Horizontal Traffic Lights

Started by Roadsguy, October 26, 2012, 07:21:47 PM

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jeffandnicole

Quote from: mrsman on October 13, 2013, 08:09:58 AM
Is there a standard as to which way the lights are oriented?

It seems like most horizontal lights are R-Y-G.  Are there any that go the opposite way, G-Y-R?

In Sacramento, at the corner of Fulton and El Camino, there is one horizontal light.  Horizontal lights are very rare in California.  To make it stand out, the light has a weird configuation of RRYYG, with the green light being a green straight arrow.

I can't figure out why this light isn't vertical.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sacramento,+CA&hl=en&ll=38.6107,-121.401243&spn=0.035747,0.055275&sll=38.804821,-77.236966&sspn=2.281493,3.537598&oq=sacr&hnear=Sacramento,+California&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.610678,-121.401471&panoid=nTVcwn0r6iRLeccW30snkQ&cbp=12,89.16,,0,12.44

That intersection's entire light, mast and post assembly is ugly!


Indyroads

Quote from: realjd on October 13, 2013, 09:54:17 AM
Quote from: mrsman on October 13, 2013, 08:09:58 AM
Is there a standard as to which way the lights are oriented?

It seems like most horizontal lights are R-Y-G.  Are there any that go the opposite way, G-Y-R?

In Sacramento, at the corner of Fulton and El Camino, there is one horizontal light.  Horizontal lights are very rare in California.  To make it stand out, the light has a weird configuation of RRYYG, with the green light being a green straight arrow.

I can't figure out why this light isn't vertical.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sacramento,+CA&hl=en&ll=38.6107,-121.401243&spn=0.035747,0.055275&sll=38.804821,-77.236966&sspn=2.281493,3.537598&oq=sacr&hnear=Sacramento,+California&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.610678,-121.401471&panoid=nTVcwn0r6iRLeccW30snkQ&cbp=12,89.16,,0,12.44

For countries that drive on the right, red is always on the left. For countries that drive on the left, red is often on the right.

The Signals at Watt Ave and Airbase Drive in North Highlands were also horizontal and arranged at R-Y-G-Y-R with the green being an ahead arrow. These have since been replaced.
And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
Isaiah 35:8-10 (NIV)

DaBigE

Quote from: realjd on October 13, 2013, 09:54:17 AM
Quote from: mrsman on October 13, 2013, 08:09:58 AM
Is there a standard as to which way the lights are oriented?

It seems like most horizontal lights are R-Y-G.  Are there any that go the opposite way, G-Y-R?

In Sacramento, at the corner of Fulton and El Camino, there is one horizontal light.  Horizontal lights are very rare in California.  To make it stand out, the light has a weird configuation of RRYYG, with the green light being a green straight arrow.

I can't figure out why this light isn't vertical.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sacramento,+CA&hl=en&ll=38.6107,-121.401243&spn=0.035747,0.055275&sll=38.804821,-77.236966&sspn=2.281493,3.537598&oq=sacr&hnear=Sacramento,+California&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.610678,-121.401471&panoid=nTVcwn0r6iRLeccW30snkQ&cbp=12,89.16,,0,12.44

For countries that drive on the right, red is always on the left. For countries that drive on the left, red is often on the right.

At least in the US, it's always that way to satisfy the ADA. On that note, I have witnessed a handful of installations where it was reversed, but it typically only lasted a week, maybe two. Those were all new installations (some tech apparently wasn't watching their work too carefully  :pan:) and were on reverse-arm mounts.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister

realjd

Quote from: DaBigE on October 14, 2013, 12:48:43 AM
Quote from: realjd on October 13, 2013, 09:54:17 AM
Quote from: mrsman on October 13, 2013, 08:09:58 AM
Is there a standard as to which way the lights are oriented?

It seems like most horizontal lights are R-Y-G.  Are there any that go the opposite way, G-Y-R?

In Sacramento, at the corner of Fulton and El Camino, there is one horizontal light.  Horizontal lights are very rare in California.  To make it stand out, the light has a weird configuation of RRYYG, with the green light being a green straight arrow.

