Trip To Boston (Cool Photos!)

Ian · April 14, 2009, 10:54:07 PM

Hey all!

Yesturday I came home from a vacation to see my grandpa up in Boston (well in Wellesley, MA which is outside of Boston). While there, I got some neat photos of freeway signs and traffic signals! I basically took photos of most if not every sign I saw on the freeways and every signal I saw on the streets . I uploaded a whole bulk of photos from my vacation. On the way back, my mom (my dad stayed home from the trip since he had to work) took me and my bro to a beach in Rhode Island (Misquamicut Beach) where she used to have a beach house as a kid, so I have road photos of RI.

Here are the links to the Albums. I have new road photos New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

New York: http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#
Connecticut: http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/ConnecticutTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#
Massachusetts: http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/MassachusettsTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#
Rhode Island: http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/RhodeIslandTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#

Now here are some photos I selected that are kinda cool and should be seen (random order). There may be a lot of photos but they are really neat!

US 9 at NY 119 in Tarrytown, NY (needed gas here and also looked for lunch here, no luck tho

)
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899685405514738
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899693131399378
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899698522290162
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899760000040786
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899765776845138
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5322899774549049874

Sleepy Hollow, NY street signs

Michael · April 15, 2009, 08:57:10 AM

I have some questions and comments about the New York pictures:

This picture has boxed street names. Some of the boxed names on I-81 in Mattydale had boxed names, but were changed.
This stoplight does look temporary, but in Auburn, a section of US 20 was rebuilt, and new permanent signals are not LED's!
On this turn signal, there are four segments. I have a few near where I live, and if I remember right, the top three are arrows. Why are there four segments if only three are used?
I've seen some signs like this one before. The only one I can recall is a curve sign in the side of a hill near Oswego.
CNY has some light up boxes like these. We have no right turn arrows and no turn on red boxes. In Ithaca on part of NY 13/34/96, there are no right turn arrows that light up when a train is on the tracks that run parallel to the street!
I've never seen these on the open road before; just at toll booths and bridges/tunnels.

That's it!

Chris · April 15, 2009, 09:00:33 AM

Interesting approach for those boxed street names.

I kinda miss the idea of making the distinction between street names and city names more clear at exit signage.

Michael · April 15, 2009, 03:00:21 PM

Quote from: froggie on April 15, 2009, 09:05:45 AM
QuoteThis picture has boxed street names. Some of the boxed names on I-81 in Mattydale had boxed names, but were changed.

NYSDOT standard has long been to have boxes around the streetnames like this. They are starting to get away from that now.

I know, but Mattydale is the only place I'm aware of that had them.

Quote from: froggie on April 15, 2009, 09:05:45 AM
QuoteOn this turn signal, there are four segments. I have a few near where I live, and if I remember right, the top three are arrows. Why are there four segments if only three are used?

The particular turn signal photo you showed looks like a regular 4-lens signal where the bottom lens is a green arrow. But I know what you're referring to. NYSDOT standard used to be, for left turn signals, having a 4-lens signal where the bottom three lenses are the arrows and the top lens is a red ball....this being so the red ball would flash via battery power when/if there was a power outage. The NYS MUTCD has since been changed to more closely match the Federal MUTCD, so that top red ball lens is no longer necessary on left turn signals.

OK. A new set of signals was installed near our local mall about three years ago, and that's what I was referring to.

Thanks Froggie!

EDIT: This is my 200^th post!

vdeane · April 15, 2009, 05:57:59 PM

The boxed street names are still fairly common in central NY even though the standard has changed. Hopefully they will be removed as the signs are replaced - they're very ugly (too bad the Utica area is in love with them - I wouldn't be surprised if region 2 continues to use them despite the new standards).

vdeane · April 16, 2009, 04:18:06 PM

There were a couple. I-81 used them at exits 28 and 31; the ones at exit 28 were greened over, but the ones at exit 31 are still around. I-81 also has them at exit 52 on the Canadian border.

Michael · April 19, 2009, 07:56:22 AM

Quote from: froggie on April 15, 2009, 06:41:11 PM
QuoteOK. A new set of signals was installed near our local mall about three years ago, and that's what I was referring to.
Shoppingtown, Carousel, or Great Northern?

Fingerlakes Mall, in Auburn. I'm not aware of them anywhere else.

burgess87 · July 23, 2009, 11:35:21 AM

I actually like the boxed street names on the BGS assemblies.

cu2010 · July 23, 2009, 12:02:03 PM

I have also seen signs in NY where the road name is just in all-caps, without the box. I have no idea why NYSDOT decided to put up signs like that (both boxed and unboxed road names)...they're not only ugly, but extremely difficult to read from a distance...I'm glad NYSDOT has changed their standards to more closely match the national MUTCD.

I guess they could be worse...they could be the ugly new Clearview NYSTA signage!

Duke87 · July 26, 2009, 12:58:41 PM

A bit of a correction to your statements of "this is how CT does this with traffic signals":

Those signals you were taking pictures of were all in Stamford. With only a few exceptions, the City of Stamford is responsible for all of its own traffic signals, controlled by one central server at city hall. So it's not Connecticut doing it, it's Stamford doing it (the new signals at Exit 34 were, however, designed and installed by the state - but are operated by the city).
Most of those black visor/yellow back signals along Long Ridge Road and Summer/Bedford streets you posted there (took a loop through town, eh?) are in the range of 10-15 years old. There was a huge flurry in the latter half of the 90's of replacing old bulb signals with new LED signals all around town.

How do I know all this? Well, besides having lived in Stamford most of my life, I now work for the city. The guy responsible for all those signals is a colleague of mine. His office is like a mini traffic control center.

Ian · July 27, 2009, 10:03:23 PM

Quote from: Duke87 on July 26, 2009, 12:58:41 PM
A bit of a correction to your statements of "this is how CT does this with traffic signals":

Those signals you were taking pictures of were all in Stamford. With only a few exceptions, the City of Stamford is responsible for all of its own traffic signals, controlled by one central server at city hall. So it's not Connecticut doing it, it's Stamford doing it (the new signals at Exit 34 were, however, designed and installed by the state - but are operated by the city).
Most of those black visor/yellow back signals along Long Ridge Road and Summer/Bedford streets you posted there (took a loop through town, eh?) are in the range of 10-15 years old. There was a huge flurry in the latter half of the 90's of replacing old bulb signals with new LED signals all around town.

How do I know all this? Well, besides having lived in Stamford most of my life, I now work for the city. The guy responsible for all those signals is a colleague of mine. His office is like a mini traffic control center.

Oh whoops. My bad, I'll change the captions when I get a chance. There are so many towns along the Merritt Parkway, I wasn't sure which one I was in, so my bad. May be since you colleague controls all the signals, may be he can get me an old signal from the department

.

Ian

Duke87 · July 28, 2009, 07:51:42 PM

Quote from: PennDOTFan link=topic=748.msg31731#msg31731May be since you colleague controls all the signals, may be he can get me an old signal from the department .

Old hardware is typically simply sold for scrap, so I doubt it...
...however, there's a place in town on Hope Street called United House Wrecking which has, at several times in the past, had old traffic signal heads for sale. No idea where they get them from. It's here if you wanna check it out. Never know what you might find.

News:

Trip To Boston (Cool Photos!)