Any traffic signal fans here?

[signalman]

I certainly do appreciate all of the picture taking you've done across Delaware.  I've spent countless hours looking at the pics from across the state.

[Alex]

What I would like to do at some point is to create a traffic signal primer similar to the Clearview vs. Highway Gothic primer and the incomplete Ramp Meters primer. More specifically I would like a gallery showing the various signal styles used across the country that include their manufacturer name. I have my own set of nicknames for them, like "bubble backs" to describe the McCain assemblies that are so pervasive across the country.

[Ian]

Hey Alex,

I hate to break it to ya, but the "bubble back" signals are not McCains. They are actually Eagle Mark IV signals. These are what a McCain signal looks like:
http://www.interstate-guide.com/images401/i-495_ny_et_10.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewYorkTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5292758328944186850
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/MarylandTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5292856139901137026
and the most accurate:
http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn224/tctkid/Which%20Signal%20Brand%20Is%20Which/?action=view&current=IMG_1862.jpg

Any signal brand information or questions? View here on my Photobucket account:
http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn224/tctkid/Which%20Signal%20Brand%20Is%20Which/


This could really help!
-Ian

[Alex]

Wow, I have been misled on this for years now. A fellow road and signal geek told me those were McCains a long time ago, and I have been referring to them ever since.

This is another reason to have a signal primer page be created, want to help?

[Ian]

Oh yeah I'd love to help! Sorry for being such a smart @$$  . If you need signal help, you can email me. iansignal@gmail.com

Thanks!
-Ian

[US71]

I can't recall where, now, but it seems like I've seen a few Econolites that have a McCain-style addition. Are most of these light assemblies interchangeable?

[Alex]

Oh yeah I'd love to help! Sorry for being such a smart @$$  . If you need signal help, you can email me. iansignal@gmail.com

Thanks!
-Ian

No worries, I was more shocked that I have had it wrong all along. Either way, that style of signal is my least favorite...

[Ian]

US71- Those are the new style of Econolites aluminum signals. They do almost look identical to McCains but if ya go up close, you'll see that there are a lot more parts, sections, and bolts that make the signal look a little hideous. But they look fairly interesting at the same time. There is also the polycarbonate (poly) Econolite "buttonback signals" (http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5309443460892931234). Those are starting to pop up like weeds and the 8" (or the 30" as Aaroads calls them) version of the buttonbacks look very similar to McCains.

Aaroads- Yea, not many people in the signal club I am in (http://forums.signaltraffic.com/index.php) like McCains that much either. Though since I see them a whole lot, I am starting to like the design and I would love one for my collection. Besides, McCain did make this beauty  : http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5301734766981151026

Some of the older signal brands look identical McCains. Here is a list of those brands.

Safetran
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5310497717460975362
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/PennsylvaniaTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5291333689912345746

Singer
http://www.gilligcoaches.net/rosenowphotography/Singer_3.jpg

-Ian

[Hellfighter]

For most of michigan history, we've had these eagles...

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.362064,-83.332672&spn=0,359.938202&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.362064,-83.332693&panoid=ai5w2KH3lh5hnMHa7Nixhg&cbp=12,220.17,,0,-10.5

until recently, when we started switching to these...

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.362064,-83.332672&spn=0,359.938202&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.362064,-83.332693&panoid=ai5w2KH3lh5hnMHa7Nixhg&cbp=12,220.17,,0,-10.5

Also, how do post street view images?

[Scott5114]

Not complex, but a rather "retro" signal:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=paseo+%26+linwood,+Kansas+city,+mo&sll=39.102774,-94.562781&sspn=0.009874,0.016437&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=39.068526,-94.566798&panoid=R47D-GrQwd2coElI161Ryw&cbp=12,198.2,,0,5

I love that signal. When I was like 3 or 4, my aunt found out about my roadgeek tendencies and made a point to visit that intersection to show me that signal. Needless to say I flipped out. And then I remember we got on a freeway that bizarrely had a stoplight on it. Looking at the map, we must have gotten on US 71, and gone through the Watkins Drive portion!

[Alex]

I was happy to see that some of the 30" Eagle and Crouse Hinds signals are still hanging around in Mobile. This set is on Virginia Street west at Broad Street.

