Gallery of Lights


Home Login
Album list Last uploads Last comments Most viewed Top rated My Favorites Search
Home > User galleries > M30 > Signals
New York City G.T.E. 8" traffic signal
This is an 8" 1st generation G.T.E. vehicular head. It was manufactured for the city of New York in the early 2000s; however, it was not installed there for whatever reason. So, the traffic signal is still brand new as you could see.

Because G.T.E. manufactured the traffic signal for New York City, it originally met N.Y.C.D.O.T. specifications at the time of production in the early 2000s. Two CooperLED/AtLite Inc. inserts for the red and green sections and a glass lens and reflector for the amber section. Since then, the specifications have changed, and the incandescent amber section is a thing of the past.
Keywords: Traffic_Lights

New York City G.T.E. 8" traffic signal

This is an 8" 1st generation G.T.E. vehicular head. It was manufactured for the city of New York in the early 2000s; however, it was not installed there for whatever reason. So, the traffic signal is still brand new as you could see.

Because G.T.E. manufactured the traffic signal for New York City, it originally met N.Y.C.D.O.T. specifications at the time of production in the early 2000s. Two CooperLED/AtLite Inc. inserts for the red and green sections and a glass lens and reflector for the amber section. Since then, the specifications have changed, and the incandescent amber section is a thing of the past.

20141202_220631.jpg 20141202_221048.jpg 20141202_220551.jpg AAA92651_zps661458c4.jpg image_zps0df2563d.jpg
File information
Filename:20141202_220551.jpg
Album name:M30 / Signals
Keywords:Traffic_Lights
Company and Date Manufactured:General Traffic Equipment/2000s
Model Number:1st generation aluminum head/8"
Filesize:81 KiB
Date added:Dec 10, 2014
Dimensions:675 x 900 pixels
Displayed:232 times
Color Space:sRGB
DateTime Original:2014:12:02 22:05:50
Exposure Bias:0 EV
Exposure Mode:0
Exposure Program:Aperture Priority
Exposure Time:1/30 sec
FNumber:f/2.6
Flash:Flash
Focal length:3.7 mm
ISO:160
Light Source:Unknown: 0
Make:Samsung
Max Aperture:f/2.6
Model:SPH-L710
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=18752
Favorites:Add to Favorites

Comment 1 to 5 of 5
Page: 1

joe_347V   [Dec 10, 2014 at 08:18 AM]
Nice signal! Older Toronto signals also had a incandescent amber section, they're currently going though the city retrofitting to the incandescent ambers to LED though.
streetlight98   [Dec 10, 2014 at 11:02 AM]
Nice signal! Looks great! I wonder why they wanted to mix LED and incandescent from the factory though. Probably to save money since LEDs were more expensive back then but still, seems kind or "unprofessional" to mix them like that lol.
rjluna2   [Dec 10, 2014 at 11:26 AM]
My guess that to keep the cost down, the yellow signal is still being use incandescent instead the more expensive LEDs module Confused
M30   [Dec 10, 2014 at 06:42 PM]
The reason was to meet New York City D.O.T. specifications for a vehicular head. In the early 2000s, D.O.T. required a new traffic signal to use a glass lens and reflector for the amber section. N.Y.C.D.O.T. approved red and green L.E.D. inserts were used for the other two sections. Though the reason is not exactly known at this time, I believe that the effort to save money was not the original intention. At the time, countless traffic signals (those already in use) were retrofitted with L.E.D. red and green inserts, so I would imagine that the price of a L.E.D. insert was not an issue. I think that it was rather unnecessary to retrofit the amber section, since it is the only signal indication that is illuminated in a cycle for a couple of seconds.

In any case, since then, the specifications have slightly changed, and, as of present day, a newly-installed head in New York City must use three L.E.D. inserts. Red, amber, and green.
streetlight98   [Dec 10, 2014 at 08:26 PM]
Here they typically replaced only the reds and greens too, but as the yellows burn out, they replace them with LED modules. LED modules are expensive and although they could afford "countless" red and green retrofits, they probably didn't want to spend the extra money on yellow modules. There are still some fully-incandescent intersections here but I'm sure as the lamps die they'll replace them. They did a state-wide retrofit to incandescent look-alike modules in the mid-2000s and so far I haven't seen any die. Prior to that, there were mostly incandescent signals but some intersections had/have older exposed LED modules. Most of the older greens have a lot of dying diodes. Recently they replaced one of the two greens facing each direction in spots where the greens were more thn half dead. They left the second green in each direction though, probably because they were too cheap to replace both. They probably only replaced one so in case the half-dead modules failed completely, one (the new ones they recently installed) would remain lit so the motorists wouldn't be left "in the dark" about what color the signal is if both greens decided to croak.

In RIDOT's newest installations, they have been using the new flashing yellow protected left turn signals, which I've noticed have been confusing the heck out of people here, who are all used to the green-yellow bi-color arrow that "disappears" when the protected left turn is up rather than flash yellow. There has been no notification of the change either, not even on their website. I'm thinking of calling a local newstation and see if they can make a story about it to clear up some of the confusion. What to do at a "yellow trap" protected left turn arrow may seem like common sense to us enthusiasts, but those that do not know what to do might cause a crash.

Comment 1 to 5 of 5
Page: 1