Five Section or doghouse signal head for left turns?

[PurdueBill]

Also, I've never seen a doghouse pole mounted on a side pole like this before...

Peabody, Mass has at least a couple on Lowell Street although at least one was recently changed to a 4-tall stack with a bimodal bottom arrow (kinda fancy for Peabody which usually does its own wacky things with sings and signals it seems)...as is common in that neck of the woods, there are a lot of intersections with no overhead signals, usually installations that came before the mid-to-late 80s.

[Mdcastle]

IMG_4384 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

Here's a view of the whole mast. There's also one mounted on the end of the overhead mast over the lane.

[Big John]

New WisDOT installations are indeed going vertical, however, I have yet to see a new WisDOT installation with a 5-section tower. All the WisDOT stuff is either FYA or protected. Yes, I have heard from good authority that doghouses are in the toolbox, but I think it will be a long time before they ever appear as part of a WisDOT installation. A) the FYA option has made it all but obsolete, B) it would require a whole new stream of parts to stock, and C) there's very little fresh blood in the signaling sections of the regional offices (read: a lot of old-school, it ain't broke don't change it, types).

Went through a construction area today in Appleton/Menasha (? - Mike) at Appleton Rd and Valley Rd.  New monotubes are up, they are extra-thick so they look like WisDOT mast arms.  on the Mainline (Appleton Rd - STH 47) there is a FYA setup for NB traffic, but for Valley Rd, there is a 5-section tower for the EB traffic on the mast arm and far side left pole-mounted signals.

[JMAN_WiS&S]

New WisDOT installations are indeed going vertical, however, I have yet to see a new WisDOT installation with a 5-section tower. All the WisDOT stuff is either FYA or protected. Yes, I have heard from good authority that doghouses are in the toolbox, but I think it will be a long time before they ever appear as part of a WisDOT installation. A) the FYA option has made it all but obsolete, B) it would require a whole new stream of parts to stock, and C) there's very little fresh blood in the signaling sections of the regional offices (read: a lot of old-school, it ain't broke don't change it, types).

Municipalities are a bigger question mark. West Bend hasn't touched the FYA and is still installing 5-section signals both vertically and horizontally. The reconstruction of Monona Dr from the beltline to the Madison city limits features 5-section towers mounted to monotubes.
[/quote]

Eau Claire Wisconsin has a 2 intersections that I know of that were the first intersections in Eau Claire to be the new vertical monotube standard, and have some 5 stacks.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Starr+Ave+%26+Birch+St,+Eau+Claire,+WI+54703/@44.820498,-91.478492,3a,75y,254.79h,87.71t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWPkki3OWAVQX81bHHNBwQA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DWPkki3OWAVQX81bHHNBwQA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D100%26h%3D80%26yaw%3D192.49835%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x87f8bce0e7d36ccd:0x762385559649d5c0

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.826412,-91.476122,3a,75y,284.56h,85.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sK3005LlrzpVItV6lUiaiTQ!2e0!5s20110901T000000!7i13312!8i6656

[cl94]

Since this thread was bumped, I'll note that 4-section bimodals are dominant in Buffalo and on county-maintained highways in Erie County, NY. Region 5 has quite a few bimodals, but those are being phased out when installations are replaced. In one case (US 20 at Lake Avenue, Lancaster), a doghouse was replaced with a 4-section bimodal when the opposing left turn got a 4-section for PPLT operation. Doghouses are typically only found on county-maintained roads if they were installed by NYSDOT.

[traffic light guy]

In certain states like Virginia there are 5 section tower signals, there are also some in NJ and New York.
In PA there are 5 section towers in Philadelphia, elsewhere in PA there are doghouses which have been around for a long time, the earliest being 12-inch Eagle flatbacks from the mid-1970s.

[swbrotha100]

I like how California, Illinois and other states install a 5-section tower on the left (or center) of an intersection along with a tower or doghouse on the mast arm, or wire. Same goes with 3-section left turn signals.

This. Would love to see a minimum of two signals for left turns applied in more states. I've only seen this in the upper midwest, southwest and western states.

