Traffic signal

[chrisg69911]

https://goo.gl/maps/4ezbNYtWaALzTbqg6
This is unusual. Normally New Jersey signals are not mounted this way at the end of the truss arm.  They hang from a chain and sway and not at all mounted to non moving brackets.

Anyone who lives in NJ can contest to this.

Just looking around my town on GSV in North Jersey, its a mix. Some are with chains, while others connected directly. I don't know when they choose to use either method since both can be seen at the same intersection.

[Hobart]

https://goo.gl/maps/4ezbNYtWaALzTbqg6
This is unusual. Normally New Jersey signals are not mounted this way at the end of the truss arm.  They hang from a chain and sway and not at all mounted to non moving brackets.

Anyone who lives in NJ can contest to this.

Just looking around my town on GSV in North Jersey, its a mix. Some are with chains, while others connected directly. I don't know when they choose to use either method since both can be seen at the same intersection.

They might have just changed standards some time recently, and the chain-hung signals haven't reached the end of their useful service life. If you look at the Google Maps link with the bracketed signals, they were on chains as late as 2019.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/wg6dU4xyFejjeHKu7
You're correct on that.  To me personally I like the older version. The new bracket mounts do not look good aesthetically.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/4UecxiahBMye3yGW8
What gets me is still the older signal controller is still in use. Despite the change in signal heads, they didn’t replace the controller.

I’m guessing that the controller hasn’t ended its service life, but the heads have as stated above. To me I’m used to the two tiered cabinets with the larger one over a smaller one as that was the norm in New Jersey for ages once upon a time.

The power company uses the bottom slim box to house the meter while the necessary components to run the signal are in the top cabinet.  Don’t understand why as other states openly mount their meters. In Florida we have them long side the controller on either a short post or on the signal strain pole if it’s a span wire signal.

Considering New Jersey has more than one power supplier, it cant be the power company’s request, like PSE & G afraid of the meters suffering an impossible damage or other paranoia.

Also why is one EB overhead signal aimed the wrong way?

[thenetwork]

This one always intrigued me -- A twin 5-segment setup on a single mast:

100 E Broadway Blvd
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Hkk7SHUNVXWNSDMR8

[Hobart]

https://goo.gl/maps/wg6dU4xyFejjeHKu7
You're correct on that.  To me personally I like the older version. The new bracket mounts do not look good aesthetically.

I don't like the new brackets much either. Chicagoland has the same problem when retofitting their trombone trusses; the signal used to be hung from a plumbizer at the end of the truss (shown in the 2007 capture: https://goo.gl/maps/TNqDFpaVZtnLNGuQ8), but as they retrofitted this intersection at 127th and Ridgeland with new signal bodies, they left almost the whole plumbizer on and it just looks awkward (https://goo.gl/maps/GWm8uBj1ABYmm4dW6).

[jakeroot]

I definitely prefer mast-arm signals to be mounted on brackets, I think signals hanging on a chain looks a bit lazy, and they blow around too much.

That said, agencies do sometimes make a mess of bracket-mounted mast-arm signals. That Illinois signal above and, to a lesser extent, the NJ signal posted by roadman65, aren't particularly pleasing to look at. The exposed wiring in the NJ example, and the leftover mounting equipment in the Illinois example, aren't great, though I prefer the location of the signal now at that Illinois example; before it looks a bit awkward hanging that low.

In whatever way it may be applicable, I think more agencies should take a page out of Japan's design manual; the horizontal signals may be odious to some, but I'll be damned if the installations aren't super tidy: https://goo.gl/maps/VQ3rEmrWx4tBi4637. I do wish more post-mounted signals were used, though.

[Hobart]

I definitely prefer mast-arm signals to be mounted on brackets, I think signals hanging on a chain looks a bit lazy, and they blow around too much.

