Traffic Signals Mounted on Wooden Utility Poles

[MNHighwayMan]

From my perspective, those wooden poles aren't supporting any utilities other than the electricity feeding directly to the stoplights.  Should we really call those "utility poles", then?  If they were made of metal, I doubt you would even look twice.

I think you might be taking the term "utility pole" a bit too literally.

Edit: What do I call such poles, anyway? What's the term for just the pole itself, regardless of what's attached to it? Merely a "wood pole?" I honestly don't know. I've always called them utility poles, even without utilities on them.

[DaBigE]

Fond du Lac, WI Mounted to the conduit that is attached to the utility pole. Also, probably one of the shortest arms I've ever seen for a horizontally-mounted signal head.

Madison, WI

[kphoger]

From my perspective, those wooden poles aren't supporting any utilities other than the electricity feeding directly to the stoplights.  Should we really call those "utility poles", then?  If they were made of metal, I doubt you would even look twice.

I think you might be taking the term "utility pole" a bit too literally.

Edit: What do I call such poles, anyway? What's the term for just the pole itself, regardless of what's attached to it? Merely a "wood pole?" I honestly don't know. I've always called them utility poles, even without utilities on them.

Yeah, I suppose you're right.  I hadn't thought this deeply about it when I first posted that, but...  Considering that the poles are right there with the utilities, I'm 99% certain they're owned by the electric company, which in and of itself should qualify them for being called "utility poles":  they are, after all, poles owned by the utility company.  If they were a decent distance away from the electric mainline, then it would be possible they're owned by another entity, but that's not the case here.

As for nomenclature, the term I'm most familiar with is "bump pole", which is an intermediate pole between the mainline and the premise if the distance is too great for a single span.  That's not exactly the same as here, but the pole itself would be identical.

[kphoger]

Fond du Lac, WI Mounted to the conduit that is attached to the utility pole.

That one's pretty sweet!

[steviep24]

Fond du Lac, WI Mounted to the conduit that is attached to the utility pole.

That one's pretty sweet!

On that same pole there's a horizontal signal attached to the conduit.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7697225,-88.4570306,3a,30y,221.51h,97.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIoZj718Dm5OrVUK4M-a5Kw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[DaBigE]

Fond du Lac, WI Mounted to the conduit that is attached to the utility pole.

That one's pretty sweet!

On that same pole there's a horizontal signal attached to the conduit.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7697225,-88.4570306,3a,30y,221.51h,97.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIoZj718Dm5OrVUK4M-a5Kw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

If you look closer, that one is banded to the pole: https://goo.gl/maps/YPo9P3KA6NphY5uBA

[kphoger]

On that same pole there's a horizontal signal attached to the conduit.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7697225,-88.4570306,3a,30y,221.51h,97.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIoZj718Dm5OrVUK4M-a5Kw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Yep.  He mentioned it in his post already.

Fond du Lac, WI Mounted to the conduit that is attached to the utility pole. Also, probably one of the shortest arms I've ever seen for a horizontally-mounted signal head.

[silveradoman298]

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5160917,-82.9686238,3a,42.9y,357.76h,90.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1staLwdQdfN8ANrz3893iuaA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

This Michigan setup is becoming a rarity.

[jakeroot]

Here's one (not unlike some of the above) where the signal is directly mounted to the wooden utility pole, rather than from an attached wire:

Seattle, WA: SW Admiral Way @ 47th Ave SW.

Whether it's truly a utility pole or not, I'm not sure. There's a lot of stuff going on, with at least one wire going directly to a nearby power pole.

Another similar one here, also attached directly to the pole:

Auburn, WA: Oravetz Rd @ Kersey Way

[stevashe]

Plenty of span wire installations mounted to wood/utility poles by King County for their older installs as well, like this one at Avondale Rd and Woodinville-Duvall Rd:

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.7550042,-122.0806063,3a,80.4y,310.92h,78.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCeXR7nn8OfQqKsoTyHV6Tw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[bcroadguy]

I've always thought that this intersection in Blaine, WA (WSDOT maintained I believe?) is unusual given that the intersection right next to it uses metal mast arms and that metal poles are used for streetlights on both intersecting roads.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.9905542,-122.734993,3a,39.6y,79.01h,84.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJhUSHbxur1Lf1AZ2_xdgPw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[jakeroot]

I've always thought that this intersection in Blaine, WA (WSDOT maintained I believe?) is unusual given that the intersection right next to it uses metal mast arms and that metal poles are used for streetlights on both intersecting roads.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.9905542,-122.734993,3a,39.6y,79.01h,84.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJhUSHbxur1Lf1AZ2_xdgPw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Looks to be WSDOT, yeah. I've never quite understood what the reasoning was for using wooden poles vs metal poles, or wire-span vs mast-arms. WSDOT doesn't install intersections like this today (the intersection just to the north is the standard WSDOT look now), but they were very common for decades.

[plain]

Bumping this because I just got reminded of this.

An example in Bristol, TN

https://maps.app.goo.gl/p6Y52FwxFmzWMU2Y8

[US20IL64]

It's fairly common to come across span-wire signals hung off wooden utility poles around Maine.

To me the whole thing looks cheap.  I prefer span wires to be hung on metal poles or concrete ones as both Florida and Puerto Rico uses.

Agree, since in IL and other states, wood post signals mean "under construction".