There are some installations in Arizona (ADOT and the city of Scottsdale) that were installing 4-section signals (red ball, yellow ball, green ball, and bimodal arrow) before the FYA became more common.

[Amtrakprod]

The most obvious VA exception I forgot about. Did Charlottesville use doghouses for their installs before the signals with bimodal arrows were installed?  The earliest I recall considering the signals of Charlottesville was around 1999, marveling at the rare use (for VA) of the bimodal arrows. I could've sworn I saw a doghouse somewhere (not the 3M) but it may have been in Albemarle County.

Only within city limits are there bimodal arrows.
Inside Charlottesville, there are no 5-section signals (besides the 3M). Only 4-sections with bimodal arrows.
Outside Charlottesville, there are no 4-section w/ bimodal arrows. Only doghouses.
The closest doghouse signals in Charlottesville are at JPJ, outside of city limits.

The first time I saw one was in Bethesda, MD in the mid-1990s... is that about when bimodal arrows started being installed?

I honestly know little about bimodal arrow 'history'.
Before LEDs were used for signals, there were fiber-optic bimodal arrows.
Right now, all bimodal arrows in Charlottesville are LED except for 1 fiber-optic arrow (and it is currently not functioning).

In Charlottesville, there are two versions of LED bimodal arrows.

This arrow has clear glass, so you can see how it works. This video shows it changing close up and from a distance, then shows them in slow motion. You can see how there are alternatingly-colored LED lights in rows to form the arrow, so it noticably shifts a little when changing color.

This is the other version, with a frosted front. This has a more incandescent look, and you can't see any shift.

Here is a picture of the last fiber-optic bimodal arrow.

Fiber Optic Bimodal Arrow by Signals Unlimited, on Flickr

Using Emmet Street at Ivy Road as an example: (1) Northbound Emmet gets a green ball to go straight and a green left arrow, southbound Emmet has a red. (2) The green arrow turns off and southbound Emmet gets a green ball but no turn arrow (so both directions are going straight). (3) Northbound Emmet's light turns completely red and southbound Emmet gets the green left-turn arrow along with the green ball.

That intersection no longer does that. There are two ways it cycles.

[1] If there is someone waiting to turn left NB on Emmet, but noone waiting SB on Emmet (it cycles vice versa too):

• NB Emmet gets green left arrow & thru signals. EB Ivy gets green right arrow.
• NB Emmet & EB Ivy's arrows go away. Both directions on Emmet St now have green thru signals and permissive left turn.

[2] If there is someone waiting to turn left in both directions on Emmet:

• NB & SB Emmet have green left arrows; red thru signals. EB & WB Ivy have green right arrows; red thru signals.
• SB Emmet's left arrow goes away. WB Ivy's right arrow goes away.
  NB Emmet now has green arrow & thru signals. (EB Ivy still has green right). SB Emmet has all red.
• NB Emmet & EB Ivy's arrows go away. Both directions on Emmet St now have green thru signals and permissive left turn. Both directions on Ivy have all red.

Another interesting bimodal use in Charlottesville is redundant, in a 3-section signal. It cycles like any protected turn signal, but the yellow arrow & yellow ball always come on at the same time.

That particular signal is now gone. There are only 2 remaining in that configuration.

In my town, there is a light with the arrow and yellow ball coming on at the same time. Here's the intersection link: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4190754,-71.1561568,3a,15y,264.16h,93.74t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sK2DD6hfxVMS3O8l4MMsG6w!2e0!5s20121001T000000!7i13312!8i6656 , I'll take a photo. The link is a bit far away but it's showing that cycle.

[paulthemapguy]

I like how California, Illinois and other states install a 5-section tower on the left (or center) of an intersection along with a tower or doghouse on the mast arm, or wire. Same goes with 3-section left turn signals.

This. Would love to see a minimum of two signals for left turns applied in more states. I've only seen this in the upper midwest, southwest and western states.

I agree with both of you immensely.  I find it totally unacceptable that some states permit the existence of one signal with arrows for a particular approach.  What if something happens to one of the signal heads having arrows?  There's nothing to back it up.  It's especially egregious when you consider the number of intersections where a turning movement is more common than a movement straight through.  I'm looking at you, pretty much every state in the Eastern Time Zone.