Yeah around here I myself have seen old poles left alone and continuing to be used....

In fact a lot of the span wire setup in my area....it's not too uncommon to see one old green painted pole still being used and having 3 newer ones! The old green one would have a bit more decorative base...(a small one that is!)

I saw the same thing in Downtown Columbia, MD except the green ones were repainted to bronze color!

Green Ball on the bottom of a four section vertical signal is not allowed by MUTCD. Vertical can be R Y G GArrow and horizontal can be R Y GArrow G

guess it wouldn't be the first time a municipality went against the MUTCD.

Theres the federal MUTCD and State MUTCD, State overrides Federal. Violations can cause the city to be forced to replace the equipment, or in worst case, get fined. But yes, theres so many violations that not everything is caught.
In the case of your picture. Theres a defined list of legal ways to display the lights in a traffic signal head. This is the legal list of displaying a vertical (like your picture) signal head:
RED BALL
RED ARROW
YELLOW BALL
GREEN BALL
YELLOW ARROW
GREEN ARROW

This is legal horizontal
RED BALL
RED ARROW
YELLOW BALL
YELLOW ARROW
GREEN ARROW
GREEN BALL

New Permissive Pocket Left Signals
RED ARROW
YELLOW ARROW
YELLOW ARROW (Flash)
GREEN ARROW

Obviously, depending on the signal displayed then displays will get crossed out, not every display is used on every signal head. What i mentioned above is the order of importance for displays.

Theres alot of other violations still in use.

Flashing Walk (Conflict Ped Walk Signal) in Washington DC--Banned in the 1990s, a single section green arrow can ONLY be used for continuous through movements. How many times has that one been violated??

Theres more too Yellow arrows MUST come after Green Arrows in TURNING movements only, but in straight through, a YELLOW BALL must come after a upwards Green Arrow. Red Arrows are not allowed on straight through either. Theres tons more "rules" to traffic signal design.

Recent updates to the MUTCD: ALL NEW PED SIGNALS MUST BE COUNTDOWN, ALL NEW VEHICLE AND PEDESTRIAN LIGHTS MUST BE LED. The older signals are allowed to remain to finish their service lives, if in good condition only. But these are the federally mandated guidelines. The states can adjust it to their liking to some degree.

Whew lots of info!

very intreasting information,i question if they even know a Third of what you just listed.

I have seen incandescent replacement traffic signals installed occasionally but not as often as LED's which have been showing up all over the place since late 2000 and early 2001.

Like i said, the state overrides federal rules. So if the state has stocked incandescent they could still put it in service. It's not legal to, technically.

how does stat over ride federal?

State has their own MUTCD. Like I said, Federal MUTCD didn't allow any single section green arrows unless they were lit continuously for straight through. Well, Michigan MUTCD up to about 2008 allowed single section right turn arrows the lit during the side street left turn's green, yellow, and all red clear

California banned the sale of incandescent traffic signal bulbs in 2003 to encourage all signals to be changed to LED. Some older installations are still incandescent but replacements are only from existing stock.

California is a perfect example of this.

Idabel,OK still has intersections lit by a single 4 way,and all their signals are incadescent.

Current MUTCD 864 Pages of the rules of traffic signal and traffic control design

whew...864 pages.