SignalTraffic Forums

by **dwarrenk** on Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:22 pm

Since I am new to signal collecting... I have noticed some traffic signals with the light shades painted flat black... and other light shades painted the same color as the body (yellow or green)... was it with the later signals that the government started painting the light shades black? or was it that different locations had different color schemes? Somewhere I heard that traffic signals painted green was from the west coast.... true?

by **2070** on Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:32 pm

The flat black inside the visors started around 1970, because of the MUTCD.

Signals in New York State have always been green.

by **RYGDWW** on Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:57 pm

California has used an olive drab green for years...NYSDOT uses more of a hunter green.

The 1961 included a requirement for flat black inside the visors, but plastic visors really brought it into practice since, at least on yellow visors, you could see the light come on through the visor.

YouTube · by **signal-in-the-box** on Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:31 pm

As far as I know:
Its not a USA-wide rule or anything. Certain areas (like cities or states) have their lights painted different ways; most commonly in the US yellow, green, black, or black doors & visors w/ yellow bodies. About half of the US (I think it was 23 states?) use yellow traffic lights, and pretty much the rest of the world uses black or green. They all vary in shades with... well, whoever paints them. (Those are just the most common colors; I saw pink traffic lights on toll booths for a disney world park.) When the standard is changed, they don't always repaint every signal (they might just leave them the way they were, and expect that they will all be replaced eventually). And of course, there are exceptions when the maintenance people have a different color on hand... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12401#p158884 :grin:

Thats what I think I know, it may not be correct.

by **TAFeltman** on Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:41 pm

Missouri is pretty much all Black Durasigs. Includes pretty much all Cities, County's and MoDOT.
Along with inline 5 Mast Arm signals (which Illinois still likes to use),
The Yellow/Black Combo is quickly going :bye:

by **pyth** on Thu Apr 04, 2013 4:57 pm

I thought the color determined who serviced the lights. As far as I know, Sunrise Highway has all black signals, but most other not-as-busy roads use yellow signals. I figured the state serviced Sunrise Highway while the town watched the less important yellow signals.

by **TacomaJoe** on Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:09 pm

Signal color is an agency choice. In Tacoma it's green. I thought there was something in the MUTCD about flat black on the inside of the shades to keep down the glare.

by **nyratk1** on Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:09 pm

pyth wrote:I thought the color determined who serviced the lights. As far as I know, Sunrise Highway has all black signals, but most other not-as-busy roads use yellow signals. I figured the state serviced Sunrise Highway while the town watched the less important yellow signals.

In NY, most NYSDOT installed lights are black/green. And then county/township/municipality lights can be whatever color - Suffolk County usually has yellow, but some places may have green/black. And sometimes state roads have their lights serviced by villages or cities (example: NYC) instead of the state. NY state signals weren't always green/black on LI, I remember yellow signals on NY 112, NY 25, NY 25A, NY 454, NY 347 and NY 27.

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