Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mergingtraffic]

Driving on CT-8 Expressway in Derby, CT, I noticed several original streetlights with wire holding up the arms, that are still up.  Most of these have been replaced with past widening projects or from drivers running into them, but some, about only 10, are still there.  I'm guessing these are from the 60s. 

http://www.google.com/maps?q=derby,+ct&hl=en&ll=41.329955,-73.088739&spn=0.001239,0.001725&sll=42.746632,-75.770041&sspn=4.928942,7.064209&hnear=Derby,+New+Haven,+Connecticut&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.33001,-73.088834&panoid=FaOm1Qk8RTQdTneA2xGstA&cbp=12,4.03,,0,-34.01

Any spots where original freeway lighting still stands?

[huskeroadgeek]

Not freeway lighting, but this streetlight in Detroit is one of the oldest I have seen.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.326911,-83.056211&spn=0.004886,0.006899&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.327347,-83.05793&panoid=MuLIASIpmMd8E6YC56ofIQ&cbp=12,17.47,,0,-0.18

[Pete from Boston]

Are any incandescent lamps?  The world looked so much different under incandescent lamps.

[apeman33]

<edit> I confused topics and the original post actually wasn't relevant to the discussion. Carry on.

[cpzilliacus]

Are any incandescent lamps?  The world looked so much different under incandescent lamps.

There are some smaller municipalities in Prince George's County, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, D.C.) that have had incandescent bulbs in the not-so-recent past, though  I have not checked recently.

[hobsini2]

The city of Riverside, IL (a west suburb of Chicago) has some of the dimmest lighting using older light bulbs in what used to be gas lights like this one at Longcommon and Shenstone Rds.
 
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=riverside+il&oe=utf-8&aq=t&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Riverside,+Cook,+Illinois&ll=41.833439,-87.815094&spn=0.048283,0.077162&t=m&z=14&vpsrc=0&cbll=41.83347,-87.814977&panoid=3smQJ0YwNGZTyLE2pKMXGQ&cbp=12,159.22,,1,8.37&ei=nDhcUaW6NKLPwQHl-oHwAw&pw=2

[thenetwork]

Not freeway lighting, but this streetlight in Detroit is one of the oldest I have seen.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.326911,-83.056211&spn=0.004886,0.006899&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.327347,-83.05793&panoid=MuLIASIpmMd8E6YC56ofIQ&cbp=12,17.47,,0,-0.18

The first place I thought of was Detroit proper.  I wouldn't be surprised that over 75% of the streetlights on Detroit's surface streets are at least 50 years old.  Whether they actually work is a different story!!! 

[Duke87]

There is street light still standing in New York City that is old enough to have been originally powered by gas. It now runs on electricity and contains a CFL. How's that for a contrast of old and new?

Unfortunately, you can't just go see it. The street it's on is private and gated.

[Alps]

There is street light still standing in New York City that is old enough to have been originally powered by gas. It now runs on electricity and contains a CFL. How's that for a contrast of old and new?

Unfortunately, you can't just go see it. The street it's on is private and gated.

I beg pardon, you can indeed go see it: http://goo.gl/maps/5ehxm

[lepidopteran]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

[KEK Inc.]

I-5 / Exit 234 / Albany, OR


On the SB side, you can see old street lights ca. the 1960s.  They're not even cobraheads!

They got replaced in late 2011 with conventional GE-M400R3.

[Stephane Dumas]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

I remember them, Sherbrooke and Magog used to have them on main arterial until the mid-1980s.

Some parts of Toronto still have these old-school streetlights. http://goo.gl/maps/U8Guw

[DaBigE]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

Like these? Last time I went thru Waterloo, they were still there.

Or these? These have been replaced (as can be seen in the satellite photo) within the past year or two. It was about time, as the old ones emitted an ugly yellowish light. The replacements are LED.

[Stephane Dumas]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

Like these? Last time I went thru Waterloo, they were still there.

Or these? These have been replaced (as can be seen in the satellite photo) within the past year or two. It was about time, as the old ones emitted an ugly yellowish light. The replacements are LED.

I spotted some vintage pictures featuring these fluorescent streetlights via the Skyscraperpage forum taken in Sherbrooke during the late 1960s-early 1970s
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5379474

[xcellntbuy]

Those same types of street lights used to line the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto when I took a vacation there in 1983.  They had an orange/yellow glow.

[KEK Inc.]

Those same types of street lights used to line the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto when I took a vacation there in 1983.  They had an orange/yellow glow.

Low Pressure Sodium Vapor?



This Phillips design (and its cousins) are all over the following in the United States, though it is getting dated:
Hilo, HI
San Jose, CA
Campbell, CA
Redwood City, CA
Long Beach, CA
San Diego Metro
Springfield, OR
Mass Turnpike

Its older -- more erect -- cousins are seen in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.
And various random applications.  The Portland Post Office uses these.  That model is fairly old, and is replaced with AELs of similar nature.  They're intent to reduce light pollution, and is usually used near observatories.

Here's the new variant (AEL-SP2)






I believe the Hollywood Blvd streetlights were just 3 non-cutout cobraheads combined in a large box.

