Dummy Lights
In an era when intersections were often controlled by a single traffic signal head, many signals were installed on pedestals in the centers of intersections. Often referred to as "dummy lights," these installations often replaced beacons or "mushrooms" that denoted the centers of intersections and separated opposing traffic, with the infrastructure used for the beacons and mushrooms serving the new "stop and go" type signals.
There are a handful of operational dummy lights still in service. Three are located in New York State: Beacon, Canajoharie and Croton-on-Hudson.
After a dummy light was knocked down by a truck in 2010, the city of Coleman, Texas decided to preserve and refurbish its last two pedestal mounted dummy lights as part of its historic district preservation efforts.
In 2011, The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program nominated the last remaining pedestal mounted signal in Arkansas, located in Smackover, AR, to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Increases in traffic flows have prompted calls for these types of traffic lights to be removed due to safety concerns, but their historic value has kept these landmarks at their original locations. To serve historic district applications, Teeco Safety Systems of Shreveport, Louisiana, still manufactures replacement fixed 4-way traffic signals for pedestal and overhead span wire installations.
Read more about this topic: Traffic Light
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