New Traffic Lights

[kozzy]

This may seem relatively minor to grumble about, but to me, it's not. I live in the Lower Greenville area of town, and have noticed over the past few years that the ancient traffic light masts are starting to be removed and replaced with the "L" shaped silver masts. I am not fond of the boring new mast designs and am disappointed at seeing the antiques slowly being plucked away from the area. With the exception of a few intersections, Ross, Gaston, and Live Oak have been left alone. The replacements are much more prominent the further north you travel. Even if the older ones are beginning to rust and fall apart, I don't see why the city couldn't put up newer ones with a similarly interesting design. I think the older masts add character to the areas and reflect a history.

[drumguy8800]

I personally really like the fact that Dallas is replacing old, defunct signal equipment, but you're certainly right that they could do something a little better about it. Ornamental L-masts would be nice.. but I don't think ones reflecting the old style (really small.. as wide as they are tall with the bracing) would be all that great. One thing that would be cool is replacing signals on non-major streets with signals like the ones on Main street in Houston.. a short pole with a light sticking off the end of it.

I would also love it if Dallas started using back-lit street signs like Addison & some of the intersections in Plano.

[kozzy]

Yes.....the back lit signs are very nice. L.A. has those as well. Yes...I do agree that the newer masts, decorated or not, should be more traffc-flow friendly (considering that is why we have them in the first place), but I do believe the decorated ones kind of set us apart from the suburbs. I find it funny that I complain about the new ones in the same breath that I complain about our roads being so neglected in that part of town. I am as fickle as anyone else! =)

[Fobulous]

It's a good thing to replace order ones with the new. Wife and I drove through some of the Houston Neighboorhoods where i grew up and i think they really need to do something to the beaten up traffic lights there. Then again, the whole area is pretty much ghetto now..

[Insidetheloop]

The old traffic lights are analog and rely on old timer switches similar to those on an old washing machine. The new traffic lights are digital and the light timing can be changed depending on traffic conditions. I don't see how anyone could feel sentimental towards a 25-35 year old traffic light.

[JSteffen]

The old traffic lights are analog and rely on old timer switches similar to those on an old washing machine. The new traffic lights are digital and the light timing can be changed depending on traffic conditions. I don't see how anyone could feel sentimental towards a 25-35 year old traffic light.


Wrong again, All Dallas street lights are Centrally controlled, they updated that system a long time ago. We are only talking about the masts that hold them up. I know this because my father worked for the city and helped design and impliment the system.

[Insidetheloop]

Wrong again, All Dallas street lights are Centrally controlled, they updated that system a long time ago. We are only talking about the masts that hold them up. I know this because my father worked for the city and helped design and impliment the system.

Not the ones on Lower Greenville. They are analog. I'm certain of this. When Central Expressway was under construction you may remember that Live Oak, Ross, Skillman, Abrams and Greenville were tapped alternate routes for construction delays. The lights on Greenville from Ross to Mockingbird remained analog. The only reason I know this is because the city wanted to retrofit the lights along Greenville but could not get the variance requests in for thr new footprint required on the sidewalks. It would have forced a few bars and restaurants to move their patio seating. The idea was dropped.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Heh.

[texman]

Do the new traffic signals have LED lights? I know its the big thing with out here in all the suburbs. No more bulb lights.

[shaun3000]

As far as I know, nearly all the traffic lights in Dallas are LED, now. I remember reading a while back that they were replacing the incandescent with LED whenever one burned out.

[RobertB]

As far as I know, nearly all the traffic lights in Dallas are LED, now. I remember reading a while back that they were replacing the incandescent with LED whenever one burned out.
I remember when Grand Prairie started replacing their lights with the new LED versions. Chaos ensued.

First, a quick hardware lesson. You know how the blinker in an older car makes a distinctly mechanical "click click click" sound? That's because the flasher module in an older vehicle is heat-activated. When the current flows for X amount of time, the element heats up and breaks the connection. This allows the element to cool down, making the connection again. The cycle repeats until you remember to turn off your signal, after you've driven halfway to Abilene.

Now, consider what happens when a light burns out on such a vehicle. More current flows, because there are fewer lights to run. The flasher module heats up more quickly, so the speed of the clicks increases dramatically. That's the classic sign that you've got a light burned out. Modern electronic flasher modules actually have to mimic this behavior through other means, I believe, and cheapo replacement modules from AutoZone sometimes include a warning that they won't quick-flash when a light burns out.