[Hellfighter]

Not complex, but a rather "retro" signal:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=paseo+%26+linwood,+Kansas+city,+mo&sll=39.102774,-94.562781&sspn=0.009874,0.016437&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=39.068526,-94.566798&panoid=R47D-GrQwd2coElI161Ryw&cbp=12,198.2,,0,5

That looks pretty cool!

[barcncpt44]

Just look at my avatar, i do love traffic lights.  I love that alabama is now painting their lights black instead of yellow

[US71]

I found some oldies in Idabel, OK a couple weeks back:


One would blackout going from red to green, the other from green to yellow.

Also several old 4ways in Mississippi


I've got a whole category on my Flickr pages. 

[Alex]

All of Mobile County's signals are switching from yellow to black as well. The city installs vary, but they are mostly the bee-lights (black visors/yellow backs).

There's some great old signals in Bay Minette (still there in a recent visit). Here is a 2002 photo:

[agentsteel53]

what does it mean for a light to black out?  you mean it stays unlit for a split second before switching?

a few months ago I caught this transition on an old US-61 alignment in Mississippi:



that was about a 1/20th second exposure so I do not know if it really overlapped for a split second or if there was a gap. 

those hypothesizing that it the red went off at the *exact same time* that the green turned on are hereby directed towards the nearest course in special relativity...

"well, officer, given my relative position and velocity with respect to the signal, the green light reached me before I crossed the intersection"
"oh, well in that case ... my calculations tell me you were traveling at 99.9 percent of the speed of light ... that, too, is an infraction!"

[rawmustard]

what does it mean for a light to black out?  you mean it stays unlit for a split second before switching?

It's an effect of older electromechanical controllers. For a very brief interval, the face would appear totally dark as the controller switched circuits.

[Alex]

Many signals in Allentown, PA had that black out phase when I was there in 1994. I was unfamiliar with the phenomenon until that trip.

[US71]

what does it mean for a light to black out?  you mean it stays unlit for a split second before switching?

a few months ago I caught this transition on an old US-61 alignment in Mississippi:

There are several in Poteau, OK that "black out" or do a double light, like this one in Hugo


I'll have to look for my Poteau snaps... they seem to be missing.

[Greybear]

This is a type of traffic signal and mount that has been in Greenville, Texas since the early to mid 1980s. The intersection shown, Stanford and Stonewall Streets, is the only remaining intersection in Greenville that has this design of traffic signal and mounts.

In this image, you are looking west on Stanford from Stonewall, looking towards TX 34/Wesley St.

[codyg1985]

All of Mobile County's signals are switching from yellow to black as well. The city installs vary, but they are mostly the bee-lights (black visors/yellow backs).

Most new Huntsville and Madison County signal installations have went to black or black visor/yellow back design. I think ALDOT is using all-black traffic signals now in a lot of places, especially in Division 1. There are a ton of them along US 431 in Guntersville and Albertville.

[Gars]

 Hello everybody im a really big traffic signal fan , and of course a fellow roadgeek. In Puerto Rico traffic signals were once yellow but newer ones (since mid 9o's I think) are black. There are still a lot of yellow traffic signals. Puerto Rico has quite a few styles of traffic signals.

This is a traffic signal in Ponce. This style of traffic signal is the one used in the island. New ones are black not yellow, but this one is a bit old i think. The post where the signal is different from the normal one since its a boulevard and in PR its only used in Ponce.

[Gars]

Another traffic signal, dont know where it is. iN pr, WE CALL THEM "semaforos"

[Tom]

Speaking of traffic lights, here's a Flickr group I ran across dedicated 2 traffic lights in Michigan:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/596092@N21/

US71:  here's a pic I ran across that I don't think was a blackout, but still a rarity:

http://www.pasty.com/discus/messages/278/446.html#PN

[florida]

Definitely a signal fan here, always looking for the oldies in the Sunshine State.

There are a few decent assemblies left on the side streets of Tampa.

I was shocked to find a classic signal in Quincy. Its on the street one block south of U.S. 90. In fact several of the signals there predate the current and even the 1990s standards.

Yeah! I would like to get over there and take some photos; always see them while traveling 275 between Dale Mabry and downtown.

The Quincy one sounds familiar. There might still be a classic 4-way 'boxy' signal in Green Cove Springs west of US 17 and north of SR 16 (this was 6 years ago).

Edit: Is this the Quincy light?




Here are some others:

Okeechobee


Palatka


Orlando




Ocala


Lake Wales


Marineland (love the faded green, they've been working hard!)