in the 1990s, though some signs in the Birmingham area remain with lights.

I know of a number of other states that dropped sign lighting a long time ago or never really used it. Any light fixtures remaining in Louisiana date back to the early Interstate years and the only lit signs I ever saw in Mississippi were on I-110 in Biloxi.

Sadly, FDOT in January 2014 discontinued sign lighting from future state projects. They do plan to maintain what is in place for now. Caltrans after having researched Florida's studies on the matter, as well as how discontinuing sign lighting worked in Indiana, decided to also discontinue sign lighting in future projects while keeping existing fixtures. On the subject of INDOT, the bulbs in 2010 were removed from all state maintained installations but existing fixtures and wiring are all still in place.

Also, Mississippi has since removed all of the lights from I-110 except for the lighting on the warning signs at the end of the freeway.

I'd say the biggest reason for the reevaluation of sign lighting in DOTs nationwide is due to the ban of import and manufacture of mercury vapor lamps and ballasts that began in 2009. As both supply and demand dwindle in the marketplace, costs have skyrocketed. Also, with high-intensity sheeting performing well without lights and the shortage of highway funding these days, switching to a new modern system using induction or LED lighting (except for limited areas such as airport terminals or tunnels) is less compelling.

Soludos2

#30
Quote from: Sherman Cahal on November 18, 2014, 11:06:26 AM
West Virginia is replacing all of their older lighting with new LED fixtures. Kentucky long ago abandoned sign lighting, with as HB noted, still exists in some downtrodden fashion in Louisville. I can't think of any place that still has the gantries with the fixtures intact. Ohio is removing the fixtures on sign replacements.

I remember here in Louisville it was around 1990 when lighting maintenance was discontinued by the KYTC. To my memory, the fluorescent lights were just left to burn out and then later the power to the light fixtures were cut in the hand holes of the gantries. After the Ohio River Bridges Project is complete, the only remaining signs with light fixtures will be the I-64 East gantry for Grinstead Dr. and the I-71 East gantry's sign for Cincinnati at the I-264 interchange. Outside of Louisville, I know the 2 gantries on the Cumberland Pkwy. westbound approaching I-65 still have their lights. Until the recent US 31 Bypass reconstruction in Elizabethtown, there were several signs with their lights. I found that unfortunate as they were the some of best remaining intact lighting fixtures left in the state.

Also on the subject of the Louisville area:
The lights on INDOT's gantry I-64 West on the Sherman Minton were still operating up until a few months ago.

Also along the Ohio River on the Indiana side, the Old Clarksville Site park has a gantry with maintained fixtures.

And of course the Louisville airport still maintains sign lighting.


Here's a link to them:
http://goo.gl/maps/imdrJ Cumberland Pkwy. @ I-65
http://goo.gl/maps/1UGuK US 31 Bypass (Elizabethtown)
http://goo.gl/maps/hj4wz I-71 E (Louisville)
http://goo.gl/maps/dHZJI I-64 E (Louisville)
http://goo.gl/maps/rcpeH Louisville Airport
http://goo.gl/maps/zZsPT Old Clarksville Site park (Clarksville [Indiana])
http://goo.gl/maps/g9QUZ Sharman Minton Bridge (New Albany [Indiana])

Mergingtraffic

CT has a grand total of one sign with a light and it doesn't work.  CT hasn't put up new lighting fixtures since the early 1980s or before.

Original non-reflective button copy. I-84 Hartford, CT. Note: the last sign in CT that has a light. Although the light doesn't work. by mergingtraffic, on Flickr
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

cl94

Lighting was installed for the final WB Exit 58 BGS on I-90 in New York (this sign) at some point within the past year or so. Ground-mounted and powered by a solar panel on the back of the BGS. Really odd, especially since there haven't been many (if any) BGS installs Upstate since the Exit 24 rebuild.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

Travel Mapping (updated weekly)

hbelkins

I'm thinking there is at least one more overhead in Kentucky with the light fixtures still attached, although I can't remember where it is.

I'm not sorry to see them go. New signs are visible enough and why pay for electricity if you don't have to?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

machias

Quote from: cl94 on March 21, 2015, 05:44:54 PM
Lighting was installed for the final WB Exit 58 BGS on I-90 in New York (this sign) at some point within the past year or so. Ground-mounted and powered by a solar panel on the back of the BGS. Really odd, especially since there haven't been many (if any) BGS installs Upstate since the Exit 24 rebuild.

