Rare Double Head on Castiron Pole Shorefront Pkwy, Rockaway Park Photo Gallery Roadway Fixtures

Save for Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens, only one other bastion of double-headedness remains going into the new millenium, for NYC's traffic light community, and that is the Rockaway peninsula. The capital of the 2-heads centers around Shorefront Pkwy in Rockaway Park, just south of the Cross Bay Bridge and hard alongside the Boardwalk. Even among these rarities, there are even rarer variants. The king of these survivors is this one, commanding Shorfront's center median. First of all, it sits on one of the last remaining castiron stanchions, that once held one-piece box-type signals. Second, it's three sections are connected on top by full heavy piping, the same as supports it from beneath. This may seem trivial, but from the mid 1960's on, most traffic signals sitting atop poles were connected on top by a thin metal band, such as the second signal visible in the background. Equally, those hung down from overhead masts were connected by the thin band on the bottom. Few corners remain with signals where the heavy piping is used on both ends. It's a finial touch that definitely adds dignity lacking in the bands, which undoubtably were a cost-saving adaptation. Shot 7/2000.

© 2000, Jeff Saltzman. All rights reserved.