Vehicles of ADOT: Bucket Trucks

With more than 6,000 miles of highway to oversee and maintain, ADOT relies on its fleet of trusty vehicles to help get the job done. We’re not referring to your everyday trucks and sedans – we are talking about heavy-duty equipment, designed and built to perform some enormous tasks.

Because these vehicles play such an integral role in ADOT’s everyday operations, we thought it’d be fitting to highlight some of them here on the blog.

So, let’s get things started by introducing you to ADOT’s bucket trucks…

Extending up to 45 feet, these trucks are used primarily by ADOT’s Signal and Lighting crews to repair and maintain traffic signals and lights.

The bucket truck is used to repair traffic signals, freeway lights (the shorter poles) and the lights that shine underneath bridge decks.

The bucket trucks have compartments used for supplies.

By the way, there is also a larger bucket truck available that’s used to work on the taller freeway light poles – it reaches 68 feet.

Before an ADOT crew member can get in the bucket and head on up, they have to stay safe and put on a full-body harness and a hard hat. Also, before the bucket will elevate, a couple of stabilizers extend out of the sides of the truck (kind of like hydraulic kick stands) to keep things nice and steady.

Another safety factor – two crew members go out with these trucks. One person operates an arrow board/attenuator truck (to warn traffic) and one will be up in the bucket making repairs to the light or signal.

One more thing about these trucks is that they have several compartments that allow crews to carry along all the supplies necessary to make a repair.

You can learn more about ADOT’s Signals and Lighting crews, by reading some of our previous posts. And, be sure to stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about the Vehicles of ADOT.