The Thruway has also done this at Exits 32 and 34A.  I don't know if they're trying to stretch the reflectivity longevity of the sign or something, but this has been done within the past six months.

NJRoadfan

I'm bumping this because its relevant. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has been installing new LED gantry lighting on some signs as part of their massive sign replacement project as seen here: https://goo.gl/maps/b2s13D4Ro9q . Very sleek looking, hopefully they require less maintenance than the old mercury vapor or HPS fixtures.

route17fan

John Krakoff - Cleveland, Ohio

Mohkfry

Once in a great while you find a working sign lighting fixture in NW Indiana. The last one I saw working was on Cline Ave (Indiana 912) earlier this year. The most recent sign lighting install was in 2008 when the I-65/I-94 interchange was rebuilt.

jakeroot

WSDOT just installed brand new sign lights on this gantry, along I-90 near its junction with the 5. The signs were only installed maybe a month or two ago, without sign lighting (the signs they replaced had lighting -- the sign on the far left is original, in terms of both the sign, and the light below it). Why they felt the need to install lights again, I'm not sure. I can only assume that the signs were not well made (although they seem well made, based on the reflections in the photo).

To the best of my knowledge, WSDOT does not use sign lighting anymore. So it's surprising to see new lights going up.


Photo from WSDOT Flickr.

Brandon

Quote from: SSOWorld on November 16, 2014, 10:19:10 PM
Iowa and Illinois use them.  For IL some districts actually use the sulfur lighting for them, which is fugly.

ISTHA only uses lighting on the gantries before toll plazas.  Everything else is simply fully reflective.
IDOT, on the other hand, still has a lot of lit signs, but their newest ones are unlit.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Pink Jazz

Going to the subject of Arizona, ADOT no longer requires illumination for new overhead signs except for signs with sheeting types other than type XI within 2-3 miles of freeway-to-freeway interchanges.  Overhead signs with type XI sheeting do not use illumination regardless of whether or not they are located near a freeway-to-freeway interchange.

ekt8750

PennDOT still lights their overhead signs.

jakeroot

Still not sure what WSDOT's view on sign lighting is. When I inquired about the new sign lights above, they said the following:

Quote from: WSDOT
They are reflective, but headlights don't always hit the overhead signs, especially when it's foggy or in other inclement weather.

They haven't installed new lights in years, so unless this is a one-off case because of complaints from drivers (most likely), this installation may suggest a change in policy.

plain

As noted upthread VDOT seems to be turning away from lighting new BGS's over the last few years, but this one was installed last year

https://goo.gl/maps/brdsNRhb7kG2
Newark born, Richmond bred

noelbotevera

Actually, why didn't backlit signs come into vogue for lighting? They wouldn't be any thicker than a VMS, and wouldn't they cost the same as gantries that have lighting?

plain

One would think (or at least hope) that some manufacturer out there is working on such. There's the ones on the West Virginia Turnpike but those are like an early version I guess. I've never had a chance to see them at night, not yet anyway. Maybe the newer versions, if ever made, would have the same thickness as these backlit street blades in Richmond

https://goo.gl/maps/UVf5XJVTHoC2
Newark born, Richmond bred

hbelkins

Quote from: plain on February 26, 2017, 07:37:04 PM
One would think (or at least hope) that some manufacturer out there is working on such. There's the ones on the West Virginia Turnpike but those are like an early version I guess. I've never had a chance to see them at night, not yet anyway. Maybe the newer versions, if ever made, would have the same thickness as these backlit street blades in Richmond

https://goo.gl/maps/UVf5XJVTHoC2

Lexington, Ky. has installed some backlit street blades in recent months.

As to the backlit signs on the WV Turnpike, I have only seen them in the dark hours once. The lighting was not turned on, but they were acceptably visible (the I-64/Richmond, I-77 Charlotte set near the routes' split.)


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Pink Jazz

Backlit street name signs are still commonly installed here in the Phoenix area. The majority of cities install them at most of their signalized intersections, although Mesa only does it on a case-by-case basis (with many of them removed in recent years).

jakeroot

Three cities near me use backlit street blades, using two different styles.

Puyallup, Wash uses a fatter kind, but I think it looks better because the wires are hidden:



Fife and Lakewood, Wash use a thinner kind, but the wires are (often) highly visible, so I'm not as keen on them. If they hid the wires better, I'd like them a lot more.


jwolfer

Orlando and Orange County FL have been lighting street blades for a long time. It has become more common in other parts of Florida over the past decade

LGMS428




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