Nice! You'll be disappointed next time you come up to RI. I've noticed quite a few MVs disappearing. NGrid seems to be going around and doing group-replacements in some of the more rural areas that have mercs on the main roads. They replaced a number of mercs on RI 116 in the Smithfield/Scituate area including a 60s OV-25, a few M-250R1s, and a M-250A. Fortunately, a Unistyle 175, one M-250R1, two OV-10IBs, and a Westie OV-25 flatbottom lived through the changeout, all in the North Scituate town center on RI 116.
I've been looking around on Streetview and North Kingstown and West Warwick seem to be MV hot spots. Cranston's got a lot too but they're spread thinly so you gotta know where to look. West Warwick's are kinda spread out too. Certain parts of the North Kingstown area are loaded with mercs though, OV-10IBs in particular. Oh, and of course the Jamestown/Newport/Middletown/Portsmouth area is a MV hot spot too. In fact, the area was nearly 100% MV and incandescent until the mid-2000s when NGrid started installing a bunch of OVZs and now M-250R2s. Now they they've stopped servicing 100W mercs, the MV numbers are dropping like crazy since most lights out there are 100w MV. NGrid seems to be spot-replacing over there though, fortunately. That area was a EUA utility company (like BVE and Brockton Electric) but Newport Electric never caught on with the HPS onslaught. They have some 80s test lights, 70W HPS L-150s, OVS, and some 80s M-250R2s, all drop lens. I only saw a couple FCO M-250R2s, which are found everywhere in other EUA areas.
Newport Electric seemed to heavily use OV-15s and 60s M-250Rs. Some Astrodome M-250As too. Some newer M-250R2s and 113s from the early 90s too. Some 400W MV new style M-400s too, which must've been installed between 1997 and 2000 (before NGrid took over).
I remember there being some clamshells on Rte 138 after the Newport Bridge on the Newport side, but they were replaced. I don't think they'd be on trusses though, so maybe I'm mistaken. I do remember seeing clams somewhere around there though... The Newport bridge originally had relay-controlled M-400s, then 250W MH OVYs, spot replaced by 250W HPS M-250R2s, and now the Newport bridge is 100% LED. The lights after the Newport Bridge are NGrid-owned though, not RIDOT owned, so they will stay HID for as long as NGrid uses HID (or until RIDOT puchases ownership from them like they've been doing, and then ripping them out and installing tall davits).
Lastly, are you familiar with the Interstate 295/Rte 37 interchange? That is the largest remaining installation of NGrid-owned lights that were formerly NEES-owned. NGrid has been negligent with maintaining the lighting there. Well, they're FINALLY doing something about it. However, instead of relamping the fixtures that don't work, they're just installing new lights on the existing pole, which are M-250R2s instead of OVZs, which surprises me. NGrid has been full-steam OVZs for 250W HPS for a while now.
Thanks for the update on the lighting in RI! Yeah, not surprised with Ngrid, they are doing an evergoing assault on the remaining mercs. Not just in RI but in MA and elsewhere.
Yeah I'm familiar with the lights at 295 and 37, nice they are finally being fixed. Wish they would install MHs with merc lamps though, lol!
Yeah I remember around 2004-2008 they were attacking the southeastern Mass mercs, and Joe scored good on those. Here they've mostly left the mercs alone. They replaced a good number around that time but they've also continued to relamp 100W mercs here until late 2014 (they'd begun replacing them but kept relamping them and slowly more and more got replaced instead of relamped until I noticed that stopped relamping altogether.
Yeah they're finally fixing them. I think I counted around 80 fixtures that were either burnt out or the poles were missing. A couple are missing doors, and one is missing the door and reflector and has been for years. There's a LOT of poles that are knocked down but NGrid won't replace them because they've been knocked down so long the bolts are too rusted or bent so a new base would have to be installed. And NGrid is too lazy and cheap to do that, so there's sections with missing poles. Two poles are missing here (actually three, since the first truss on the right is gone now too.