That said, agencies do sometimes make a mess of bracket-mounted mast-arm signals. That Illinois signal above and, to a lesser extent, the NJ signal posted by roadman65, aren't particularly pleasing to look at. The exposed wiring in the NJ example, and the leftover mounting equipment in the Illinois example, aren't great, though I prefer the location of the signal now at that Illinois example; before it looks a bit awkward hanging that low.

In whatever way it may be applicable, I think more agencies should take a page out of Japan's design manual; the horizontal signals may be odious to some, but I'll be damned if the installations aren't super tidy: https://goo.gl/maps/VQ3rEmrWx4tBi4637. I do wish more post-mounted signals were used, though.

Give me that with the Minnesota style right and left hand supplementals, and it'd be great. Honestly, New Mexico is probably the closest there is right now to that.

[lepidopteran]

This one always intrigued me -- A twin 5-segment setup on a single mast:

Look at this one in Toledo.
https://goo.gl/maps/DYXC8StV234dgtUu7
If you go back a few years, before they made the switch to black heads with backplates (they seem to be replacing them all over the state), they old yellow signal heads were the same way.  One shown is a doghouse, but I think that was originally an inline-5 like the others as well.

[steviep24]

Traffic signals mounted on scaffolding. 8th Ave at W 38th St in Manhattan.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.754543,-73.9917618,3a,75y,48.4h,96.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXHjldLXS_h1LThKDprzzhw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?authuser=0&entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7547265,-73.9916731,3a,75y,129.74h,96.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjOTcLNHUHb_5mUHkT1EVBA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?authuser=0&entry=ttu

Only in New York.

[UnumProvident101]

these are old traffic lights at this intersection in Chattanooga, TN
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0333108,-85.3135411,3a,61.5y,125.22h,83.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s775E1IgaBGsa-EmN64DLOQ!2e0!5s20230501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[plain]

these are old traffic lights at this intersection in Chattanooga, TN
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0333108,-85.3135411,3a,61.5y,125.22h,83.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s775E1IgaBGsa-EmN64DLOQ!2e0!5s20230501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

What catches my eye at that intersection is this 2-section signal with a right turn red arrow, next to a normal signal. Can't really say that I've seen that before.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i8qsutfL4D3eG4n96

[SignBridge]

these are old traffic lights at this intersection in Chattanooga, TN
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0333108,-85.3135411,3a,61.5y,125.22h,83.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s775E1IgaBGsa-EmN64DLOQ!2e0!5s20230501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

What catches my eye at that intersection is this 2-section signal with a right turn red arrow, next to a normal signal. Can't really say that I've seen that before.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i8qsutfL4D3eG4n96

That looks like a slightly different configuration of a doghouse or a side-by-side.

[Hobart]

these are old traffic lights at this intersection in Chattanooga, TN
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0333108,-85.3135411,3a,61.5y,125.22h,83.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s775E1IgaBGsa-EmN64DLOQ!2e0!5s20230501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

What catches my eye at that intersection is this 2-section signal with a right turn red arrow, next to a normal signal. Can't really say that I've seen that before.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i8qsutfL4D3eG4n96

I think that's a yellow, so it's a really wonky doghouse.

If it weren't for that, the inline-5 right turn signal on one of the other legs would be the weirdest thing in that intersection, considering everything else is a doghouse.

[plain]

these are old traffic lights at this intersection in Chattanooga, TN
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0333108,-85.3135411,3a,61.5y,125.22h,83.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s775E1IgaBGsa-EmN64DLOQ!2e0!5s20230501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

What catches my eye at that intersection is this 2-section signal with a right turn red arrow, next to a normal signal. Can't really say that I've seen that before.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i8qsutfL4D3eG4n96

I think that's a yellow, so it's a really wonky doghouse.

If it weren't for that, the inline-5 right turn signal on one of the other legs would be the weirdest thing in that intersection, considering everything else is a doghouse.

Taking a real close look, yeah you're right, it is yellow. The shadow caused by the angle of the signal probably threw me off.