I can't figure out why this light isn't vertical.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sacramento,+CA&hl=en&ll=38.6107,-121.401243&spn=0.035747,0.055275&sll=38.804821,-77.236966&sspn=2.281493,3.537598&oq=sacr&hnear=Sacramento,+California&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.610678,-121.401471&panoid=nTVcwn0r6iRLeccW30snkQ&cbp=12,89.16,,0,12.44

For countries that drive on the right, red is always on the left. For countries that drive on the left, red is often on the right.

At least in the US, it's always that way to satisfy the ADA. On that note, I have witnessed a handful of installations where it was reversed, but it typically only lasted a week, maybe two. Those were all new installations (some tech apparently wasn't watching their work too carefully  :pan:) and were on reverse-arm mounts.

I've only seen exceptions to the rule in a handful of left driving Caribbean countries. There are a few installations in the Bahamas that look FDOT standard, including having the red on the left. They probably used American contractors.

Indyroads

Quote from: Indyroads on October 13, 2013, 03:05:22 PM
Quote from: realjd on October 13, 2013, 09:54:17 AM
Quote from: mrsman on October 13, 2013, 08:09:58 AM
Is there a standard as to which way the lights are oriented?

It seems like most horizontal lights are R-Y-G.  Are there any that go the opposite way, G-Y-R?

In Sacramento, at the corner of Fulton and El Camino, there is one horizontal light.  Horizontal lights are very rare in California.  To make it stand out, the light has a weird configuation of RRYYG, with the green light being a green straight arrow.

I can't figure out why this light isn't vertical.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sacramento,+CA&hl=en&ll=38.6107,-121.401243&spn=0.035747,0.055275&sll=38.804821,-77.236966&sspn=2.281493,3.537598&oq=sacr&hnear=Sacramento,+California&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.610678,-121.401471&panoid=nTVcwn0r6iRLeccW30snkQ&cbp=12,89.16,,0,12.44

For countries that drive on the right, red is always on the left. For countries that drive on the left, red is often on the right.

The Signals at Watt Ave and Airbase Drive in North Highlands were also horizontal and arranged at R-Y-G-Y-R with the green being an ahead arrow. These have since been replaced.

Here is an example of the R-Y-G-Y-R horizontal signal I was talking about.  As far as I know this is the only one that still exists in the Sacramento area http://goo.gl/maps/0mOUV
And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
Isaiah 35:8-10 (NIV)

David Jr.

Carthage, Missouri has a horizontal traffic light at the intersection of Interstate 49 and MO 96/171 (which is also Central Ave. in Carthage).  This intersection has one horizontal traffic light in each direction of MO 96/171 as you go under Interstate 49.

Thing 342

There is one between two neighborhood collectors that I pass by regularly. For some reason, they have insanely short yellow phases, and I see people running it all the time.

averill

Quote from: Quillz on November 21, 2012, 12:34:40 AM
Here's one that uses the shapes I was referring to:


I love Quebec's and PEI's Symbolic shape coded traffic signals. And have these lenses in my collection. I also have video of these which I have filmed in Quebec. I'm surprised that associations for the blind haven't pushed these signal lenses in the US for colour blind drivers under the ADA. I really thought they would take hold in Canada. I know British Columbia was thinking of using them for a while. PEI does use them. They were used in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but never made it to wide spread use. They have since been replaced with standard signals in those provinces. Also, Quebec stopped using them on provincially maintained highways, but is still legal, there. And still maintained in some municipalities. I have these provincial standards. By the way, these signals are placed in the horizontal position, which you show, and, vertical.

Mdcastle

There's a bit of a controversy about such measures in that a lot of disable people want to prove they can be part of society and don't want us making special accommodations. Obviously there's now way a wheelchair can get through a door that's too narrow, but things like different sizes of currency or accessible pedestrian signals or presumably shapes of traffic signals aren't universally supported- the National Federation of the Blind does not support installing APS signals just on the matter of principle. But that's one reason I don't like horizontal signals, to me it's never intuitive which side the red is on. 

realjd

Quote from: Mdcastle on October 29, 2013, 10:45:11 PM
There's a bit of a controversy about such measures in that a lot of disable people want to prove they can be part of society and don't want us making special accommodations. Obviously there's now way a wheelchair can get through a door that's too narrow, but things like different sizes of currency or accessible pedestrian signals or presumably shapes of traffic signals aren't universally supported- the National Federation of the Blind does not support installing APS signals just on the matter of principle. But that's one reason I don't like horizontal signals, to me it's never intuitive which side the red is on. 

