Color of Signal Mast Arms (split from Signage/Gantries Off Kilter)

[formulanone]

While we're on subject of mast arms, how about this color, as used in Immokalee, Florida?

[jwolfer]

While we're on subject of mast arms, how about this color, as used in Immokalee, Florida?

Duval County FL (Jacksonville) used black for the mast arms when they first started using them instead of the concrete poles with guy wires. But now they are just plain metal.  Clay and St Johns seem to use brown mast arms. Clay County uses concrete and guy wires much more than Duval. ( I think it is FDOT spec that close to the coast mast arms muse be used... I read something to that effect one time but I have no idea where
)   Volusia County has some mast arms painted green

[formulanone]

Well, they do hold up to hurricane-force winds better than cabled traffic signals did...which is kind of moot when there's no power for the first few days, and they're all blacked-out or run by portable generators. And then it takes another 2-3 months to configure the timing of the intersections to prevent gridlock...fun times.

I've noticed every newly-redesigned intersection or all-new traffic signals in South Florida has used the arms for the past 15 years or so. Most of the painted arms tend to peel after 6 months, which looks a little ratty, in my opinion. But I've seen green, black, brown, white, aluminum...that was the first blue one I've ever seen.

I had to bork the camels' back, didn't I?

[Alex]

I split the topic from the original "Signage/Gantries Off Kilter" thread to continue the discussion of signal mast arm colors.

When I first saw mast-arms being used in Florida, the assemblies were painted with a dark brown/black color. The first assembly I noted was on US 90 (Scenic Highway) at Langley Avenue in Pensacola during summer of 1999.



That color was used for years, but more recent assemblies in Northwest Florida are unpainted.

Around the state I have noted the all black assemblies and the Disney-purple ones along US 192. As for paint flaking off, there are some wretched mast-arms used along Florida 20 in Niceville.

Span wires are not completely dead, there is a new assembly on the recently-downgraded County Road 290 that utilizing them.

[jwolfer]

I split the topic from the original "Signage/Gantries Off Kilter" thread to continue the discussion of signal mast arm colors.

.....


Span wires are not completely dead, there is a new assembly on the recently-downgraded County Road 290 that utilizing them.

The same thing I read about the mast arm requirment said that span wires can be used where the metrics of th intersection make mast arms impractical

[Quillz]

Thousand Oaks signal masts are generally a very dark brown or black. A very small number of older sign masts in the S.F. Valley were a dark green, although newer ones are just bare metal.

[twinsfan87]

Here's a few examples from Minnesota:

Minneapolis and Bloomington use yellow and black: http://g.co/maps/2b6px

Hennepin County (all new signals), St. Paul, Duluth use black:http://g.co/maps/qcagz

Typical Mn/DOT signals (except for some new signals that aren't painted at all) and most other cities/counties use yellow poles with plain metal arms: http://g.co/maps/nrshh


Post Merge: October 04, 2011, 09:11:11 PM
Also, Roseville sometimes uses a dark green color too: http://g.co/maps/hmcaf

[Coelacanth]

Also, Roseville sometimes uses a dark green color too: http://g.co/maps/hmcaf

I've always thought of that green as being the "standard" or "normal" color for signals.

But then again, I grew up in Roseville.

[myosh_tino]

San Jose's mast arms are a very dark green while most other cities in the region leave their signal mast arms unpainted.

Up the peninsula in Menlo Park, their mast arms are brown and have an unusual design...


I also ran across this unusual design in Sacramento.  Not sure if they install new signals with this type of mast arm but IIRC, there are a number of these scattered around the Sacramento metro area...

[Quillz]

I remember downtown Portland had all-black signal masts, complete with white on black street name blades.

[Rick1962]

When Tulsa used double-guy and truss-arms, the standard color was dark green. The city went to galvanized monotube arms in '81,  but there's still a few truss-arms left, with the most recently-painted ones (past 10 years or so) painted dark brown.

The new signals at I-44 & Harvard use black-painted monotubes, to go along with the color scheme of the rest of the hardware on the new I-44 construction.

Oklahoma City's standard has been silver-painted or galvanized mast installations for many years, with a few notable exceptions: Brown-painted installations were used in parts of downtown and along Lincoln Blvd. south of the Capitol.