[CJResotko]

Last month, I filmed these signals in East Lansing, Michigan.
https://youtu.be/1qcn5X3F0hI

[fwydriver405]

Bus signals with the word "BUS" used in a few places near Brossard, Québec. These two below look like they operate as left turn signals:

• Seagull intersection - this ramp goes back to Autoroute 10 West / Ouest.
• This bus signal is used as a normal left turn signal.
• This bus signal has its own phase.

Other observations:

• How common are span-wire installs, let alone long-term/permanent installations with vertical signal heads, common in the province of Québec? This example I encountered just outside of Montréal is one such example.
• Were the shaped lenses (red square, yellow diamond) common in use with any form of intersection beacons in Québec? I came across these after getting off the Jacques-Cartier Bridge to get onto A-20 south / sud.

[PColumbus73]

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9814996,-81.1485885,3a,43.8y,109.18h,100.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD6-Xmv1PiSeCm8vqr4RrVQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

It appears that Georgia has been adopting double-red arrows for single-lane protected lefts in recent years. I've seen a few around Metro Atlanta and here in Savannah on GSV.

In South Carolina, they are used nearly all the time for the same applications. (https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0652357,-80.9567507,3a,28.3y,65.27h,96.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sITbU62jhe-k1jYhCC4jZBg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)

They used to be used in North Carolina up until the late-2000s, the last one I've seen like it in NC was removed sometime between 2019 and 2022 (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.8812508,-78.8415786,3a,16.5y,78.03h,92.65t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sdu03Ebj83xxaSseKCfsJng!2e0!5s20190601T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)

There was also one I was able to find near Bridgeport, OH that was also removed around the same time as the NC one. (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0727541,-80.7454964,3a,49.1y,295.6h,98.4t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sRzx8LIygXBK9zjoQneh7Cg!2e0!5s20190701T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)

I know Texas frequently uses the double-reds for protected lefts, but are there any others around?

[SkyPesos]

Looks like MoDOT is slowly phasing out the median mounted signals. Saw them being replaced at a few locations along MO 340. I actually like having the left turn signal vertically mounted with the rest overhead; wish they kept this configuration.

[jeffandnicole]

Looks like MoDOT is slowly phasing out the median mounted signals. Saw them being replaced at a few locations along MO 340. I actually like having the left turn signal vertically mounted with the rest overhead; wish they kept this configuration.

NJ is taking out the median mounted signals as well.

[Big John]

^^ Median mounted signals are too accident prone.

[SignBridge]

Those new MoDOT signals look very sharp.

[plain]

^^ Median mounted signals are too accident prone.

Someone should probably tell that to Maryland.

[jakeroot]

Many countries around the world rely on median-mounted signals. While they are accident prone by virtue of being at ground-level, American agencies seem to place them too close to the nose of the median where they will logically be knocked down more often, as they are closer to where traffic is turning and may be clipped. I also notice that American agencies seem to place the signals in medians that are too narrow, and then use too large of signal mountings.

British Columbia uses median-mounted signals very frequently, mostly for left turn signals. BC seems to have more luck, though, as medians in BC are usually wide enough to keep the signals from being clipped, but the signals are also typically a couple meters back from the nose of the median, out of the turning radius of vehicles. Example here, installed in 2009 (note that the post-mounted signals were previously 8-8-8 but BC is converting all signals to 12-12-12).

[Lukeisroads]

Kern county is phasing them out too
Before:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4194456,-119.0128588,3a,75y,5.95h,91.24t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sLoRtsgfcpc2w-9urSH1BEw!2e0!5s20220401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
After:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4194444,-119.0128567,3a,75y,5.95h,91.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfvVObPWLAAhnJX5oX9eqwA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Another intersection before:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4265116,-119.0124059,3a,75y,7.81h,94t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5MlDKLCdUP64cosZvzWLQQ!2e0!5s20220401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
After:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4265082,-119.0124093,3a,75y,7.81h,94t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1N_zfncZeFibXWw-mt5clQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D1N_zfncZeFibXWw-mt5clQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D208.85532%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu