Gantry (transport)

Around the world

Canada

Gantries are commonly used on urban highways in Canada to support overhead signs, with half-gantries used to place signs near exits where space does not permit having signs to the right side of the roadway. Gantries may also be used to hold cameras for toll road entrances/exits and to hold electronic information signs.

Across Canada, highway signage on gantries is generally green, with blue being used for various specific purposes. For example, on Ontario's 400 series highways, blue signs are used to indicate outer collector lanes, while the standard green signs are used for inner express lanes. Blue signs are also used to indicate Express Toll Routes (such as Ontario Highway 407). Overhead blue signs are also used to indicate roads going into airports.

The style of gantry used are mostly truss gantries. Older gantries have truss supports (round or box) and newer ones are now supported by cylindrical legs. In most jurisdictions in Canada, signs that are mounted on overhead gantries are installed perpendicular to the roadway. In Québec, however, signs are angled slightly face-down towards the roadway such that the sign face is directed towards the motorists below. In New Brunswick, the opposite is true: signs are angled slightly face-up to capture and reflect more sunlight towards the roadway.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong's highways use a gantry crane type to support signs. The road signs are usually located on top and some have lights to indicate open or closed lanes.

United Kingdom

Gantry signs are being installed at various locations around the trunk motorway network as increasing amounts of traffic mean that road signs at the side of the carriageway are frequently obscured by large goods vehicles. They may also consist of variable-message signs, and more recently Active Traffic Management, to close lanes due to accidents and for other reasons. They can also be used to specify temporary speed limits. Gantries in the United Kingdom display exit (junction) numbers, distances to junctions / exits (1 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, 1/3 mile, 3/4 mile, 2/3 mile) and destinations reached, and if necessary what lane to use for them.

United States

Gantry signs are used frequently in the U.S., particularly in urban areas where freeways have an exit every mile to fit in with the grid system. These half-gantries usually have the exit number and the road or street that can be reached. Gantries can also span the whole road, such as at major junctions.

Designs

• Truss or latticework designs File:SB US 98-301 Road Sign Gantry; Dade City, FL.jpg|US 98 Dade City File:Toll Collect Portique A65.JPG|Electronic toll collection verification of road tax payment by trucks on German controlled-access highways File:Borden A27 Houten.jpg|Near Houten, Netherlands File:Motorway_Sign_Gantry_-geograph.org.uk-_5757308.jpg|Gantry in the United Kingdom, with access for maintenance File:Road_sign,_D816_Road.JPG|On the D.815 road in Turkey File:N4 Eastbound.jpg|Super-span gantry near Dublin File:Burlövsbron Kronetorp, 2019 (02).jpg|Near Malmö, Sweden
• T-shaped, butterfly or pedestal – signs are mounted onto a T-shaped structure File:Georgia I75sb exit 62 .75 mile.jpg|Pedestal gantry sign in Georgia File:A_8_AD_Inntal,2014(02).JPG|Butterfly gantry near Raubling, Germany File:Tol_JORR.JPG|On the Jakarta Outer Ring Road File:A4-A104_-2019-06-03-_IMG_2480.jpg|Gantries placed on either side of the carriageway on the A4 autoroute, France
• Tubular pipes – may be round or square in shape File:I-680 south at SR 4.jpg|A tubular piped (monotube) gantry in California File:Road signs on Onaiza Street in Doha.jpg|Cantilevered gantry in Doha, Qatar File:Jumeirah_Rd.jpg|In Dubai File:View from Szövő Street Road Bridge, gantry, 2020 Érd.jpg|Rear view of a gantry in Hungary, with access for maintenance File:Autobahn-A3-Flughafen-Rhein-Main-2013-Ffm-035.jpg|Near Frankfurt Airport
• Other designs File:Terminal East gantry sign at DIA with empty freeway during the pandemic. 2020-04-30.jpg|Terminal East gantry sign at Denver International Airport with an empty freeway during the pandemic. File:Overhead Sign Gantry on the A494 - geograph.org.uk - 5615662.jpg|Older UK gantry, with concrete posts, near Ewloe, Wales

Railway use

On railways, gantries span multiple railway tracks and carry either railway signals, overhead lines or both. A signal gantry is also used where to improve the visibility of multiple signals, for example around a sharp curve.

Gallery of railway gantries

File:SR signals from cab of standard five.jpg|A gantry of British semaphore signals seen from the cab of a steam locomotive File:Overhead_catenary_bridge.jpg|Gantry with old and new suspended equipment at Grivita railway station, Bucharest. File:Glasgow Central Station - geograph.org.uk - 1108849.jpg|Signal gantry in Glasgow Central Station File:Railway-electrification.jpg|Overhead line gantry in Denmark File:COUNTY-Pre-Rebuild-West-Gantry.jpg|4-track section of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in New Jersey File:Railway overhead line electification gantry Church Road Tottenham London England 1.jpg|Railway overhead line electification gantry Church Road Tottenham London England File:Paris-St-Lazare Portiques A2A3.jpg|Gantry at Gare Saint-Lazare File:Gantry of Sri Lanka semaphore signals,main line,Sri Lanka.JPG|Gantry of Sri Lanka semaphore signals

References

References

1. https://safety.networkrail.co.uk/jargon-buster/signal gantry/#:~:text=signal%20gantry%20A%20framework%20suspended%20across%20several%20train,and%20upon%20which%20many%20signals%20may%20be%20mounted