Cities/Regions Still Not Converted To LED Signals.

[thenetwork]

Now that LED lighting has been available for traffic lights for well over a decade now, most signals in my area have converted to the energy-saving lights.  There are still a few county intersections in my area which still sport incandescent segments, but are being upgraded as the older lights burn out.

On my recent cross-country trip, I noticed a few spots where LED lighting was hardly used if at all.  One in particular was extreme northern Columbus city limits (Sawmill Road) where it was over 90% incandescent.

Are there other notable areas or cities that have yet to go LED???

[freebrickproductions]

Here are a few of the towns in Alabama that are mostly incandescent:
Tuscumbia
Fort Payne
Athens
Decatur
Calera
Ragland

A lot of small towns along highways in the rural parts of Alabama that have only one or two traffic lights tend to have mostly or entirely incandescent signals.

[8.Lug]

I'm curious if Gary, IN has a single LED traffic light.

But honestly, those things annoy the crap out of me. They're far too bright, and they last maybe 6 months before they burn out or start flickering, and no one ever replaces them. There was a blown green-arrow by me for MONTHS, it used to cause such a traffic back-up.

[jeffandnicole]

But honestly, those things annoy the crap out of me. They're far too bright, and they last maybe 6 months before they burn out or start flickering, and no one ever replaces them.

I'll grant you the first part of that statement, although after a while you get used to them.  But lasting maybe 6 months?  Maybe a few...but the vast majority will last years in perfectly good shape.  If no one replaces them, that has nothing to do with the bulb...that has to do with the agency in charge of maintenance.

[cl94]

But honestly, those things annoy the crap out of me. They're far too bright, and they last maybe 6 months before they burn out or start flickering, and no one ever replaces them.

I'll grant you the first part of that statement, although after a while you get used to them.  But lasting maybe 6 months?  Maybe a few...but the vast majority will last years in perfectly good shape.  If no one replaces them, that has nothing to do with the bulb...that has to do with the agency in charge of maintenance.

LEDs last forever. At this point, I'd say that most signals in New York outside of a few local municipalities are LED. NYCDOT changed over a while back. Troy still has quite a few incandescents outside of the downtown area and NY 2/7/66. Actually, other than US 4 north of downtown, almost every signal not along those roads or downtown is incandescent, with a lot of pagoda signals left.

[Pink Jazz]

I have seen some older LED signals where some of the green LEDs were failing.  The traffic signal grade green LEDs seem to have a shorter life than the red and yellow LEDs, since after all they weren't introduced until later (the only green LEDs that existed prior to the 1990s were the lighter chartreuse type that are the wrong shade for a green traffic signal).

[cl94]

I have seen some older LED signals where some of the green LEDs were failing.  The traffic signal grade green LEDs seem to have a shorter life than the red and yellow LEDs, since after all they weren't introduced until later (the only green LEDs that existed prior to the 1990s were the lighter chartreuse type that are the wrong shade for a green traffic signal).

Green LEDs do have a shorter shelf life, but it's still significantly longer than incandescents. Of course, they do typically start flashing before dying completely or a section goes out, giving a warning of impending failure that doesn't exist with older types.

[UCFKnights]

I think Starke, FL doesn't have any LEDs yet

[8.Lug]

LEDs last forever.

High-power LED's are actually quite prone to failure. We're not talking about those old-school red LED's on your parents stereo that just never seem to blow out. These new high-power LED's generate a serious amount of heat, and if that heat isn't dissipated, the very frail wire that connects the leads to the die will break free due to thermal expansion.

And you're half right about a bulb going unchanged for 3 months not being the fault of the LED. Thing is - incandescent bulbs don't get changed when they blow out, they get changed on a schedule BEFORE they blow because blown traffic lights are a serious safety hazard. These new LED's are being advertised as having a 50,000hr+ lifespan - but that's not when they're sealed inside housings getting pelted by the sun on 90+ degree days.