[StogieGuy7]

I do (fondly) recall seeing those long-tubes fluorescent streetlights used on various major highways and thoroughfares when I was little.  They seemed to disappear VERY quickly during the 1970's, having been replaced with the aforementioned cobra-heads.  My guess is that it had to do with the energy crises of that decade, though fluorescents are really pretty efficient.  My recollection is that they did an amazing job of lighting up a street or highway; far better than anything offered now. 

Even cooler are the old incandescent lamps that may still exist in distant corners of the northeast (especially New England).  The last ones I saw were in 2008, on residential streets in Devon, PA - just south of US 30.  They offered a very pleasant and warm glow that none of the fluorescents (be they sodium or mercury) give you.   All of the streetlamps around the monuments in Washington D.C. were of this variety as of at least 10 years ago (haven't been there in a while).  Again, that yellowy-white glow is very nice and the way it reflected the white stone of the various monuments was just beautiful. 

Never liked the pinky/orange glow of modern streetlights.  Yes, they work, but the light is ugly.  worse still is the orangy-yellow glow given off by streetlights in many parts of the UK and Europe.  They make for a black and white world because you can't see colors very well.  And, IIRC, they're not that bright either. 

[agentsteel53]

This Phillips design (and its cousins) are all over the following in the United States, though it is getting dated:
Hilo, HI
San Jose, CA
Campbell, CA
Redwood City, CA
Long Beach, CA
San Diego Metro
Springfield, OR
Mass Turnpike

I was gonna say - they are all over.  but it's just in several areas I drive a lot.  US-101 as you approach San Jose from the south is particularly filled with them.

I just remember once parking my car (red under normal sunlight) at San Jose airport, and noting that it appeared to be gray.  the orange light is, I believe, composed of only two wavelengths very close to each other.

[cpzilliacus]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

Like these? Last time I went thru Waterloo, they were still there.

Or these? These have been replaced (as can be seen in the satellite photo) within the past year or two. It was about time, as the old ones emitted an ugly yellowish light. The replacements are LED.

I spotted some vintage pictures featuring these fluorescent streetlights via the Skyscraperpage forum taken in Sherbrooke during the late 1960s-early 1970s
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5379474

I believe those may be Westinghouse Whiteways, or a relative of same.

Maryland used them on the network of approach roads to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895 today) - here are images from the south portal not long after the crossing was opened in 1957 (these were replaced by "cobra head" HPS luminaires in the late 1970's or early 1980's):





More about Whiteways in New York City on this page by Jeff Saltzman.

[Pete from Boston]

There is street light still standing in New York City that is old enough to have been originally powered by gas. It now runs on electricity and contains a CFL. How's that for a contrast of old and new?

Unfortunately, you can't just go see it. The street it's on is private and gated.

I beg pardon, you can indeed go see it: http://goo.gl/maps/5ehxm

Boston still has quite a few gas streetlamps, particularly in more "historic" neighborhoods.  The oddest of these are on streets in Charlestown's tiny portion west of I-93, an area that most people probably don't realize isn't the comparatively lowbrow city of Somerville but is all but surrounded by it.  I forget the street, but there are probably three or so isolated gaslamps there, orphaned by half a mile from their brethren and still puffing away.

[deathtopumpkins]

There is street light still standing in New York City that is old enough to have been originally powered by gas. It now runs on electricity and contains a CFL. How's that for a contrast of old and new?

Unfortunately, you can't just go see it. The street it's on is private and gated.

I beg pardon, you can indeed go see it: http://goo.gl/maps/5ehxm

Boston still has quite a few gas streetlamps, particularly in more "historic" neighborhoods.  The oddest of these are on streets in Charlestown's tiny portion west of I-93, an area that most people probably don't realize isn't the comparatively lowbrow city of Somerville but is all but surrounded by it.  I forget the street, but there are probably three or so isolated gaslamps there, orphaned by half a mile from their brethren and still puffing away.

Beacon Hill and the North End both also still have gas lamps, if I recall correctly, as does at least part of Back Bay.
We even had one burst into flames a month ago: http://www.universalhub.com/2013/citizen-complaint-day-oh-dear-i-do-believe-gasligh

[StogieGuy7]

Maryland used them on the network of approach roads to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895 today) - here are images from the south portal not long after the crossing was opened in 1957 (these were replaced by "cobra head" HPS luminaires in the late 1970's or early 1980's):





More about Whiteways in New York City on this page by Jeff Saltzman.

I sure remember those from various childhood trips up north!!  I think that the whole Harbor Tunnel Thruway had them.  Many of those were used in Arlington, VA in the 1960s and early 1970s as well. 

[cpzilliacus]

Incandescent streetlights can still be found in various (and seemingly random) parts of the District of Columbia.

I found several just the other day in the 1600 block of Allison Street, N.W. (GSV here).

[hm insulators]

I think some of the roads around Long Beach Harbor in California used to have fluorescent lamps. They might still be there.

[agentsteel53]

Remember the fluorescent streetlight trend?  These had "long", sort of half-cylindrical heads set at about a 25-degree angle, each containing a genuine fluorescent tube.  I think these reached their peak in the late 1960s or so.  Any of these still around?  I seem to recall they were found on Hollywood Blvd. in California at one point.

Germany-Poland border on A15/18. 



spot where the international boundary is!