Vertical and horizontal traffic signals in the same city

[jeffandnicole]

This is the intersection I don't get:  https://goo.gl/maps/Wkl8d

US 40 in Pilesgrove, NJ.  Except in very few, specific circumstances (bridge overpasses, for example), NJDOT uses vertical light assemblies.  Only on the side streets here did NJ use horizontal assemblies.  Why?  Who knows.  Clearly there's nothing in the area regarding sight concerns.  And before someone tries saying the power lines are in the area, that's a common issue with most NJ intersections, and none of them use horizontal assemblies.

[jeffandnicole]

https://goo.gl/maps/CQLpG

As seen further away... https://goo.gl/maps/EXKBO

This can easily be seen as you travel the NJ Turnpike NB: https://goo.gl/maps/LGbmA

[UCFKnights]

It all depends on what parts are available when a specific signal head wears out, or if the whole entire assembly gets old, fails inspection etc.  It sometimes is easier to do it that way then wait around for the right part to be added.

Plus do some of the people in the road departments really care about aesthetics anyway?  Heck here in Florida we have some intersections that replace a worn out mast arm assembly or one that gets hit by a vehicle with a span wire.  The intersection of John Young Parkway and the First Baptist Church entrance in Orlando had the pole for NB JYP get removed and instead of using another mast arm assembly to replace it with they drove two telephone poles into the ground on both sides of JYP and strung a wire across and hung the three signal heads on it.

Usually they aren't that bad. I wonder if they just forgot about that one? Heights are all weird on that as well. Obviously a very quick job.

[mrfoxboy]

Here's one from Wisconsin with horizontal on one side of the light and then a vertical mounted behind it.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=43.194836,-88.72878&spn=0.001678,0.004128&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=43.194852,-88.728908&panoid=fGVbYNZ52D_rflDSGOZjKw&cbp=12,97.93,,0,-1.35

Moncton, NB used to have the left horizontal signal set up that way years ago (back when they used incandescent bulbs) so they didn't need to use a fiber optic bimodal arrow for protected lefts, using a yellow arrow, then a green one to the right of it. They would almost always set the right one up with a bimodal in the middle. Both signals would be 5-piece.
Left signal RY<<G
Right signal RY<GR
Those setup disappeared sometime in the mid 2000's when the city put in bimodal fiber optic or LED arrows pretty much everywhere a green+yellow arrow were needed.

[RG407]

It all depends on what parts are available when a specific signal head wears out, or if the whole entire assembly gets old, fails inspection etc.  It sometimes is easier to do it that way then wait around for the right part to be added.

Plus do some of the people in the road departments really care about aesthetics anyway?  Heck here in Florida we have some intersections that replace a worn out mast arm assembly or one that gets hit by a vehicle with a span wire.  The intersection of John Young Parkway and the First Baptist Church entrance in Orlando had the pole for NB JYP get removed and instead of using another mast arm assembly to replace it with they drove two telephone poles into the ground on both sides of JYP and strung a wire across and hung the three signal heads on it.

Usually they aren't that bad. I wonder if they just forgot about that one? Heights are all weird on that as well. Obviously a very quick job.

That appears to be a temporary fix.  It won't hold up in a hurricane.  I'm sure there are some lengthy engineering studies they have to do to put up new mast arm.  It's the government, after all.

[UCFKnights]

It all depends on what parts are available when a specific signal head wears out, or if the whole entire assembly gets old, fails inspection etc.  It sometimes is easier to do it that way then wait around for the right part to be added.

Plus do some of the people in the road departments really care about aesthetics anyway?  Heck here in Florida we have some intersections that replace a worn out mast arm assembly or one that gets hit by a vehicle with a span wire.  The intersection of John Young Parkway and the First Baptist Church entrance in Orlando had the pole for NB JYP get removed and instead of using another mast arm assembly to replace it with they drove two telephone poles into the ground on both sides of JYP and strung a wire across and hung the three signal heads on it.

Usually they aren't that bad. I wonder if they just forgot about that one? Heights are all weird on that as well. Obviously a very quick job.

That appears to be a temporary fix.  It won't hold up in a hurricane.  I'm sure there are some lengthy engineering studies they have to do to put up new mast arm.  It's the government, after all.

Thats what I thought at first, but looking at street view history, it looks like it was hit sometime between May 2009 and March 2011. Thats a minimum of 4 years that shoddy temporary fix has been there lol

I know they don't typically install that type of mast arm anymore, so perhaps thats why they're leaving the temporary fix? It seems unlikely they'll do anything that matches the other 3 corners on that. But then again, Orlando has no problem leaving mixed and matched mast arms as well. Every time I get off 408 at Alafaya, it bothers me that they have 3 different generations of poles there:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.549153,-81.204188,3a,75y,83.94h,94.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sHebVGYGKOyM6f3Hns9Nocw!2e0

At least they're painted the same color now. Used to be one silver/unpainted, one brown, and one black:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.549155,-81.204081,3a,75y,116.83h,89.99t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sl1s3vKlLPPUdq3UA7HAH6Q!2e0!5s20110401T000000

[RG407]

Thats what I thought at first, but looking at street view history, it looks like it was hit sometime between May 2009 and March 2011. Thats a minimum of 4 years that shoddy temporary fix has been there lol

I know they don't typically install that type of mast arm anymore, so perhaps thats why they're leaving the temporary fix? It seems unlikely they'll do anything that matches the other 3 corners on that. But then again, Orlando has no problem leaving mixed and matched mast arms as well. Every time I get off 408 at Alafaya, it bothers me that they have 3 different generations of poles there:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.549153,-81.204188,3a,75y,83.94h,94.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sHebVGYGKOyM6f3Hns9Nocw!2e0

At least they're painted the same color now. Used to be one silver/unpainted, one brown, and one black:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.549155,-81.204081,3a,75y,116.83h,89.99t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sl1s3vKlLPPUdq3UA7HAH6Q!2e0!5s20110401T000000

That is an ugly, ugly, ugly situation at 408 and Alafaya.