And two poles are missing at the end of Rte 37 Westbound, which is dangerous IMO since the freeway abruptly ends at a traffic light. The pole by the yield sign on the right was there until a few years ago. The one by the Pheniz Ave sign has been gone since before I moved to this side of Cranston in 2003. Actually, when we first moved in, the freeway ended at a STOP SIGN! No traffic signal, jut a wig-wag flashing red beacon (Natick Ave had a flashing yellow beacon, so as you could imagine, traffic would be backed up to Rte 2 every day). A huge section of western Cranston was developed in the 90s and early 2000s so I can imagine the traffic volume probably more than quadrupled. I think a light could be missing here too but if it is, it's been missing since before I moved here since I never remember a light here.
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I've been looking around on Streetview and North Kingstown and West Warwick seem to be MV hot spots. Cranston's got a lot too but they're spread thinly so you gotta know where to look. West Warwick's are kinda spread out too. Certain parts of the North Kingstown area are loaded with mercs though, OV-10IBs in particular. Oh, and of course the Jamestown/Newport/Middletown/Portsmouth area is a MV hot spot too. In fact, the area was nearly 100% MV and incandescent until the mid-2000s when NGrid started installing a bunch of OVZs and now M-250R2s. Now they they've stopped servicing 100W mercs, the MV numbers are dropping like crazy since most lights out there are 100w MV. NGrid seems to be spot-replacing over there though, fortunately. That area was a EUA utility company (like BVE and Brockton Electric) but Newport Electric never caught on with the HPS onslaught. They have some 80s test lights, 70W HPS L-150s, OVS, and some 80s M-250R2s, all drop lens. I only saw a couple FCO M-250R2s, which are found everywhere in other EUA areas.
Newport Electric seemed to heavily use OV-15s and 60s M-250Rs. Some Astrodome M-250As too. Some newer M-250R2s and 113s from the early 90s too. Some 400W MV new style M-400s too, which must've been installed between 1997 and 2000 (before NGrid took over).
I remember there being some clamshells on Rte 138 after the Newport Bridge on the Newport side, but they were replaced. I don't think they'd be on trusses though, so maybe I'm mistaken. I do remember seeing clams somewhere around there though... The Newport bridge originally had relay-controlled M-400s, then 250W MH OVYs, spot replaced by 250W HPS M-250R2s, and now the Newport bridge is 100% LED. The lights after the Newport Bridge are NGrid-owned though, not RIDOT owned, so they will stay HID for as long as NGrid uses HID (or until RIDOT puchases ownership from them like they've been doing, and then ripping them out and installing tall davits).
Lastly, are you familiar with the Interstate 295/Rte 37 interchange? That is the largest remaining installation of NGrid-owned lights that were formerly NEES-owned. NGrid has been negligent with maintaining the lighting there. Well, they're FINALLY doing something about it. However, instead of relamping the fixtures that don't work, they're just installing new lights on the existing pole, which are M-250R2s instead of OVZs, which surprises me. NGrid has been full-steam OVZs for 250W HPS for a while now.
Yeah I'm familiar with the lights at 295 and 37, nice they are finally being fixed. Wish they would install MHs with merc lamps though, lol!
Yeah they're finally fixing them. I think I counted around 80 fixtures that were either burnt out or the poles were missing. A couple are missing doors, and one is missing the door and reflector and has been for years. There's a LOT of poles that are knocked down but NGrid won't replace them because they've been knocked down so long the bolts are too rusted or bent so a new base would have to be installed. And NGrid is too lazy and cheap to do that, so there's sections with missing poles. Two poles are missing here (actually three, since the first truss on the right is gone now too.
And two poles are missing at the end of Rte 37 Westbound, which is dangerous IMO since the freeway abruptly ends at a traffic light. The pole by the yield sign on the right was there until a few years ago. The one by the Pheniz Ave sign has been gone since before I moved to this side of Cranston in 2003. Actually, when we first moved in, the freeway ended at a STOP SIGN! No traffic signal, jut a wig-wag flashing red beacon (Natick Ave had a flashing yellow beacon, so as you could imagine, traffic would be backed up to Rte 2 every day). A huge section of western Cranston was developed in the 90s and early 2000s so I can imagine the traffic volume probably more than quadrupled. I think a light could be missing here too but if it is, it's been missing since before I moved here since I never remember a light here.