Traffic Signals: Yellow or Black?

[DaBigE]

WisDOT default is a yellow polycarbonate housing with a black back-plate, mounted on an unpainted aluminum pole.  Many municipalities will use black in downtown areas or streets upgraded with "community sensitive design" (upgraded street furniture, etc.).

[roadman65]

Are New York and Louisiana the only two states that use green? 

[DaBigE]

Are New York and Louisiana the only two states that use green? 

I thought Washington, D.C. still had/use green?

[Ian]

Are New York and Louisiana the only two states that use green? 

There are several places in New England that have dark green signals.

Are New York and Louisiana the only two states that use green? 

I thought Washington, D.C. still had/use green?

Did they ever even use green signals? They were using battleship gray up until recently; now they seem to be using black.

[DaBigE]

Did they ever even use green signals? They were using battleship gray up until recently; now they seem to be using black.

My bad...that's what I get for trying to go off of memories from a place I haven't been back to in almost 15 years.  For some reason I would have sworn they were green, or a light greenish/patina color.

[KEK Inc.]

Washington used to use dark green quite a bit, but it will look black unless you look closely.  On any traffic light on a high speed road or freeway on-ramp/off-ramp, there will be a yellow border on the black (much like how Europe has a white border on many of their traffic signals).  I've only seen black in California.

[PHLBOS]

Update for Salem & Beverly, Massachusetts: new signals being erected are now all-black (many of which feature retro-styled posts & mast-arms in the downtown areas) and many existing signals (though not all) have also been repainted black.

[kphoger]

We were driving up Woodlawn Blvd here in Wichita a couple of days ago, and my son asked me why the sides of some stoplights are yellow.  The kid just turned four years old in January, and he's already noticed that different stoplights have different colors.  He has also asked recently why some stoplights have three lights and some have five, and also why the turn arrows are below the red light.  When he was three, he drew a 'map' of how to get from our house to the grocery store on a blank sheet of paper; it involved about a bazillion turns, which is funny since it's 3/4 mile from our hosue.  He can also locate Kansas on a map of the U.S., Wichita on a map of Kansas, and I-35 on an atlas both as the road we take to México and the road we take to Minnesota.

Anyway, he's becoming a little map geek like his daddy, and go figure it was he who first made me notice the colors of Wichita's stoplights.

[Takumi]

In downtown Petersburg, the signals have been painted black, but some of the yellow paint still shows through on many of them.

[xcellntbuy]

A brand new 20-traffic light system with huge silver mast arms at the intersection of Lyons Road (NW 46 Avenue) and West Sample Road in Coconut Creek, FL has been installed with side-mounted black traffic lights, black back plates and yellow outlines.

Yellow outlines on the back plates are rare in Broward County.  I can think of only one such yellow-outlined installation and that is located at the westbound doghouse-style light on Prospect Road and NW 21 Avenue in the "eastern finger" of Tamarac.

[Tom89t]

Can you post some pictures of that intersection?

[xcellntbuy]

I do not own a camera.

[Takumi]

Traffic Signals: Yellow and Black!

[PHLBOS]

In Ocean City, NJ; there are some newer signals erected that are black.  Most existing signals in that Shore town are yellow.

[bulkyorled]

I'm thinking some of the ancient fixtures in LA specifically the San Fernando valley that are still used from ages ago could potentially have been yellow at one point but never repainted. Some look like they were yellow but they're totally faded now so you can see a tinge. But if you look at old photos of the valley you can see the frames were black so I'm not quite sure what that's all about. Maybe someone can confirm if they were here back then.

There's a couple with yellow reflective frames in La Cañada when you come off Angeles Crest Hwy but its due to the fact there's several lights right there and the one with the yellow frames aren't synced with the other lights i think

[swbrotha100]

Most of Arizona uses black signals with black backplates. The Tucson area uses mostly yellow signals with black backplates.

[cpzilliacus]

Are New York and Louisiana the only two states that use green? 

I thought Washington, D.C. still had/use green?

Have not had green as long as I can remember.

As was mentioned elsewhere, grey is the "standard" color for signals in the District of Columbia, though black can be found (especially newer signal installations).

[lepidopteran]

I'm new to this forum, but this thread reminds me something I said to my grandfather (of blessed memory) when I was about 6.  One day I told him that traffic lights were either yellow, green, or black.  He was like, huh?  Correcting me, he replied that traffic lights are red, yellow, and green.  For a moment I was just as puzzled as he was.  Once I figured it out, I explained that I meant the "steel" part.

I saw a "red" traffic signal (yes, the "steel" part!) in front of a firehouse near Manassas, VA.  There was only one section for each head, with 12" for the main road, 8" toward the station.  I never saw them lit, but I assume that on a fire run, the main road suddenly got a red, and the fire trucks got either a green or flashing yellow.

I saw a silver traffic signal once; a four-way in downtown Ellenville, NY, in the early 1970s.  It was gone by the '80s.

