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A gantry (also known as a sign holder, road sign holder, sign structure or road sign structure) is a traffic sign assembly in which signs are mounted or railway signals are supported on an overhead support. They also often contain the apparatus for traffic monitoring systems and cameras, or open road tolling systems.
Gantries are usually built on high-traffic roads or routes with several lanes, where signs posted on the side of the highway would be hard for drivers to see. Gantries may be cantilevered or one-sided on the left, right and center (sometimes referred to as a half-gantry or Butterfly gantry), or they may be bridges with poles on each side. Similar gantries are used in railway signalling or to suspend overhead lines on multi-track lines.
Gantry signs are commonly used in urban highways in Canada to support overhead signs. Half-gantries are used to place signs near exits where space does not permit having signs to the right side of the roadway. Gantries can also be used to hold cameras for toll road entrances/exits and to hold electronic information signs, such as on Ontario Highway 407. The style of gantry used are mostly truss gantries. Older gantries have truss supports (round or box) and newer ones are now supported by cylindrical legs. In most jurisdictions in Canada, signs that are mounted on overhead gantries are installed perpendicular to the roadway. In Québec, however, signs are angled slightly face-down towards the roadway such that the sign face is directed towards the motorists below. In New Brunswick, the opposite is true: signs are angled slightly face-up to capture and reflect more sunlight towards the roadway.
The colors of the gantry sign may indicate different things in Canada. Generally, the signs are green (similar to the United States) however different colored signs may exist for certain purposes. For example, the Ontario 400 series highway will use green for the inner Express lanes while using dark blue for the outer collector lanes. Another reason for blue signs would be Express Toll Routes (Highway 407 Toll Route utilizes some blue signs at entrances). Finally, overhead blue signs may be used near airports (such as the roads going into Toronto Pearson Airport or Vancouver International Airport).
Hong Kong's highways use a gantry crane type to support signs. The road signs are usually located on top and some have lights to indicate open or closed lanes.
Gantry signs are being installed at various locations around the trunk motorway network as increasing amounts of traffic mean that road signs at the side of the carriageway are frequently obscured by large goods vehicles. They may also consist of variable-message signs, and more recently Active Traffic Management, to close lanes due to accidents and for other reasons. They can also be used to specify temporary speed limits. Gantries in the United Kingdom display exit (junction) numbers, distances to junctions / exits (1 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, 1/3 mile, 3/4 mile, 2/3 mile) and destinations reached, and if necessary what lane to use for them.
Gantry signs are used frequently in the U.S., particularly in urban areas where freeways have an exit every mile to fit in with the grid system. These half-gantries usually have the exit number and the road or street that can be reached. Gantries can also span the whole road, such as at major junctions.
On railways, gantries span multiple railway tracks and carry either railway signals, overhead lines or both. A signal gantry is also used where to improve the visibility of multiple signals, for example around a sharp curve. [1]
The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA). The 117.20-mile (188.62 km) mainline's southern terminus is at Interstate 295 (I-295) and U.S. Route 40 (US 40) in Pennsville Township in Salem County, near the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Its northern terminus is at the approach to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee in Bergen County; originally it was at an interchange with I-80 and US 46 in Ridgefield Park. Construction of the mainline from concept to completion took 22 months, from 1950 to 1951. It was opened to traffic on November 5, 1951, between its southern terminus and exit 10.
An exit number is a number assigned to a road junction, usually an exit from a freeway. It is usually marked on the same sign as the destinations of the exit. In some countries, such as the United States, it is also marked on a sign in the gore.
A variable-message sign or message board, often abbreviated VMS, VMB, CMS, or DMS, and in the UK known as a matrix sign, is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers information about special events. Such signs warn of traffic congestion, accidents, incidents such as terrorist attacks, AMBER/Silver/Blue Alerts, roadwork zones, or speed limits on a specific highway segment. In urban areas, VMS are used within parking guidance and information systems to guide drivers to available car parking spaces. They may also ask vehicles to take alternative routes, limit travel speed, warn of duration and location of the incidents, inform of the traffic conditions, or display general public safety messages.
A dual carriageway (BrE) or a divided highway (AmE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are designed to higher standards with controlled access are generally classed as motorways, freeways, etc., rather than dual carriageways.
The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, including some major streets in urban or suburban areas. The reserved area may simply be paved, but commonly it is adapted to other functions; for example, it may accommodate decorative landscaping, trees, a median barrier, or railway, rapid transit, light rail, or streetcar lines.
The Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway, originally called the Burlington Bay Skyway and simply known as the Burlington Skyway, is a pair of high-level freeway bridges spanning the Burlington Bay Canal. The Skyway, as it is locally known, is located in Hamilton and Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) highway linking Fort Erie with Toronto.
The road hierarchy categorizes roads according to their functions and capacities. While sources differ on the exact nomenclature, the basic hierarchy comprises freeways, arterials, collectors, and local roads. Generally, the functional hierarchy can more or less correspond to the hierarchy of roads by their owner or administrator.
A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, and partial controlled-access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway, including limited or no access to adjacent property, some degree of separation of opposing traffic flow, use of grade separated interchanges to some extent, prohibition of slow modes of transport, such as bicycles, (draught) horses, or self-propelled agricultural machines; and very few or no intersecting cross-streets or level crossings. The degree of isolation from local traffic allowed varies between countries and regions. The precise definition of these terms varies by jurisdiction.
Interstate 405 (I-405) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway serving the Seattle region of Washington, United States. It bypasses Seattle east of Lake Washington, traveling through the Eastside area of King and Snohomish counties, providing an alternate route to I-5. The 30-mile (48 km) freeway serves the cities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Bothell. I-405 terminates at I-5 in Tukwila and Lynnwood, and also intersects several major highways, including SR 167, I-90, SR 520, and SR 522.
Road signs in the Republic of Ireland do not differ greatly from those used elsewhere in Europe – with the notable exception that hazard or warning signs follow the "New World" style of a yellow diamond. The symbols used on these warning signs do, nevertheless, resemble much more closely those used in the rest of Europe than many of those seen in the United States.
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms include throughway and parkway. Some of these may be limited-access highways, although this term can also refer to a class of highways with somewhat less isolation from other traffic.
Pennsylvania Route 576 (PA Turnpike 576), also known as the Southern Beltway, is a tolled freeway in the southern and western suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is envisioned to serve as a southern beltway around the Greater Pittsburgh area between Pittsburgh International Airport and the historic Steel Valley of the Monongahela River.
Road signs in Malaysia are standardised road signs similar to those used in Europe but with certain distinctions. Until the early 1980s, Malaysia closely practice in road sign design, with diamond-shaped warning signs and circular restrictive signs to regulate traffic. Signs usually use the Transport Heavy font on non-tolled roads and highways. Tolled expressways signs use a font specially designed for the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) which is LLM Lettering. It has two type of typefaces, LLM Narrow and LLM Normal. Older road signs used the FHWA Series fonts typeface also used in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Interstate 95 (I-95) is a major north–south Interstate Highway that runs along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canadian border in Houlton, Maine. In the state of Pennsylvania, it runs 44.25 miles (71.21 km) from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook in Delaware County in the southeastern part of the state northeast to the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge at the New Jersey state line near Bristol in Bucks County, closely paralleling the New Jersey state line for its entire length through Pennsylvania.
A two-lane expressway or two-lane freeway is an expressway or freeway with only one lane in each direction, and usually no median barrier. It may be built that way because of constraints, or may be intended for expansion once traffic volumes rise. The term super two is often used by roadgeeks for this type of road, but traffic engineers use that term for a high-quality surface road. Most of these roads are not tolled.
Active traffic management is a method of increasing peak capacity and smoothing traffic flows on busy major highways. Techniques include variable speed limits, hard-shoulder running and ramp-metering controlled by overhead variable message signs. It has been implemented in several countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Road signs in Thailand are standardized road signs similar to those used in other nations but much of it resembles road signage systems used in South American countries with certain differences, such as using a blue circle instead of a red-bordered white circle to indicate mandatory actions. Until the early 1980s, Thailand closely followed American, European, Australian, and Japanese practices in road sign design, with diamond-shaped warning signs and circular restrictive signs to regulate traffic. For Romanized, signs usually use the FHWA Series fonts typeface, which is also used on American road signage, but for Thai text, the font used is unknown.
In the United States, road signs are, for the most part, standardized by federal regulations, most notably in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and its companion volume the Standard Highway Signs (SHS).
Terminology related to road transport—the transport of passengers or goods on paved routes between places—is diverse, with variation between dialects of English. There may also be regional differences within a single country, and some terms differ based on the side of the road traffic drives on. This glossary is an alphabetical listing of road transport terms.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a signatory of Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. Therefore, road signs do not differ much from the rest of Europe. Ministry of Transportation of Bosnia and Herzegovina regulates them. Bosnia and Herzegovina drives on the right as with the rest of Europe, except for Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom. Bosnian and Herzegovinan road signs have two scripts, Latin and Cyrillic script.