Marbelite Lawdescent Lite Pedestrian Signal

There have been many kinds of pedestrian signals over the years. The 1960s-70s Marbelite LPS-20 "Lawdescent Lite" may be recognizable because it was the main model used throughout New York City from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s.

Very few Lawdescent Lites are still in use in scattered locations around the country. Besides being out of date with current traffic standards, the big problem with these units were the brittle plastic reflectors that were prone to break, and even melted or ignitied when a hot light bulb became displaced and contacted the plastic.

This signal once served in Laurel, Mississippi. It is an early example of this model because it has glass lenses, rather than fiberglass, and the name "MARBELITE" embossed on the back of the housing. I repainted in an an olive green reminiscent of the color that New York City used for their original installation of these units in the 1960s. To replace the missing (cruddy) plastic reflectors, I had the much sturdier sheet metal reflectors you see in the photo made for me by another collector in Colorado. The bulbs I'm using are red and green Utilitech 3W LED bulbs. I run it on an after-market Lights To Go! controller.