There were several installations in the west part of downtown that had pinkish-colored masts and arms, and there were a few installations along NW 63rd near Lake Hefner that had copper-painted poles with white mast arms.

Many of the newer signal installations in the City are using black-painted poles.

[Ian]

Philadelphia likes to install dark brown mast arms and traffic signal poles. Media (as well as quite a bit of other areas around Philadelphia) likes to install black mast arms and traffic signal poles as well as sign posts and even parking signs. There are quite a bit of areas in New England (mostly New Hampshire from what I've seen) that use dark green mast arms to match the signal color.

I also ran across this unusual design in Sacramento.  Not sure if they install new signals with this type of mast arm but IIRC, there are a number of these scattered around the Sacramento metro area...

The signal fans call them "J" arms. Sadly, I don't think these are being installed anymore.

[DRMan]

There are quite a bit of areas in New England (mostly New Hampshire from what I've seen) that use dark green mast arms to match the signal color.

The ones I've seen in NH always looked black to me.  And you don't see them everywhere, although Durham seems to have a lot.

http://g.co/maps/8kn6d

[Ian]

They do appear black, but some of them are actually a very, very dark green:

[Brandon]

Much of Illinois tends to keep them unpainted.






However, they are painted in some areas.  Aurora seems to favor a rusty brown.  Others like a black or dark green.  Then there's Chicago which paints the poles dark green and the arms silver.

[realjd]

Florida is region dependent, but our mast arms in Brevard tend to be unpainted aluminum straight monopoles with vertical signals. Horizontal mount signals are slowly making inroads in traditionally vertical mount parts of the state. It almost seems contractor dependent.

[Quillz]

BTW, my personal favorite style are the ones in Quebec that used to even have different shapes for the lights. I think I recall it being a red square, yellow triangle and green square. I think most of them are unpainted but they had a very neat look to them.

[Ian]

BTW, my personal favorite style are the ones in Quebec that used to even have different shapes for the lights. I think I recall it being a red square, yellow triangle and green square. I think most of them are unpainted but they had a very neat look to them.

Red was square, yellow was diamond, and green was the standard ball. Sucks that they don't do it anymore.

[roadfro]

Nevada typically leaves the signal poles unpainted. There are some exceptions:

Areas of Las Vegas have a couple different schemes:
* Newer signal installations near downtown were painted dark green, and are now painted black.
* Signals in the Summerlin area are a light brownish color.
* Older signals all over the valley used to have the bottom half of the pole (up to the pole-mounted signal face) painted the yellowish-orange color of roadway centerlines, and most jurisdictions would paint the rest of the pole and the mast silver. Agencies keep up the yellow paint now, but no longer do this on new installs.

There's a couple different ones around Reno too.
* Older Downtown Reno signals are currently painted black (they were a horrendous purple color).
* Newer Downtown Reno signals are actually a dark green color, but these are a more ornate design than standard poles.
* Signals near Victorian Square in Sparks are painted black.
* There are random signals all over painted a light tan-ish color.

Carson City uses black on signal poles in the capitol district along Carson Street.

Fallon has some green (almost sea green) signals.

[rawmustard]

Several of the mast arms in downtown Battle Creek were painted brown when they were originally installed (a couple along Van Buren were unpainted), but some years ago, they were all painted black. The mast arms the city has along Beckley Road are unpainted as are Calhoun County's installations in adjoining Emmett Township.

[US71]

Most in Ft Smith are primer red , but there are a few decorative green ones. Some of the newer signals going in are silver.

The rest of Arkansas is primarily silver with a few green ones in select neighborhoods.

[on_wisconsin]

In Minnesota, MnDOT regularly paints their stop lights. The usual scheme is a yellow support post with the truss arm and street light painted silver.

However, many non-MnDOT traffic signals are painted some shade of brown or black.

[pianocello]

In the QC, Bettendorf uses yellow mast arms, but all of the other 4 (along with smaller "suburbs") keep theirs metallic silver. Outside the QC, Iowa City and Chicago (IIRC) use green mast arms, similar to the above-mentioned Roseville, MN

[architect77]

I like unpainted Cali-style best, seen here at NC State's Hillsborough St. in Raleigh.

[Ian]

I like unpainted Cali-style best, seen here at NC State's Hillsborough St. in Raleigh.
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I agree, I wish we had more of them here in the northeast. The one in the photo looks sharp!