[Quillz]

The San Fernando Valley barely has any, if they have any at all. The only one I can think of off-hand is near the CSUN campus on Reseda. The western part of the valley has none at all, and most of the street lights still haven't been converted to LED, either.

[Brian556]

There are some LED signals here that use a lens that hides the fact that they are LED. One particular green arrow of this style is way too dim, and is hard to see in the daytime.

[7/8]

I was driving through Guelph, ON yesterday and I could definitely tell they were LED lights, since it was very easy to see the individual lights. But a lot of them had some of the small lights burnt out, and though this doesn't affect your ability to see what colour it is, it doesn't look good.

I'm not sure if Kitchener-Waterloo is using LED's. Some them I can tell are LED, though they look better than Guelph's lights. But for most of them, I'm not sure if they're LED with a dense fabric of lights, or if they're incandescent with grooves on the lens.

I also found this article about snow cover on LED lights which I thought was interesting:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/led-traffic-lights-trouble-in-winter-because-they-don-t-melt-snow-1.3465301

Energy efficient traffic lights could pose a problem in cold, snowy Canadian cities.

New LED bulbs don't generate the same amount of heat the old incandescent bulbs did, so they don't melt the snow that builds up on traffic lights.

John Wolf, senior manager for traffic operations at the City of Windsor, said city officials have been unable to come up with a workable solution to the snow build-up.

"LEDs do not put off any heat. The old heads were just 150 watt, so basically [stoplights] had a 150-watt light bulb in them, so they generated heat and anything on them melted," Wolf explained.

Wolf said for the time being, when snow builds up on a traffic light, city work crews have to clean the lights off by hand, and that takes a lot of time.

The City of Windsor isn't the first Canadian city to experience snowy stoplights. Charlottetown encountered the problem back in 2013.

Charlottetown public works manager Paul Johnston told CBC at that time crews had to go out and fix the problem of snow-covered traffic lights during a storm.

"The staff have gone out and just tried to vibrate the poles slightly, and that, in some cases, has been enough."

[jeffandnicole]

I was driving through Guelph, ON yesterday and I could definitely tell they were LED lights, since it was very easy to see the individual lights. But a lot of them had some of the small lights burnt out, and though this doesn't affect your ability to see what colour it is, it doesn't look good.

I'm not sure if Kitchener-Waterloo is using LED's. Some them I can tell are LED, though they look better than Guelph's lights. But for most of them, I'm not sure if they're LED with a dense fabric of lights, or if they're incandescent with grooves on the lens.

I also found this article about snow cover on LED lights which I thought was interesting:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/led-traffic-lights-trouble-in-winter-because-they-don-t-melt-snow-1.3465301

Energy efficient traffic lights could pose a problem in cold, snowy Canadian cities.

New LED bulbs don't generate the same amount of heat the old incandescent bulbs did, so they don't melt the snow that builds up on traffic lights.

John Wolf, senior manager for traffic operations at the City of Windsor, said city officials have been unable to come up with a workable solution to the snow build-up.

"LEDs do not put off any heat. The old heads were just 150 watt, so basically [stoplights] had a 150-watt light bulb in them, so they generated heat and anything on them melted," Wolf explained.

Wolf said for the time being, when snow builds up on a traffic light, city work crews have to clean the lights off by hand, and that takes a lot of time.

The City of Windsor isn't the first Canadian city to experience snowy stoplights. Charlottetown encountered the problem back in 2013.

Charlottetown public works manager Paul Johnston told CBC at that time crews had to go out and fix the problem of snow-covered traffic lights during a storm.

"The staff have gone out and just tried to vibrate the poles slightly, and that, in some cases, has been enough."

That issue has been talked about on these boards for years; less so in the recent past because it's just pretty much expected at this point and transportation departments have gotten used to dealing with the issue.

[Pink Jazz]

And interestingly, it seems that the older style green LED signals (not the newer "incandescent look" type) generally do not use green-tinted lenses, but clear lenses.  I wonder if this is due to sun phantoming with green lenses on the older style green LED signals.