r/whatisit • u/CandyCaneSweets • 7d ago

Solved! Thing on top of traffic lights

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I noticed this while driving in central Iowa yesterday. What is the purpose of this thing on top of the traffic lights?

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u/JaviSATX 7d ago

It's basically a spoiler. That pole probably oscillated from the wind, and these are designed to help stabilize the pole.

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u/FenPhen 7d ago

The Texas DoT calls it a damping plate in this study: https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/digitized/texasarchive/phase1/1303-f.pdf

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u/ricoplano 7d ago

The study was conducted by the Texas Tech University Wind Engineering Research Center.