How is it any more or less intuitive for red being on the top? Red on the left is the standard worldwide for countries that drive on the right.

Dr Frankenstein

Regarding Averill's post, it's also worth noting that most of Québec's horizontal signals have double reds, presumably as an additional measure for the colourblind.

mrsman

Quote from: Mdcastle on October 29, 2013, 10:45:11 PM
There's a bit of a controversy about such measures in that a lot of disable people want to prove they can be part of society and don't want us making special accommodations. Obviously there's now way a wheelchair can get through a door that's too narrow, but things like different sizes of currency or accessible pedestrian signals or presumably shapes of traffic signals aren't universally supported- the National Federation of the Blind does not support installing APS signals just on the matter of principle. But that's one reason I don't like horizontal signals, to me it's never intuitive which side the red is on.

I can assure you as someone who is more or less able bodied that some of the accommodations for the handicapped have helped me and I appreciate many of the measures.  I use wheelchair ramps at sidewalks when pushing a stroller.  I use automatic doors when I'm carrying lots of things in my hands.  I occasionally use closed captioning when I can read a lot faster than a narrator can speak on certain videos.  And the traffic signals for the blind that speak to you, help get my attention and let me know that it's time to cross.

David Jr.

MODOT recently put in a traffic light at the interchange of I-44 and US 166/US 400 (which is the interchange you use to get to Downstream Casino).  One of those traffic lights is horizontal.

Scott5114

Quote from: David Jr. on January 08, 2014, 08:17:40 PM
MODOT recently put in a traffic light at the interchange of I-44 and US 166/US 400 (which is the interchange you use to get to Downstream Casino).  One of those traffic lights is horizontal.

MoDOT tends to make traffic lights facing bridges horizontal so traffic stopped under the bridge has an unobstructed view of the signal heads.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Jardine

When I was a kid, (yeah, 1960s) Sioux City Iowa had some horizontal traffic signals downtown.  Not sure when they changed them as I am an infrequent visitor there.

Indyroads

It seems to me that some states that originally installed their signal heads horizontally are now beginning to convert them to vertical orientation. For instance Texas (areas like DFW metro) and even in parts of Florida. are there other places doing this.
And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
Isaiah 35:8-10 (NIV)

Big John

^^ Wisconsin is gradually switching to all vertical.

Takumi

Quote from: Thing 342 on October 19, 2013, 03:15:29 PM
There is one between two neighborhood collectors that I pass by regularly. For some reason, they have insanely short yellow phases, and I see people running it all the time.
I saw a handful of them in Hampton (Phoebus) and Newport News (VA 143) two weeks ago.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

realjd

Quote from: Indyroads on January 10, 2014, 03:28:56 PM
It seems to me that some states that originally installed their signal heads horizontally are now beginning to convert them to vertical orientation. For instance Texas (areas like DFW metro) and even in parts of Florida. are there other places doing this.

Florida has been going the other way. Areas like the treasure coast that have had vertical signals have been going horizontal. Also, the panhandle.

David Jr.

Here's another example:  This past Memorial Day weekend, me and my mom drove over to Wichita, KS (where we lived throughout most of the 1970's while my father was stationed at McConnell AFB) for a vacation.  In Wichita, the intersection of Oliver St. and George Washington Blvd. is underneath the Kansas Turnpike (I-35).  The traffic lights at this intersection are attached to the underside of the bridge that carries I-35 over the intersection, and all those traffic lights are horizontal.

WichitaRoads

Quote from: David Jr. on May 29, 2014, 11:54:06 PM
Here's another example:  This past Memorial Day weekend, me and my mom drove over to Wichita, KS (where we lived throughout most of the 1970's while my father was stationed at McConnell AFB) for a vacation.  In Wichita, the intersection of Oliver St. and George Washington Blvd. is underneath the Kansas Turnpike (I-35).  The traffic lights at this intersection are attached to the underside of the bridge that carries I-35 over the intersection, and all those traffic lights are horizontal.

