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Sweet thread, I love this stuff. I've grown up as a Simcity/Transport Tycoon fanatic, and was once a City & Regional Planning major at Berkeley. If I was born a trust fund baby, I would probably study transit for fun. Anyways, I've spent most of my life in California, so my knowledge of roundabouts is pretty limited. There's one small one near my office that has no signals and there's a larger one in the same county that I see from time to time--also no signals. Yet I went to Spain two weeks ago and there are signals everywhere INSIDE the roundabout. Is this pretty standard practice for high-traffic roundabouts? (click for gmaps)  Is this considered a roundabout? There's a round shape to it all, but the main artery (the longest avenue in Madrid) clearly penetrates the middle.  Also, have you had any success with busways or new public transit in CT?
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Jan 12, 2010 17:32
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Cichlidae posted:Traffic circles with signals are, as you said, relatively common in very high-volume traffic circles. Most of these were designed before automobiles, and acted as open squares or monumental centerpieces. Once the roads were overtaken by vehicular traffic, they had to be transformed into roadways, and it's tough to turn such a big circle into an effective intersection. There are countless variations, my favorite of which is the Place de l'Etoile in Paris, with no lane lines or signals and 12 incoming roadways.  nevermind the fact Plaza Concorde down the street, and every other intersection I saw in Paris, has signals Cichlidae posted:Our train ridership has been climbing in the past few years, so we're adding new parking. Other than that, though, I don't think we've implemented any new transit in ages. Most of what we have is running on 100+ year old infrastructure.
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Jan 12, 2010 18:40
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Cichlidae posted:It's also worth noting that the UK has a different definition for the word 'roundabout' than the US definition. Many of Britain's roundabouts would be considered traffic circles or rotaries here.  Also, I saw a weird article over at the LA Times, some kind of freight train fear-mongering? Seems like everyone is doing their best to be very concerned about this disturbing, earth-shattering development.. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/safety-traffic-concerns-raised-when-35mile-freight-train-rolls-through-la-basin.html
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Jan 12, 2010 23:52
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Are those construction worker fatalities? If so, 
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Jan 14, 2010 19:03
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Question about signal actuation: I'm going down a main road and want to make a left at a standard 4-way signaled intersection. Currently, the traffic signal is green on the side road. The side road turns yellow and intends to switch to green straights on the main road, but a millisecond later, I trip the left-turn sensor. Does the signal box recalculate where to put the next green? If there are no cars being sensed on the straight approaches, shouldn't the signal do some thinking and then give me a left-turn green immediately? Or is the next green phase set in stone when the previous green phase starts winding down? I know this is kind of a strange question, but I've always wondered this
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Jan 21, 2010 08:41
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Calast posted:
I know exactly where that is, because I used to commute on Ashby in college, and this reminds me. The City of Berkeley in its infinite wisdom decided to let CA-13, a four-lane road, lose the curbside lanes to parking during most of the day. There's plenty of side street parking, but no, those fuckers get to park on a major arterial, the only CA route surface street to bisect the city.  gently caress, if I got to design my own city, I'd outlaw on-street parking except on very suburban 25-mph streets. Let people bear the real cost of parking spaces.. e: I understand that on-street parking is a calming measure and the City loves the poo poo out of traffic calming. But it's A MAIN ARTERY and gosh darn it, it's loving inefficient
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Jan 22, 2010 08:25
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Socket Ryanist posted:
I always thought of San Pablo as a road on the fringes of the city (as opposed to bisecting), but you got me there  Cichlidae posted:I definitely agree; on-street parking on arterials hurts capacity and causes accidents. Just keep in mind that the town's first priority is keeping their businesses happy, not encouraging traffic flow. Some towns (Middletown, CT, I'm looking at you) prefer their roads to be congested because it gives their CBD more "face time." I see what you're saying, and Berkeley is sometimes actively hostile towards traffic flow (which I sometimes agree with actually). But this stretch of CA-13 that I'm talking about is primarily composed of single-family homes:  edit: another question, when do traffic engineers put lights on freeways? I was driving on I-605 the other day in Los Angeles and visibility was pretty bad. Given that "safety" is a huge buzzword in DOT circles, I was surprised that this major freeway wasn't lighted. Mandalay fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jan 22, 2010 |
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Jan 22, 2010 22:05
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you forget san pablo ave (aka route 123)
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Cichlidae posted:I was thinking about this exact issue today while doing some VISSIM modeling. The difference between Stop and Yield is, obviously, you are required to stop at a Stop sign. Of course, nobody REALLY stops, we roll through at 5-10 mph. If a side road is a low volume/low speed approach and the sight distance is very good, a Yield sign works just as well as a Stop sign. If there's a car coming, you can just wait. If not, go right on through. Make it happen! (please)
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Jan 26, 2010 21:17
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Cichlidae posted:Similarly, it only cost about $1 million 1950s dollars to sign the entire Connecticut Turnpike (Greenwich to Killingly). I'll let you calculate the inflation rate now, but we generally assume $3 million per interchange to put up signs these days, times about 90 exits. Of course, that's also a testament to how much heartier our signs are now. The original Connecticut Turnpike signs were small blue ones, not the 40-foot-wide overhead ones we use now. FOR SIGNS? what the gently caress, this is insanity. you have to be able to cut this cost, right? right?