There's a similar situation on Rinehart Road in Lake Mary.  The southbound mast arm must have been damaged because there were two wooden pools supporting a wire assembly for several months.  They recently put up a new mast arm, but it doesn't match the others at all.


(Go Knights! Charge on!)

[Takumi]

Newport News and Hampton both are majority vertical signals, but have a a few horizontal installations.

VA 169 at VA 143 in the Phoebus area of Hampton:


Westbound VA 143 in southern Newport News:

[roadman65]

Newark, New Jersey has them now as the city is now converting to vertical heads.  For decades Newark was always using horizontal heads even on NJ 21 in which is state maintained.  NJDOT usually only uses horizontal heads where bridges are near an intersection or at drawbridges.

However, Newark now is going vertical slowly and you are definitely seeing them pop up more and more around the city.

[Pete from Boston]

Newark was the first place I thought of.  I thought Hackensack had both, too, but I can't find examples.  Trenton does, or at least did.

I feel like these were once more common in New Jersey cities than in most places.

Is there anyplace with only horizontal?

[freebrickproductions]

Several towns in Texas only have horizontal.

[roadman65]

Newark was the first place I thought of.  I thought Hackensack had both, too, but I can't find examples.  Trenton does, or at least did.

I feel like these were once more common in New Jersey cities than in most places.

Is there anyplace with only horizontal?

Wisconsin used to, but I heard all new installations now are standard vertical.

Nebraska and New Mexico uses them exclusively statewide.

Yes, it was municipal areas that once used the horizontal mounts.  I think maybe the State of New Jersey might of forced all their towns to go vertical as I believe that they might of objected to Burlington County using span wire years ago which now uses mast arms. However, Ocean County still uses span wire on some of their county maintained signals to this day, so I do not know for sure on this one. 

[Big John]

Newark was the first place I thought of.  I thought Hackensack had both, too, but I can't find examples.  Trenton does, or at least did.

I feel like these were once more common in New Jersey cities than in most places.

Is there anyplace with only horizontal?

Wisconsin used to, but I heard all new installations now are standard vertical.

Wisconsin still does the horizontal if it is a one-lane road.  But they have always used pole-mounted vertical signals alongside those.

[DaBigE]

Newark was the first place I thought of.  I thought Hackensack had both, too, but I can't find examples.  Trenton does, or at least did.

I feel like these were once more common in New Jersey cities than in most places.

Is there anyplace with only horizontal?

Wisconsin used to, but I heard all new installations now are standard vertical.

Wisconsin still does the horizontal if it is a one-lane road. ...

That's more of a WisDOT practice. Many municipalities are still holding onto the a single horizontal design for multiple lanes (as well as the 5-section protected/permissive signal installations). Waunakee (the reconstructed downtown/Wis 19) and West Bend come to mind.

[jakeroot]

Seattle has some horizontal signals along Broadway from an ancient revitalization project. Many of the intersections have vertical signals for the signals facing the cross-street.

[Scott5114]

I finally found the answer to my OKC question. Turns out the horizontal signals are part of a CBD streetscape design project called Project 180. It's a grand plan drawn up by some architect and was funded partially by Devon Energy CEO Larry Nichols. I wish they would have left the stoplights alone, though.

[cl94]

Here's an interesting case: Exchange Street at Main Street in Buffalo. NB and WB get vertical overheads, SB and EB have horizontal. Overhead is I-190, building on the north side that Main Street runs over is One Seneca Place (formerly the HSBC Building). Light rail runs down the middle of Main Street and the NB approach is only light rail. North of here is one of the 2 blocks south of Chippewa Street that allows cars. The SB approach only has horizontal signals.

[CANALLER]

If you're ever travelling through the Rochester area, there are many intersections with both horizontal and vertical signals.  Mostly along the expressways, but some on city streets as well.  A few of them even have both types on the same signal head assembly.  One location was just lost this spring, but there are still many around town.

[steviep24]

If you're ever travelling through the Rochester area, there are many intersections with both horizontal and vertical signals.  Mostly along the expressways, but some on city streets as well.  A few of them even have both types on the same signal head assembly.  One location was just lost this spring, but there are still many around town.

Like this one in Chili. Intersection has both vertical and horizontal lights. Of course this one is just past an I 490 underpass.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.12123,-77.74563,3a,30y,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1smb60AAQgqpdNTvjm_xoIRA!2e0?hl=en

[SSOWorld]

Schofield, WI made use of dual verticals on SB Grand Ave vs single horizontal - both on trombones.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.925594,-89.613502,3a,75y,135.88h,81.28t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1suRx-xyV0mwVOq_XXHj-epA!2e0

[JMoses24]

Cincinnati has horizontal signals downtown, but vertical signals elsewhere throughout the city.

And some of the horizontal ones are going the way of the dinosaur, because of the streetcar. I'll get photos sometime in the next day or two.