Indeed they are. But, it is an abberation more than a style. Usually, lights are mounted to masts in Wichita, even at overpass settings. There are three times where they are not: the example given by David, Kellogg (U.S. 54/400) and West Street, and Webb Road and 29th Street North.

With David's example, they are mounted to the Turpike overpass because there was just no room for masts, due to the weird convergence of a north-south street, a SE-NW boulevard, and the Turnpike flying over the intersection at a NE-SW direction (Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/AbDZk). As a kid, I always thought it was weird, but it went along with the other strange lights that used to be found on South Oliver on the way to Boeing - lane restriction signals. When they re-did the road and widened it in the 90s, those disappeared forever.

Kellogg and West is a standard situation with the E-W freeway overpassing N-S West Street. The signals for north and south-bound West Street, and the paired left turn signals, are mounted to the bridge, on either side. They are, however vertical. I assume masts could not be used due to the complex lane configurations under the bridge, and the lack of traffic islands in proper locations (Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/9dYzU).

Lastly, there is Webb Road and 29th Street North. In this instance, the signals are attached to masts, even though the K-96 overpass cuts over the northern edge of the intersection. (When K-96 was built, 29th was made to curve to the south and back east to allow for the overpass. It was then, and still is, a T-intersection; but then because of Jabara Airport, and now because of K-96.) The lights for north-bound Webb are vertical and paired with the lights for 29th as the mast is angled; however, the lights for south-bound Webb are attached to a seperate mast, and hang down vertically so they can be seen below the overpass bridge. Streetview northbound: http://goo.gl/maps/5e9cu; south-bound: http://goo.gl/maps/v7rbR).

I cannot recall any others in Wichita, at least that are still remaining.

ICTRds

roadfro

Quote from: WichitaRoads on May 31, 2014, 02:43:28 PM
Kellogg and West is a standard situation with the E-W freeway overpassing N-S West Street. The signals for north and south-bound West Street, and the paired left turn signals, are mounted to the bridge, on either side. They are, however vertical. I assume masts could not be used due to the complex lane configurations under the bridge, and the lack of traffic islands in proper locations (Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/9dYzU).

That's a SPUI intersection, so not totally standard. It is often not practical to use mast arms when the SPUI is under the freeway due to height clearances and sight lines to the signal heads--attaching to the overpass is easier and saves on the hardware of mast arms.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.

WichitaRoads

Quote from: roadfro on May 31, 2014, 03:57:34 PM
Quote from: WichitaRoads on May 31, 2014, 02:43:28 PM
Kellogg and West is a standard situation with the E-W freeway overpassing N-S West Street. The signals for north and south-bound West Street, and the paired left turn signals, are mounted to the bridge, on either side. They are, however vertical. I assume masts could not be used due to the complex lane configurations under the bridge, and the lack of traffic islands in proper locations (Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/9dYzU).

That's a SPUI intersection, so not totally standard. It is often not practical to use mast arms when the SPUI is under the freeway due to height clearances and sight lines to the signal heads--attaching to the overpass is easier and saves on the hardware of mast arms.

Fair enough... I didn't even think about it being SPUI.

ICTRds

Revive 755

Quote from: Indyroads on October 14, 2013, 06:36:20 PM
Here is an example of the R-Y-G-Y-R horizontal signal I was talking about.  As far as I know this is the only one that still exists in the Sacramento area http://goo.gl/maps/0mOUV

The agencies in the Sacramento area hate putting a decent number of signal heads over the road so much they will instead take the chances with liability for nonstandard designs?  Interesting.

jbnv

Quote from: Alex4897 on September 06, 2013, 07:50:09 PM
There's one on US 13/40 at the intersection with DE 273 near an airport.
Why DelDOT decided to use them there is beyond me.

Perhaps because it's near an airport? There used to be one case of horizontal lights in Lafayette, LA--right by the airport. (These have since been replaced with pole-mounted horizontals with yellow splashguards--apparently a new DOTD convention on state highways.)
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