If you live in Montreal you might know what I’m talking about… if you don’t, seriously, go on Google Maps to a busy intersection in Montreal and street view to look at the traffic lights. Now go to somewhere else in Quebec, outside of Montreal and street view to look at those traffic lights. They are different. Why?
Okay, so I did a Google Street View search of various parts of Montreal, and off the island, all the way out to Magog, Quebec. The only "difference" I can see with the traffic lights is that in most of the downtown core of Montreal, they use traffic lights that are on a vertical pole or vertical light assembly. In much of the rest of the province, the traffic lights are the newer style that are horizontal on an angled pole.
This difference probably stems from the fact that Montreal’s first traffic lights were introduced in 1927, and the lights were vertical at that time. See sample photo from 1947 as more traffic lights were introduced.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/images/chronologie/1947.12.31.jpg
I would suspect that the only reason they maintained this standard is because of convenience and historical style. To replace it with the newer horizontal lights would probably require that they dig up the cement base and rebuild it to support that slanted light, so the bolts on the bottom don’t pull out and the light topples over. Also, the slanted lights actually cover part of the roadway, so if some transport company had to bring an oversize truckload into the downtown core, the lights that slant over the roadway could actually block that load and have to be temporarily removed. So these older straight up lights actually make more sense.
By the way, not ALL of Montreal has those lights. Take a look at the corner of Henri-Bourassa and Toupin in St. Laurent area. Or in the east end, if you go to the corner of Viau and Jean Talon.
Likewise, if you check Quebec City (another town with a 400year history) and you look at many of the streets, they are using the older traffic light style. For example, the corner of Sainte Foy and Belvedere.
And I checked Boston, another historic city. If you street view for "82 Oliver Street, Boston, MA" you will see the exact same traffic lights as downtown Montreal.
If you mean the corner- post mount instead of the "out over the street" suspended lights I’m guessing it’s probably an issue of practicality – these are probably easier to maintain and repair without blocking the street with a boom truck and causing traffic to snarl up any worse than it usually is-you’ll see these it a lot of big cities-especially -it seems- cities with an "old" downtown core-like Boston or New York-I suspect aesthetics (looks) are a factor too.
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Okay, so I did a Google Street View search of various parts of Montreal, and off the island, all the way out to Magog, Quebec. The only "difference" I can see with the traffic lights is that in most of the downtown core of Montreal, they use traffic lights that are on a vertical pole or vertical light assembly. In much of the rest of the province, the traffic lights are the newer style that are horizontal on an angled pole.
This difference probably stems from the fact that Montreal’s first traffic lights were introduced in 1927, and the lights were vertical at that time. See sample photo from 1947 as more traffic lights were introduced.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/images/chronologie/1947.12.31.jpg
I would suspect that the only reason they maintained this standard is because of convenience and historical style. To replace it with the newer horizontal lights would probably require that they dig up the cement base and rebuild it to support that slanted light, so the bolts on the bottom don’t pull out and the light topples over. Also, the slanted lights actually cover part of the roadway, so if some transport company had to bring an oversize truckload into the downtown core, the lights that slant over the roadway could actually block that load and have to be temporarily removed. So these older straight up lights actually make more sense.
By the way, not ALL of Montreal has those lights. Take a look at the corner of Henri-Bourassa and Toupin in St. Laurent area. Or in the east end, if you go to the corner of Viau and Jean Talon.
Likewise, if you check Quebec City (another town with a 400year history) and you look at many of the streets, they are using the older traffic light style. For example, the corner of Sainte Foy and Belvedere.
And I checked Boston, another historic city. If you street view for "82 Oliver Street, Boston, MA" you will see the exact same traffic lights as downtown Montreal.
References :
In Montreal, you cannot turn right when the light is red. It looks different so that people notice it and remember that they shouldn’t turn right on red to avoid accident.
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it’s a matter of space really, the vertical lights in Montreal are on more compressed streets, there just isn’t room for the overhead traffic lights
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This is only the case right in downtown Montreal where space constraints require that planners get a little more creative with light placement. As soon as you get outside the downtown core they look normal.
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