As a younger adult, I once had a car service driver take us from JFK Airport to Long Island.  I told him that you could tell when you crossed into Nassau County (on Northern Blvd. at least) by when the "metal" part of the traffic signal went from yellow to green.  He said, in a Russian accent, no live to be hundred years old and notice that.  Note that he noticed something about the signals that I did not; in NYC, the signals were powered by underground (conduit?) wire, while in Nassau County it was conventional overhead wires.

[cpzilliacus]

I saw a "red" traffic signal (yes, the "steel" part!) in front of a firehouse near Manassas, VA.  There was only one section for each head, with 12" for the main road, 8" toward the station.  I never saw them lit, but I assume that on a fire run, the main road suddenly got a red, and the fire trucks got either a green or flashing yellow.

Red signal heads at fire or rescue squad stations in Virginia were once somewhat common.  The one you speak of near Manassas might have been in the Yorkshire area of Prince William County on Va. 28 (Centreville Road) at Patton Lane (I remember those well), but have been replaced by  more conventional-looking signal heads according to GSV here.

[roadman]

Stoneham, MA recently re-painted most of their yellow signals black.  Which IMO has greatly reduced the long-distance visibilty of the signals as well.  But as long as we have people who place asthetics above safety, we'll see many more of these poorly thought-out decisions.

[lepidopteran]

Red signal heads at fire or rescue squad stations in Virginia were once somewhat common.  The one you speak of near Manassas might have been in the Yorkshire area of Prince William County on Va. 28 (Centreville Road) at Patton Lane (I remember those well), but have been replaced by  more conventional-looking signal heads according to GSV here.

Yes, that is exactly where I was talking about.  However, the station with the single-section lights was right there on VA-28.  It was decommissioned a while ago, and might actually have been demolished, as I cannot seem to locate it on Google Earth.  The new firehouse is on Patton Lane, which has the newer emergency signal at its intersection with VA-28.

[DaBigE]

Stoneham, MA recently re-painted most of their yellow signals black.  Which IMO has greatly reduced the long-distance visibilty of the signals as well.  But as long as we have people who place asthetics above safety, we'll see many more of these poorly thought-out decisions.

How does the color of the housing impact the safety of a traffic signal? If anything, the black adds more contrast to the signal lights. Furthermore, changing to LEDs allows traffic signals to be seen much further away than before, which IMO would negate any change caused by a different color of paint.

[M3019C LPS20]

New York City's traffic signals were originally painted dark olive green. This particular color was in use for a fairly long period of time. Although, in January of 1962, traffic commissioner (then) Henry Barnes officially declared to repaint all of the city's traffic signals (from dark olive green to yellow). The process took several years to complete.

Personally, I prefer yellow, since I see that color quite often, and it really captures my attention (on a traffic signal).

Aside from yellow, a couple of other colors are in use in the city, such as brown, black, and dark olive green (still in use). Dark olive green, in my opinion, makes a traffic signal appear aesthetically pleasing (if it's a Marbelite).

[hobsini2]

We were driving up Woodlawn Blvd here in Wichita a couple of days ago, and my son asked me why the sides of some stoplights are yellow.  The kid just turned four years old in January, and he's already noticed that different stoplights have different colors.  He has also asked recently why some stoplights have three lights and some have five, and also why the turn arrows are below the red light.  When he was three, he drew a 'map' of how to get from our house to the grocery store on a blank sheet of paper; it involved about a bazillion turns, which is funny since it's 3/4 mile from our hosue.  He can also locate Kansas on a map of the U.S., Wichita on a map of Kansas, and I-35 on an atlas both as the road we take to México and the road we take to Minnesota.

Anyway, he's becoming a little map geek like his daddy, and go figure it was he who first made me notice the colors of Wichita's stoplights.

Start em young KP. Always nice to see a bright kid who knows his directions and how to read a map.

[roadman65]

We were driving up Woodlawn Blvd here in Wichita a couple of days ago, and my son asked me why the sides of some stoplights are yellow.  The kid just turned four years old in January, and he's already noticed that different stoplights have different colors.  He has also asked recently why some stoplights have three lights and some have five, and also why the turn arrows are below the red light.  When he was three, he drew a 'map' of how to get from our house to the grocery store on a blank sheet of paper; it involved about a bazillion turns, which is funny since it's 3/4 mile from our hosue.  He can also locate Kansas on a map of the U.S., Wichita on a map of Kansas, and I-35 on an atlas both as the road we take to México and the road we take to Minnesota.

Anyway, he's becoming a little map geek like his daddy, and go figure it was he who first made me notice the colors of Wichita's stoplights.

Start em young KP. Always nice to see a bright kid who knows his directions and how to read a map.

Ditto here.  It reminds me of someone I knew, when he was young and his parents and fellow classmates were amazed at his knowledge of roads.