It's been an interesting weekend of watching activity through our little corner. From the optional stop [or slow we'd take at least that] signs, to the mish-mash of guessing just what lane a vehicle might take. I feel it might be prudent to have a little enforcement present from time to time.

Prior to equipment being moved, There were several that had gone up to the tracks on the road formally known as 2nd street, only to find they cannot be crossed. You could almost see it, the exhilaration as they've seemingly beaten the system going down a "closed road", the smug satisfaction of minutes saved, then their puzzled looks as they come across the tracks, and ultimately the gray in their pallor as they turn around, spirits crushed by the DOT.

Call me the cynic, but there is a set of lights I go through up by the devil's triangle in Brooklyn Park, they appear almost identical to our set. The need to wrap in the signals being "old" was always lost on me, more important obviously was the state's desire to widen the highway for truck traffic. Signal safety had little to do with the core issue.

It had me wondering earlier, isn't most of the brains for the light involved in the switch box next to the street? It'd be interesting hearing what was out of date in the lights standards themselves. Looked like a good paint job would have fixed them right up, potentially saving thousands more!

I'm good for the paint if the city needs the help, just ask. Feel free to tap on the window to get my attention when you're putting them back in.

Jason wrote:

Would you rather that they use new green boxes at a cost of $5,000 each?

It would appear that some one did decide to do something else after all. They pulled them and they're over by the newspaper stand.

It's confusing why they mounted them back in the first place, certainly wouldn't have worked with the slick new ones.

Protected from what? Those are big bolts. Still, I suppose an ounce of protection is worth a pound of replacement.

I asked Public Works about this. Those bolts are EXTREMELY large and are set in concrete that is 36" wide and nearly 12 feet deep. If you damage the threads on even just one bolt, imagine the thousands it would cost to replace them.

The old bases protected the new bolts until just before the new lights are installed. Common practice, albeit unsightly.

DavidH