The Perfect Mastarm

[on_wisconsin]

My personal favorite WisDOT Trombone Arm signal configuration was at high capacity 2-lane intersections:

[KEK Inc.]

I think straight mast-arms look fine depending on the signal, and if there's a shield plating around the signals.  I'm not a fan of any traffic signal without that plating, which is common in span-wire and truss/trumpet-mast designs.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

My perfect mastarm would just have to be the good 'ol California curved mastarm. Very minimalist and functional.

[Mdcastle]

I really like how Hennepin County, MN does their new signals (for example: http://goo.gl/maps/KhPCf )

They look like same type the City Of Bloomington (MN) has been using for long time now.  http://goo.gl/maps/wzPXv http://goo.gl/maps/eSAvJ

Besides the (now abandoned) Wisconsin truss arm, the standard MnDOT treatment for high capacity intersections has to be my favorite setup.

The first is actually a Hennepin county maintained signal, not city of Bloomingotn. In Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul each have their own unique styles and older equipment- I saw a pair of c1950 Eaglelux "long fins" signals at Cedar and Minnehaha Parkway, other jurisdictions tend to follow Mn/DOT specs to the point it's hard to tell who owns a given signal, and have much newer equipment.

As for the original photo, the extra length does look odd to me, and I don't like the lack of signal heads mounted to the vertical poles on either side of the intersection.

[architect77]

My perfect mastarm would just have to be the good 'ol California curved mastarm. Very minimalist and functional.

Yes, California does it best, seems effortless for them...

[roadfro]

^ Although I've never understood why there are so many installations where the left turn signal is mounted at the top of the red arrow section, but the through signal is mounted between the red and yellow balls.

I like the California curved mast arm, but only when there are no signal heads mounted on the curved portion. I like when all the overhead signal heads are mounted at the same relative height & orientation--which is one reason I like the straight Nevada mast arms.

[KEK Inc.]

I only really like the curved mast arm if the street luminaries have a similar mast arm. 

This doesn't really look good, imo.



This does, though.



However, with rounded-bent mast arms for the street luminaries, I prefer the straight mast arms.  The straight mast arms also look better without a street luminarie, imo.

[2Co5_14]

I'm also partial to the traditional California-style curved mast arm.
Here are a couple of non-traditional ones:

A large "trombone" style:
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.953885,-122.373469&spn=0.00423,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=37.954017,-122.373481&panoid=IJYUUNIuj_nU2SGa-a4BMg&cbp=12,3,,0,-0.18

I don't know whether to classify this one as "minimalist" or "overkill":
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.697467,-121.889266&spn=0.00075,0.001321&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=37.697467,-121.889266&panoid=4buct2uYIjU5jFVWodh1KA&cbp=12,31.5,,0,1.37

[Billy F 1988]

http://goo.gl/maps/GUgO1

It's a rarity to see CalTrans styled mastarms in Missoula. This one is on South Russell Street on the approach to McDonald Avenue where the northbound lane has a straight mastarm and the southbound lane has the CalTrans looking mastarm.

[tradephoric]

Nearly every example on this page has signal heads for dedicated left-turn phases.  Form should follow function... nothing "perfect" about inefficient left-turn phases. 

That aside, i like this style


Kidding, i like mast arms that are as straight as possible with illuminated street name signs hanging from the mast arm.

[roadfro]

I don't know whether to classify this one as "minimalist" or "overkill":
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.697467,-121.889266&spn=0.00075,0.001321&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=37.697467,-121.889266&panoid=4buct2uYIjU5jFVWodh1KA&cbp=12,31.5,,0,1.37

All that structure for one overhead signal head each direction. Overkill, certainly! 

[roadman65]

I always thought that the mast arms in Plainfield, NJ at the intersection of Park Avenue and Front Street was a little overdone, but it may serve a purpose as perfect in durability to mother nature.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plainfield,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.618432,-74.424165&spn=0.00395,0.010568&sll=40.776488,-73.467345&sspn=0.066166,0.169086&oq=plainfi&t=h&hnear=Plainfield,+Union,+New+Jersey&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.618333,-74.42417&panoid=g9DMEuvDbzgQuqV_ZErdfQ&cbp=12,14.76,,0,0

[roadfro]

I always thought that the mast arms in Plainfield, NJ at the intersection of Park Avenue and Front Street was a little overdone, but it may serve a purpose as perfect in durability to mother nature.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plainfield,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.618432,-74.424165&spn=0.00395,0.010568&sll=40.776488,-73.467345&sspn=0.066166,0.169086&oq=plainfi&t=h&hnear=Plainfield,+Union,+New+Jersey&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.618333,-74.42417&panoid=g9DMEuvDbzgQuqV_ZErdfQ&cbp=12,14.76,,0,0

Reno has similar traffic signals on Virginia Street in downtown. I've always thought they looked hideous...

