About 5 years ago I visited friends in Florence OR and we went for a drive up Hwy 101. It was summertime and there were a lot of road crews out making repairs. At almost every location, there were tall (maybe 7 feet?) orange objects that looked sort of like mushrooms. They were mounted on thick shafts and had what appeared to be inflatable car-tire sized circular, orange, translucent tops. There might have been lights inside the tops but since it was daylight it was hard to tell. They were always stationed at the work site, not as warning cones or traffic control.
I have been kicking myself ever since for not taking pictures of these things, since I can’t find any information on what they are! I have never seen anything like them in CA, nor on recent visits to AK or AZ, but I don’t know if other states’ DOTs have similar structures. I have tried describing them to AI & doing image searches & it hasn’t turned anything up.
Can any of you – especially Oregonians – help me out?
Thank you – not exactly what I remember, but could be. I discounted lighting because it was a sunny summer day & lights would have been wasted effort. Does OR DOT have a work rule that lights have to be set up regardless of ambient conditions?
Well, lights are usually prepositioned during daylight for planned work at night (when road crews often work to limit traffic disruption). If more work is planned the following night they might just be left in place.
As an Oregonian who has driven more miles on 101 than I could ever tally and have dealt with 30 years of road construction, I’ve never seen anything like what you describe.
Edit: all night construction lights that I have seen look like this:
As said, for use at night. The balloon diffusers shade the glare from the bright lamps since they aren’t very high like a streetlamp. This is helpful for workers as well as drivers and passersby.
Your image was broken for me when I first loaded it (I think the site might not allow deep linking), but I assume you were trying to include the image halfway down this page.
I’ve seen similar lights used for night work here in Connecticut as well, so it’s not just an Oregon thing.
I don’t remember where I’ve seen something like that before, but I’ve got an idea that they are lowered and deflated during the day, then pushed up and popped out at night.