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Feb 5, 2010 02:40
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Assuming that you allow right-turn-on-red, generally how long do you let a car in a right-turn-only lane to wander/waffle/wait until triggering a green for that road? Hope that makes sense.
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Feb 7, 2010 08:50
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do you have an amazon wish list?  I'm in Boston for the weekend, first time I've been in a New England state. Rented a car yesterday and gently caress, these roads are substandard. Weaving galore, insufficient capacity even in the suburbs, and driving on the shoulder?? augh
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Feb 20, 2010 00:55
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Cichlidae posted:It's a great idea if you have the width. As long as there's some good barrier, collisions aren't a danger, and the fact that freeways are already grade-separated makes it an economical choice. Overpasses could be fitted with platforms going down to the train tracks for easy access. Park and ride lots between the tracks or nearby would increase the station's effective range even more, especially if they can be accessed directly from the freeway. Are there some case studies of freeway lanes being taken out for this kind of light rail? When I went to Boston last month, I stayed on the newish T Silver Line. I think the MBTA tried to push it as just another light rail line but it's actually a bus rapid transit route that is sometimes in purpose-built tunnels and sometimes shares the road with normal traffic. The locals seemed very underwhelmed with the Silver Line, and I have to admit that I was more optimistic about BRT before I actually tried it. Have you tried it? The Wikipedia page has some interesting criticisms.
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Mar 4, 2010 06:55
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Field trip owns. Please post another one!
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Mar 12, 2010 00:46
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Cool stories. How long is that bridge going to take? :|
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Mar 12, 2010 23:42
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Solkanar512 posted:This is exactly what happens on I-5 here on the West Coast. It's actually quite useful, since it tells you not only which exit you need to take, but about how far away it is. Not in California..
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Apr 5, 2010 19:25
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Cichlidae posted:
 Cichlidae posted:
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Apr 7, 2010 00:19
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I be a pirate sign, matey! Competin' wit yer attention because I want yer booty!
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Cichlidae posted:I have enough Busway jokes to start my own Busway-oriented comedy club. Now if only traffic engineering came with a little more innuendo!
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Apr 9, 2010 19:27
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While I was on a bus zooming past a train in Boston yesterday, I was wondering--have there been studies on how much people prefer trains over buses? For a variety of reasons, the idea of riding a train is just more psychologically pleasing. (I know I brought this up with regard to the MBTA Silver Line earlier in this thread)
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Apr 26, 2010 22:51
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Cichlidae posted:Raise gas taxes hahahahahahahaha good one I agree
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Apr 27, 2010 15:19
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looks like the driver took the picture while operating a motor vehicle, transportation vehicle is illegally parked, that work zone could use some cones
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Apr 28, 2010 05:40
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Nesnej posted:In transport planning this is a well known phenomenon and is called the rail factor. Studies show that rail traffic is more likely to attract more and higher-income passengers buses. The reasons are unclear, but it has been proposed that this is because of more better passenger comfort (larger curve radii, less abrupt accelerations and decelerations, quieter passenger spaces and, at least from my anecdotal experience, better air conditioning) as well as increased reliability. Haha, the Green Line-B would like to have a word with you. Anyways, it all makes sense, but it seems like bus service could be dramatically improved with simple things like https://www.nextbus.com preferential signaling, and easy-to-read route maps. Oh, and the perception that buses are for poor people.
