If you know me for any length of time you know that I am a huge road buff and I really love traffic lights. I go as far as reporting broken traffic lights such as burned out bulbs or broken sensors. So I got lucky when someone from the city of Birmingham, AL had to climb into a bucket truck to replace a burned out LED light.
LED lights lasts much longer and costs less to operate than your traditional light bulbs. That’s why many traffic lights have been switched to LED’s. The few lights left that have not been switched will not be around for long. Most traffic lights today are operated by a computer control box you see at the intersections. But in Alabama there are still some traffic lights operated by the classic control box that is mechanical. Here is one in Pell City that has the classic control box. You can even hear the clicking noise when the light goes through its sequence.
And here is what a mechanical control box looks like when it’s opened. Yeah this video is from a TV show in Canada but it was done very well!
Related articles
- Roadscapes Wednesday: Old Traffic Lights (geekalabama.com)
- The Talladega Bypass (redoalabama.com)
- More Broken Traffic Lights (redoalabama.com)
Categories: Roadscapes Stuff