[WichitaRoads]

I always thought that the mast arms in Plainfield, NJ at the intersection of Park Avenue and Front Street was a little overdone, but it may serve a purpose as perfect in durability to mother nature.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plainfield,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.618432,-74.424165&spn=0.00395,0.010568&sll=40.776488,-73.467345&sspn=0.066166,0.169086&oq=plainfi&t=h&hnear=Plainfield,+Union,+New+Jersey&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.618333,-74.42417&panoid=g9DMEuvDbzgQuqV_ZErdfQ&cbp=12,14.76,,0,0

Reno has similar traffic signals on Virginia Street in downtown. I've always thought they looked hideous...

Agreed. I pointed out in an earlier post that we have these along Kellogg downtown in Wichita and at Rock and K-96, and they suck. Especially when those panels rust out, or they have retrofit new crosswalk signals into the old spaces.

ICTRds

[kphoger]

I always thought that the mast arms in Plainfield, NJ at the intersection of Park Avenue and Front Street was a little overdone, but it may serve a purpose as perfect in durability to mother nature.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plainfield,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.618432,-74.424165&spn=0.00395,0.010568&sll=40.776488,-73.467345&sspn=0.066166,0.169086&oq=plainfi&t=h&hnear=Plainfield,+Union,+New+Jersey&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.618333,-74.42417&panoid=g9DMEuvDbzgQuqV_ZErdfQ&cbp=12,14.76,,0,0

Reno has similar traffic signals on Virginia Street in downtown. I've always thought they looked hideous...

Agreed. I pointed out in an earlier post that we have these along Kellogg downtown in Wichita and at Rock and K-96, and they suck. Especially when those panels rust out, or they have retrofit new crosswalk signals into the old spaces.

ICTRds

Not to mention the pigeon poop....

[WichitaRoads]

I always thought that the mast arms in Plainfield, NJ at the intersection of Park Avenue and Front Street was a little overdone, but it may serve a purpose as perfect in durability to mother nature.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plainfield,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.618432,-74.424165&spn=0.00395,0.010568&sll=40.776488,-73.467345&sspn=0.066166,0.169086&oq=plainfi&t=h&hnear=Plainfield,+Union,+New+Jersey&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.618333,-74.42417&panoid=g9DMEuvDbzgQuqV_ZErdfQ&cbp=12,14.76,,0,0

Reno has similar traffic signals on Virginia Street in downtown. I've always thought they looked hideous...

Agreed. I pointed out in an earlier post that we have these along Kellogg downtown in Wichita and at Rock and K-96, and they suck. Especially when those panels rust out, or they have retrofit new crosswalk signals into the old spaces.

ICTRds

Not to mention the pigeon poop....

Ah, too true...

ICTRds

[Billy F 1988]

http://goo.gl/maps/f6xmy

Clicking this link, you'll see a couple of mastarm/luminary combos on South Russell Street and 39th Street at the base of the South Hills neighborhood of Missoula.


They're like this one mastarm structure KEK, Inc. showed, only with more height, about 30 to 45 feet more. They're probably a good 150 feet in height if I'm not mistaken.

http://goo.gl/maps/o61v2
This link shows you a quite strange mastarm at 39th Street, Dore Lane and 23rd Avenue. The one hovering over the northbound side of Dore Lane is perpendicular to the luminary.

[hobsini2]

I think straight mast-arms look fine depending on the signal, and if there's a shield plating around the signals.  I'm not a fan of any traffic signal without that plating, which is common in span-wire and truss/trumpet-mast designs.

Actually, the practice in Illinois and Wisconsin with their truss arms in general has the back plating.
This is a signal that was installed in Montello WI in the last 10 years or so. https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Montello+WI&aq=&sll=39.739318,-89.266507&sspn=10.74076,21.972656&vpsrc=0&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Montello,+Marquette,+Wisconsin&ll=43.792163,-89.327431&spn=0.075836,0.171661&z=13&cbll=43.792102,-89.327793&panoid=2R5CZRJeoKjDN-PVZKKT8w&cbp=12,59.54,,0,-15.06&ei=nyshUc6aCIGAwAG75YGoBg&pw=2

This one in Bolingbrook IL. The signals used to be hanging from the end at the top. When Bolingbrook converted to the LED signals, they put the "bracket" on putting the signal/arm junction in the middle. https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bolingbrook+IL&aq=&sll=43.792163,-89.327774&sspn=0.076331,0.171661&vpsrc=0&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bolingbrook,+Will,+Illinois&ll=41.699064,-88.068466&spn=0.156881,0.343323&z=12&cbll=41.698755,-88.068374&panoid=Ow1vKukUvVtGflHQmFADBg&cbp=12,173.25,,0,4.14&ei=cSwhUda5L-jxwQHViICQCA&pw=2

[roadfro]

http://goo.gl/maps/f6xmy

Clicking this link, you'll see a couple of mastarm/luminary combos on South Russell Street and 39th Street at the base of the South Hills neighborhood of Missoula.


They're like this one mastarm structure KEK, Inc. showed, only with more height, about 30 to 45 feet more. They're probably a good 150 feet in height if I'm not mistaken.

You're mistaken. I'd wager the signal pole in your GoogleMaps link is no more than 35 feet high. The typical straight mast arm connects to the signal pole around 18 feet or so off the ground.