Path protections have become increasingly important for current mesh optical networks because fast restorations in generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) networks are uncertain. However, setting up additional disjoint paths to protect connections leads to more path setup blocking and signaling collisions. We analyze signaling collisions, path blocking and blocking probability, as well as calculate node-to-node blocking probabilities. A signaling-based path-segment protection (PSP) is