Flagman substitute. How common are these?

[1995hoo]

Early this afternoon I was driving on Shreve Road near Falls Church, Virginia, and came across this interesting device that substituted for a flagman (maybe they didn't have enough personnel?). I had never seen one of these before and found it interesting. Has anyone else seen these in use? Are they common anywhere?

Click image to play video.

[getemngo]

Nope!

Wonder if that turns solid yellow before turning red (I hope)?

[1995hoo]

Nope!

Wonder if that turns solid yellow before turning red (I hope)?

Don't know, but if I go back that way any time soon and it's still there I'll consider pulling over to watch it if I have time.

[WichitaRoads]

I remember posting a thread on one of these a while back...

ICTRds

[Brian556]

I have a lot of experience with flagging.

These have the following advantages:
They are more visible than a flagman, because they are a light.
The flagman does not have to stand there and hold a paddle, which gets old quick, and is quite difficult on a windy day.
This is safer, because the flagman does not have to stand on the road. He can stand back off the road and operate it with a remote control.
If emergency work had to take place during rain, these could be controlled from inside a pickup.

Disadvantages:
Cumbersome to get out to the work site.
inconvenient to move as work progresses down the road (ie: paving)
Sometimes might have to be set in open lane due to lack of usable shoulder space.
Because they are not common, drivers might be confused by them.

People really have a hard time complying with flaggers, mostly because they are blind and or stupid. On rural state roads, where the speed limit is 55, many people will not see the flagger at all until they are driving past him. Having a pickup parked beside the flagger reduces this greatly.

Some people are so dumb that they will stop for the flaggers stop sign , then take off like it's a regular stop sign.

When I had to flag, I always wanted them to get these. Especially on windy days.

[corco]

Yeah, Idaho and Montana both use these a lot, though they use full three light stoplights. One nice thing is they run 24 hours, so if there's a mudslide or something traffic can be directed at all times of day without staffing. The ones out here run on timers, so that can be annoying when you come up on one late at night, sit at it for five minutes, don't see a car come by, and then the light turns green, but I suppose that's better than paying somebody to stand out there all night.

[Takumi]

I encountered a signal being used in place of a flagman on a quiet section of US 301 in Prince George County about 7 years ago, at a small bridge that was being replaced. It was on a timer and had your typical green/yellow/red cycle.

[oscar]

I see signals used instead of human flaggers all the time.  In some places like Quebec, they will sometimes include countdown timers to indicate how long the red phase will last (helps a lot when it lasts several minutes or more, so you can get out of the car during the wait).

The expense saved from mechanical rather than human flaggers depends on whether the flagger is just a regular construction crew member taking a break, or rather is someone specializing in stopping traffic.  Some of the states doing the latter seem to hire pretty flaggers, but that seems less common than in years past.

[1995hoo]

Signals, OK, but how about the nifty little arm mechanism?

[agentsteel53]

Yeah, Idaho and Montana both use these a lot, though they use full three light stoplights. One nice thing is they run 24 hours, so if there's a mudslide or something traffic can be directed at all times of day without staffing. The ones out here run on timers, so that can be annoying when you come up on one late at night, sit at it for five minutes, don't see a car come by, and then the light turns green, but I suppose that's better than paying somebody to stand out there all night.

Oregon as well.  at least, in 2005 when lots of bridges on US-20 were being redone, they consistently had a three-bulb stoplight for each project.

[DSS5]

I saw a set of these (with the arm mechanism) on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville last fall. They had a lane closed for over a mile, so coordinating flagman activities might have been difficult.

[hbelkins]

I've seen temporary traffic signals in lots of places to regulate one-lane traffic on a bridge construction project, or a place where a slide or a pavement break reduces traffic to one lane, but nothing like this that purports to replace a flagger.

