What's up with SIDEWAYS STOPLIGHTS in Texas and Florida?
Some cities and states mount their traffic signals horizontally. And I've always wondered why. And evidently, so do you. This is one of the most-asked questions you and other road fans have sent me.
So, I dug in and found an answer: Four design considerations engineers in Texas, Florida, Nebraska, and New Mexico think about which leads to horizontal traffic signals.
Buy me tacos 😀🌮► / roadguyrob
Ask a road question ► https://www.roadguyrob.com/interchange
--------------------------
Factual sources:
--------------------------
Email correspondence with Denise M. of the Nebraska Department of Transportation, 3 Feb. 2022.
Email correspondence with Alecia C. of the Florida Department of Transportation, 22 Dec. 2021.
"Figure 4D-4. Lateral and Longitudinal Location of Primary Signal Faces," Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, p.465. Federal Highway Administration, 2009.
https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009/...
"Traffic Signal Supports, Indications, and Signing," Buckholz, Jeffrey. Continuing Education and Development, C03-024. Accessed via Google on 1 Mar 2023.
https://www.cedengineering.com/userfi...
"Traffic signal head details," Texas Department of Transportation, 2018.
https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot...
"Traffic signs and signals," Texas Department of Transportation.
https://www.txdot.gov/safety/traffic-...
"DMS - 11120 Vehicle signal heads," Texas Department of Transportation, 2008.
https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot...
"Item 682, Vehicle and Pedestrian Signal Heads," Texas Department of Transportation.
https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot...
"The 8 and 9 July 1993 Nebraska Derecho: An Observational Study and Comparison to the Climatology of Related Mesoscale Connective Systems," Bently, M., 1997.
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...
"Hurricane Ian ranks among strongest wind recorded in Florida," WMUR, 28 Sep 2022.
https://www.wmur.com/article/hurrican...
"Local 10 reflects on Hurricane Andrew coverage, 25 years later," WPLG, 19 Mar. 2019.
https://www.local10.com/video/news/20...
"1992 WWL (870 AM) Hurricane Andrew," Tyree, David and Franklin, F. Michael. WWL Newsradio 870, 1992. Archived via Blaine Stewart.
• 1992 WWL (870 AM) Hurricane Andrew
-------------------------
Time sections:
-------------------------
What's the deal? (0:00)
Traffic Signal Rules (1:33)
Vertical Clearance (3:09)
Visual Obstruction (5:43)
Local Preference (6:38)
But... Colorblindness? (7:38)
Wind Resistance (8:28)
Conclusion (9:41)