Signal Poles

[roadman65]

Thought I'd start a topic about signal pole designs.

One that got my attention was the ones that both Louisiana and Texas both use with flat surfaces on a round pole.

Like this. https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52081221812

Also I often wondered why the base on these has that box the same as traditional roadway lighting poles do.

[Hobart]

Gonna jump to one of the weirder examples first, in Juneau Alaska:

https://www.google.com/maps/@58.3703011,-134.5868179,3a,48.9y,115.39h,98.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLcC_AfiOiGq3XKsWVmnZwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I've always found J-shaped signal poles interesting; they're totally needless, but I guess they get the left turn signal in better eyeshot of the left turn lane?

I've always liked the Alaskan mast arms too, with their gentle upwards slope.

Are trusses fair game for this channel?

[Big John]

^^ There are a few instances of J-arms in California as well.

[ErmineNotyours]

British Columbia curved masts in storage in Victoria.  One of their distinctive masts appeared in the movie Insomnia, set in Alaska.

[wanderer2575]

Gonna jump to one of the weirder examples first, in Juneau Alaska:

https://www.google.com/maps/@58.3703011,-134.5868179,3a,48.9y,115.39h,98.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLcC_AfiOiGq3XKsWVmnZwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I've always found J-shaped signal poles interesting; they're totally needless, but I guess they get the left turn signal in better eyeshot of the left turn lane?

That's always been my assumption.  A lower signal means the driver need not crane his/her neck to see it.  It's over a median with no traffic, so no clearance issue.

[roadman65]

British Columbia curved masts in storage in Victoria.  One of their distinctive masts appeared in the movie Insomnia, set in Alaska.

NASA Causeway in Florida uses j poles.
https://goo.gl/maps/NsYEsjzBRonHUTP39

[roadfro]

Gonna jump to one of the weirder examples first, in Juneau Alaska:

https://www.google.com/maps/@58.3703011,-134.5868179,3a,48.9y,115.39h,98.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLcC_AfiOiGq3XKsWVmnZwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I've always found J-shaped signal poles interesting; they're totally needless, but I guess they get the left turn signal in better eyeshot of the left turn lane?

That's always been my assumption.  A lower signal means the driver need not crane his/her neck to see it.  It's over a median with no traffic, so no clearance issue.

I've speculated in some thread over on the Pacific Southwest board that the j-shaped mast arm was meant to be a replacement for a turn signal post-mounted at the nose of a median that kept getting knocked down by cars. At least in several of the California examples I've seen, the curved part of the mast arm appears to have been added later. There's also a few examples like this in California where the curved part of the mast arm is over a very narrow median (sometimes just a foot or two wide).