I'm old enough to remember when how flaggers determined when to let traffic through was through a driver handing a stick with an orange ribbon tied to it to the flagger on the other end of the work zone. Now they've advanced to the use of walkie-talkies or two-way radios, but when I was a kid I thought it was neat that we got to hand the signal to the flagger. Since I usually sat behind my dad on our trips, I always wanted to hand the marker out the rear window.

I can definitely see where something like this would come in handy. You don't have to pay it union scale (if it's a contractor) or retirement benefits (if it's a governmental agency).

[Indyroads]

California placed wire span traffic signals on longer term single lane detours around slide areas. Also this is permanently in place on the Baker-Barry Tunnel near the marin headlands area north of the Golden Gate. The tunnel is fairly long considering it is a reversible one way tunnel.

[DaBigE]

They are common enough to be approved in the 2009 MUTCD (Section 6E.06).

I haven't seen them on state highway projects around here, but I have seen them on a couple local projects (sans the gate). That said, it could be working its way thru the WisDOT approval process, as they just recently approved the use of trailer-mounted folding traffic signals (mainly for bridge projects).

[Revive 755]

I believe the automated flagger devices are allowed on most non-freeway projects in Illinois, but decision to use them or not is up to the contractor.

[Brandon]

I believe the automated flagger devices are allowed on most non-freeway projects in Illinois, but decision to use them or not is up to the contractor.

I've seen more than a few of them in the state.  Below is a photo of one on IL-47 several years ago.



I've also seen them used for bridge projects on two-lane roads in Michigan.  For a short time, the furthest north signal in the state was one of these for a bridge project on US-41 north of Calumet.

[DaBigE]

I believe the automated flagger devices are allowed on most non-freeway projects in Illinois, but decision to use them or not is up to the contractor.

I've seen more than a few of them in the state.  Below is a photo of one on IL-47 several years ago.

To me, that's just a temporary traffic signal, (WisDOT reference 1, see pg 5, and WisDOT reference 2), not an AFAD. According to MUTCD section 6E.06(04), AFADs consist of a red and yellow indication (no green) AND a gate arm.

[PColumbus73]

I've never seen an AFAD device, however, when I was younger, there was a bridge replacement in Ohio that used a R-Y-G traffic signal.

[Central Avenue]

To me, that's just a temporary traffic signal, (WisDOT reference 1, see pg 5, and WisDOT reference 2), not an AFAD. According to MUTCD section 6E.06(04), AFADs consist of a red and yellow indication (no green) AND a gate arm.

The other big difference is that an AFAD is operated manually by a flagger, whereas a temporary traffic signal is usually automatic.

[cpzilliacus]

I encountered a signal being used in place of a flagman on a quiet section of US 301 in Prince George County about 7 years ago, at a small bridge that was being replaced. It was on a timer and had your typical green/yellow/red cycle.

I saw something like that on Meade Street just south of U.S. 50 (Arlington Boulevard) in Arlington County - not far from the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima), but has since been removed.

[Alex4897]

More often than not I hear of temporary traffic lights being set up for long-term construction projects, but this is new to me.

[SP Cook]

I've seen temporary traffic signals in lots of places to regulate one-lane traffic on a bridge construction project, or a place where a slide or a pavement break reduces traffic to one lane, but nothing like this that purports to replace a flagger.

I'm old enough to remember when how flaggers determined when to let traffic through was through a driver handing a stick with an orange ribbon tied to it to the flagger on the other end of the work zone.

Yeah.  WV uses such traffic lights, solar powered generally (and thus useable anywhere), at long term construction projects like that.  Often used at slides where only one lane is useable.  Where 24 hour coverage is needed.  Never would use for a simple day project.

And I remember the "last car through" thing.  Around here it was a length of old garden hose made into a circle, which they would place on your side mirror.

[WichitaRoads]

Got stopped at one of these today on US 169 just south of Garnett, Kansas.

ICTRds

[froggie]

Temporary traffic signals are fairly common for longer-term construction projects.

Hoo: regarding what you originally posted, Alexandria used one in Old Town last year.