Erie, Pennsylvania, Page 1

Like many states, old 4-way and other unusual signals are fast disappearing from PA. In exception, Erie, the largest city in Northwestern PA, has numerous old Eagle signals in service. Signalfans travelling across the country on I-90 should plan to take a break when passing through Erie to check things out. (There are plenty of other cool things in Erie too, like Presque Isle State Park. See the City's web site for more information.)

NOTE: Most of these pictures are smaller compressed versions. To see a larger version of any picture, click on it.

Erie: East 6th St and Lake Av
(about 4 miles east of downtown)
 It's not hard to encounter 4-way fixed-head Eagle signals, which seem to everywhere in the city. To begin our tour, we'll drive in from the east using PA Route 5A. At this point, 6th St (Rte. 5A) is divided with a median down the center. The side streets at this is intersection are offset as well (these signals have 4 working faces anyway). Other streets with a large number of similar signals include West 29th St, Parade St. We'll check out Parade Street next.


Erie: East 6th and Parade Streets
 Wow! This is a fixed-face 4-way Eagle signal with 14 lights! I've never seen one of these anywhere else (including people's personal collections). As you can see, I managed to snap this picture during the protected red phase of the signal. It appears there was another at 10th and Parade Sts., but that has been replaced by a newer 4-way cluster.


Erie: Parade St (Route 8), Pine St (Route 8), Old French Road (Route 97), and 28th Street.
 Continuing our tour by traveling south on Parade St (past numerous 4-way Eagles), we approach this confusing 5-way intersection. Parade St splits into Pine St (PA Route 8) and Old French Road (PA Route 97) while East 28th Street crosses through the intersection. All 5 signal heads (with a mix of visors) are visible in this picture. There are several confusing parts to this intersection -- for example, if you're heading south on Parade St, it's unclear what lane connects to Pine St vs. turning left onto 28th; if you're turning left from Pine, you can't see the signal once you enter the intersection. Let's look for other risky intersections.


Erie: Peach St (US 19) and Craig/Chestnut Streets (near 31st).
 Numerous intersections in Erie are controlled by a single 4-way signal or cluster (especially along West 32nd and West 29th Sts.). Not exactly safe, but such intersections are usually in residential areas and low-volume through streets.  This is an exception --  Peach Street is a major thoroughfare with five lanes! It's easy to miss the signal or a similar one at 29th and Peach. Why don't we return to safer pursuits?

Erie, Page 2!

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This page was last updated on 4-Aug-2004 at 1747 GMT.
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