Welcome to my new-and-improved website of animations of traffic lights in Calgary. This is a better version of my original page; it has more and better animations (for example, including pedestrian signals in animations, as well as a few oddball signal configurations to be found in the city, as I get to them), as well as a slightly different look than the previous version.
The animations below will be displayed in a variety of "styles" (for lack of a better term). They represent the different appearances traffic lights in the city have had over the years. I have labelled them with numbers from 0 to 5, representing the chronological order of their appearance.
Style 0 is the original signal design. Signals were all 8 inches with no backplates, hung on spanwires in a boxspan fashion. At first signal heads were green, but eventually yellow took precedence. Pedestrian signals had text only (don't walk/walk). As far as I know, there are no intersections with this assembly still in existence.
Style 1 (1960s) brought in the first use of poles and mast arms. Poles were grey and davit style; signals were still without backplates, and were mounted below the arms. Most signals were 8 inches, but 12-inchers began to make an appearance. This was long before any yellow arrows were used; all left turn arrows were advance greens (i.e. from red the solid green and arrow would come on, then the arrow would go out and opposing traffic would get a solid green as well). Pedestrian signals were still text only. There are a few intersections that are still like this, but they are very rare.
Style 2 (1960s-mid 1970s) saw 12-inch signals make a name for themselves. It also saw the first backplates: 12-inch signals had large, rounded, and, in my opinion, ugly backplates, and 8-inch signals had elongated, rounded, and not as large or ugly backplates. Signal heads were now vertically centred on the mast arm, and towards the end of this period, brown took over from grey as the color of poles and arms. Yellow arrows were beginning to get introduced as part of pole-mounted inline-5s, although they were not yet used on signals on mast arms. Also, pedestrian signals began the conversion from text to symbols
Style 3 (mid 1970s-mid 1980s) cut the excessively large backplates to an aesthetically-pleasing, yet still functional, rectangle. Yellow arrows made their way onto mast arms as part of inline-5s, and new pedestrian signals used only symbols. The vast majority of these signals are 12 inches; 8-inch lights were not used very often except for downtown and deep in residential areas.
Style 4 (mid 1980s-mid 1990s) saw the end of the davit-style pole. Poles were now straight, and arms intersected with them at a right angle. For a short time signal heads were still vertically centred, but before long they were once again mounted below the arm, first by a 2-point mount, then by a single point. Bi-modal arrows made their first appearance in fibre-optic form.
Style 5 (mid 1990s-present) is the current standard for new signals. Poles and arms are grey. Before LEDs were used for new installations, the most recent pedestrian signals were Econolites (image from Signalfan's Club; sign-in required). As of very recently, LEDs are now being used in all new installations (including yellows and pedestrian signals), while a red/green/pedestrian LED retrofit is taking place in many older signals across the city. New signals (including pedestrian signals since LEDs came into force) are now mainly LFEs (traffic signals are the usual yellow, and pedestrian signals a shiny black with cutaway visors).
The guidelines for new signals are detailed in the City of Calgary Traffic Control Policy Manual (the section on traffic signals is in Chapter 4, operation and design policies on pages 21-25, diagrams on pages 26-32).
Please take note that these animations represent signals in the city of Calgary ONLY. Some towns surrounding the city (e.g. Airdrie and Okotoks) have adopted Calgary's current design (Style 5) as their own as well, but other than that, signals around the province of Alberta vary greatly. Each city has its own designs for traffic lights, as do rural areas and smaller towns, each with their own appearance.
This is a list of all the animations I hope to have on this page. As each one is created and uploaded, a link will be added in the appropriate place. This page is designed for 1024x768 viewing; I tried as best as I could to accommodate 800x600, but no guarantees. If you have a high-speed connection, please take a moment to go to the load page; this will load all the traffic light images into your cache for immediate viewing in the animations (if your connection is not high-speed then it might just be easier to view the animations directly since the load page has a lot of images).
Standard displays:
Early signals: Style 0 | Style 1
Basic 12-12-12 display: Style 2 | Style 3 | Style 4 | Style 5
Basic 8-8-8 display: Style 2 | Style 3 | Style 4 | Style 5
Pole in median: Style 3 | Style 5
Protected/prohibited left turn: Style 3 | Style 5
Protected/prohibited left turn, overhead assembly (2 lanes turning): Style 4 | Style 5
Protected/prohibited left turn, overhead assembly (2 turn lanes, not separated from through lanes): Style 4 | Style 5
Protected/prohibited left turn, overhead assembly (1 lane turning): Style 3 | Style 5
Protected/permitted left turn, with signal in median: Style 3 (earlier) | Style 3 | Style 5
Protected/permitted left turn, double red: Style 3 | Style 5
Protected/permitted left turn, duplicate signal: Style 5
Protected/permitted left turn, without signal in median: Style 1 | Style 2 (8") | Style 2 (12") | Style 3 | Style 5
Wide road (4+ lanes): Style 2 | Style 3 | Style 4 | Style 5
Split phase: Style 3 | Style 5
Split phase, duplicate signal: Style 3 | Style 5
Split phase, single through lane: Style 3 | Style 5
Split phase, major road: Style 3 | Style 5
Downtown assembly (one-way street): Style 2 | Style 4 | Style 5
Downtown assembly (two-way street): Style 2 | Style 3 | Style 5
7 Ave S downtown: along (transit only) | crossing (one way) | crossing (two way)
Single through lane: Style 5
Bus jumper queue: Style 5
Temporary signals
Oddball signals:
WB 10 Ave at Bow Tr/Crowchild Tr interchange SW
WB 9 Ave at 8 St SE
SB 19 St at 14 Ave NW
SB Stoney Tr at 16 Ave NW
Glenmore Tr off-ramps at Macleod Tr S (SPUI intersection)
EB Sunridge Way at 36 St NE
WB Brisebois Dr at Brentwood Rd NW
SB 9 St at 5 Ave SW
EB 9 Ave at 4 St SE
EB 12 Ave at Olympic Way SE
NB 10 St at Memorial Dr NW
NB 10 St at 2 Ave NW
WB Memorial Dr at 4 St NE
Deerfoot Tr off-ramps at 16 Ave NE (split-diamond interchange)
Unknown location, protected/prohibited left turn, 1-lane overhead assembly: Style 3 LED retrofit
Alberta Childrens Hospital emergency signal (added 6/28/2004)
Pedestrian countdown signal (added 7/11/2004)
Outside Calgary:
Old Toronto display with advance flashing green
Typical small-town Alberta display
Edmonton flashing green
Alberta traffic lights overview
Questions? Comments? E-mail me!
Copyright © 2002-2004 Vijay Ramlakhan
No portion of this page may be reproduced without permission from the author