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May 3, 2010 22:48
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Cichlidae posted:Here's a fun photo: so uh how did you guys find out about that hole
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May 11, 2010 23:33
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Crackpipe posted:Boston / Storrs / New London / New York City rail link. Isn't this what Acela (sp?) is?
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Jun 4, 2010 15:11
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Is it me or is that rail tunnel ridiculously small?
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Jun 8, 2010 02:50
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How much more does it cost to do construction at night / weekends versus during the day?
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Jan 21, 2011 16:10
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grover posted:Would you have designed the overpass with less flames? Now all I can see are substandard curbs. e: the directional signing attached to the freeway looks a little too small for standard as well.
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Feb 4, 2011 17:46
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Where does the funding come from rebuilding after a disaster like this? Insurance?
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Feb 4, 2011 18:17
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grover posted:Government self-insures itself. Two cars were involved, the tanker truck and a pickup. It's not clear from the article what happened to cause the wreck, but unless the at-fault driver had one HELL of an insurance clause, there's another bridge that won't be replaced or a road that won't be repaved because of this. Is the at-fault driver subject to legal action to recover property damages?
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Feb 4, 2011 18:43
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grover posted:Chances are pretty good he doesn't have a few million dollars to pay for the damages out of pocket. Gonna have trouble working if off, too, considering both drivers died. Clearly debtor's prison needs a cemetery ward
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Feb 4, 2011 19:13
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Cichlidae posted:Do you remember that sign support here in CT that got knocked down by a dump truck a couple years ago? The company that owns the truck is technically liable for the sign support's replacement, but they don't have to pay up until it has been replaced and the final cost determined. Since we don't have the spare cash to replace it, that may not happen for years. Can't you bill them for estimated costs and then adjust it later like our small biz's workers comp insurance bill?  unrelated traffic light fail: http://failblog.org/2011/02/02/epic-fail-video-traffic-light-fail/
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Feb 5, 2011 00:11
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I think that might be the first selfish thing you've said in this thread
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Feb 13, 2011 11:05
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Cichlidae posted:
Is the problem really enforcement here, or just people who can't follow directions on signs?
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Feb 15, 2011 00:34
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Cichlidae posted:The two are really inseparable. If the directions on signs are too confusing, then is a motorist really at fault if he misses their intent? We have hundreds of cars per hour violating the current restrictions as is. Adding more subtleties really isn't going to help things. So what you're saying is that the revenue opportunity for CT is expanding
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Feb 15, 2011 02:44
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How often do you see enforcement? Just north of you in Orange County, I don't see much enforcement of carpool lane restrictions, and these are pretty standard things with two sets of double yellow lines separating them all the time. If anything, OC is easier to enforce.
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Feb 16, 2011 16:19
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Has anyone read this book on how cities are mankind's greatest invention? http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/02/17/pm-why-cities-are-mankinds-greatest-invention/
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Feb 18, 2011 00:33
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What would you do with something like this? http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/quake1/bp36.jpg
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Mar 11, 2011 20:29
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:Here is an awesome video about the Ringways project in the UK and why it didn't get built; This is fantastic. More of this please.
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Mar 12, 2011 09:05
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CaladSigilon posted:What the hell were the engineers thinking of when they made this pretending-to-be-a-roundabout-but-putting-eight-million-traffic-lights-and-causing-terrible-traffic-and-death-and-hatred thing? It backs up onto the highway because people can't merge into that traffic, and requires people to cut each other off on the right hand side if they don't want to get shoved back onto the highway. This is also a major bus transfer point IIRC. I once took the bus out to Waltham and I could already tell it was a clusterfuck when I xferred there. jeoh-kun posted:Yep: Haha.
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Mar 17, 2011 00:31
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While we're at it, what's up with the 5-digit address numbering system here in California (and other places apparently)? Why can't the first house be numbered 1 instead of 10001 dammit? e: here is an example of what I'm talking about http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...rnia+92782&z=17
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Mar 29, 2011 08:01
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Cichlidae posted:Consider yourself lucky; if it were New England, we'd put a stop sign instead, and everyone would be driving 15 over the limit. The Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles isn't much better.  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...,155.11,,0,10.9
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Apr 20, 2011 22:46
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