They may not have used quite as simple a timer, but the lights along Pioneer Parkway in Grand Prairie were clearly dependent on some feature of the incandescent bulb. Perhaps it had something to do with the total current draw, which is much less with LEDs than with incandescents. But whatever it was, it meant that the new lights were not a drop-in replacement. While we ate at the nearby Whataburger, we watched police direct traffic as the lights turned random colors at random times. Sometimes all red. Sometimes all green. I don't think we managed an all-yellow condition, but it wouldn't have surprised me. The turn signals came on apparently independently from anything else.

As I recall, it was a day or so before the lights were barely functional, and even then you'd see strange flashing, with the red light flashing randomly on and off while the green light was on solid -- or maybe I'm remembering what the lights did before their final chaos mode. But I know it took a few weeks for Grand Prairie's experiment with LED traffic signaling to become the trouble-free solution that the sales guy likely promised.

But GP got the last laugh. Their green lights are the most intense wavelength of green light in the known universe! The kids and I would tease each other about the brain-destroying rays. After a long vacation to Carlsbad and White Sands, NM (2002, if that helps date GP's lamp replacement), we knew we were back when we exited I-20 and were blinded by the green, green lights of home.

[JSteffen]

Not the ones on Lower Greenville. They are analog. I'm certain of this. When Central Expressway was under construction you may remember that Live Oak, Ross, Skillman, Abrams and Greenville were tapped alternate routes for construction delays. The lights on Greenville from Ross to Mockingbird remained analog. The only reason I know this is because the city wanted to retrofit the lights along Greenville but could not get the variance requests in for thr new footprint required on the sidewalks. It would have forced a few bars and restaurants to move their patio seating. The idea was dropped.

Thats funny, we can go city hall and change ANY street light in the city to anything we want, and all of the timers. I know this because I have been there. This is why when you go down Greenville the street lights seem to be magic and turn green whenever you get to them. The controll boxes do not have to be exsposed or visible for that matter.

[Columbus Civil]

the street lights seem to be magic

http://www.doughenning.com/newimages/dougfire.jpg

[Insidetheloop]

Thats funny, we can go city hall and change ANY street light in the city to anything we want, and all of the timers. I know this because I have been there. This is why when you go down Greenville the street lights seem to be magic and turn green whenever you get to them. The controll boxes do not have to be exsposed or visible for that matter.

Alot of those lights on Greenville won't change because you must activate the loop detectors imbedded in the concrete. On both Greenville and Matilda if you are on a bicycle or motorcycle there is not enough metal in the frames to trip the loop for the lights to change. That's another peeve of mine about the old lights.

[Lakewooder]

OK, so we are peculiar in East Dallas, which even contains a collection of Luddites. "Keep East Dallas Weird" to borrow a phrase. A lot of us live here because we don't like change, don't want new stuff. I know that is antithectial to our neighbors north...

Keep the old light design. We are not in a hurry in this part of town.

[kozzy]

I have been shot down as the one who denies modern technology and set in the "old ways" for some reason. My original complaint was the new mast designs being gray and uninteresting. Now, I am not as traffic light experienced as most of the poeple who have posted here, nor will I try to pretend I am; but to my knowledge, the light cycles and traffic flow have nothing to do with mast design. I was born in East Dallas, grew up in East Dallas, and now live right at the Lakewood/Lower Greenville border. I am very prideful of the way this part of town has kept a sense of style, and only wish to keep it looking that way. Change the cycles or even the actual traffic light...but leave the masts alone.

[RobertB]

I have been shot down as the one who denies modern technology and set in the "old ways" for some reason. My original complaint was the new mast designs being gray and uninteresting. Now, I am not as traffic light experienced as most of the poeple who have posted here, nor will I try to pretend I am; but to my knowledge, the light cycles and traffic flow have nothing to do with mast design. I was born in East Dallas, grew up in East Dallas, and now live right at the Lakewood/Lower Greenville border. I am very prideful of the way this part of town has kept a sense of style, and only wish to keep it looking that way. Change the cycles or even the actual traffic light...but leave the masts alone.
I'm just waiting for someone to say that the old masts have to be replaced because they aren't Y2K compliant. :D