Ask me about being a Traffic Engineer!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about being a Traffic Engineer!

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

A question about the thinking behind something...

My local municipality here in NC has, in places, been replacing your standard five-light straight-plus-left-turn lights with dedicated left-turn lights. These things, though, have four lights: the usual three, plus a flashing yellow arrow for unprotected left turn. The idea is that they can, while giving one direction green with protected left turn, give the opposite left turners an unprotected left while holding the straight traffic with a red.

Theoretically I can see the benefit... maybe you can get a few extra cars through if there's nobody going straight, and more options for engineers is always a plus. But is the practical benefit all that great? They've mostly been placed in higher volume intersections where you MIGHT get a car or two through before it's unprotected left for everybody. But they've been in for about a year now and I've only noticed one lane where they reverted to a standard three-light left-turn.

Any thoughts?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2012 21:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:14

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Dominus Vobiscum posted:

I think dupersaurus is describing this kind of light:

Wisconsin is starting to use these in a lot of places and WisDOT has a page up about them: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/flashing-yellow.htm

As far as I know, Wisconsin never uses doghouse lights anywhere. I've only ever seen straight-line five section signal heads or those for protected-permissive left turns.

I think the situation dupersaurus is describing would be something like having a green ball and arrow in one direction and the opposing traffic having a red ball and a flashing yellow arrow.

Yeah, that. Red, yellow, flashing yellow (unprotected), and green. Really the only functional difference from the five-light style is that if one direction has all-green, then they can (and do) give the opposing left turners the flashing yellow while holding the throughs at red.

Coasterphreak posted:

I don't know where in NC you are, but here in Charlotte they just spent a small fortune installing those pretty much anywhere there is a dedicated left turn lane that is not a main arterial. It's great because in many places, a protected left is only necessary for two hours a day, but during those two hours it's really necessary to prevent congestion.

I'm in Cary, which is a suburb of Raleigh. Interestingly, though, Cary seems to be the only place in the area actually putting them in, but only really in a few of the heavier intersections on my side of town where sometimes the turning volume is greater than the through volume. It seems a little odd.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2012 21:54

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

ConfusedUs posted:

Not to distract from this awesome game (which is fun to read) but this is pretty good:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3c0_1351184890

That video's made all the better because I drive under it every so often. It's even got a sister bridge a few miles down the track, although I guess that one doesn't have its own live stream.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2012 02:10

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

Hey, it's not like we can't do both. You got a freeway to sperg out over? I'll dump the biggest fuckin' you've ever seen.

Okay, I'll bite. I present to you, I-540 in NC, a too-be second ringroad around Raleigh.

About half-way done. More of an archroad. North of I40 opened a few years ago, and the southern section earlier this year as a toll road. Now, at first glance, our friend 540 looks like any other interstate spur, but something about it has been bugging me: north of I40 it's signed I-540, but south of it it's NC-540 -- a state highway.

Why might that be? As far as I'm aware they're built to the same standard. All that is different is that NC-540 is a toll road. I guess it may be a temporary thing until the whole thing links up... looking at NCDOT's page, they call NC-540 the Triangle Expressway, so maybe they're waiting until they start planning or building the final section before treating it as a single thing. But are there any legal or AASHTO regulatory reasons why not to sign it as I-540 all the way around?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 01:59

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

Eastbound...

Westbound...

Is there any significance to how the weekends are nice and smooth sine waves (and nearly perfect reflections between both directions) while the weekdays are all herky-jerky, or is that just the nature of rush hours?

# ¿ Nov 27, 2012 04:26

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

A very foggy night tonight made me wonder about, of course, overhead highway signs. In particular: how do you decide whether to put lights on them or not? The stuff around here is a mix of lit and not. There's no obvious pattern other than a bunch of signs they put up this past summer aren't lit, and that would seem to be because they do a drat fine job of reflecting headlight light.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2013 05:22

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

I'm not sure I could ever do much with OpenTTD, just because there's no background traffic. You could add in some traffic signals or freeway appurtenances, I suppose, but it's not like anyone really plays OpenTTD for the roads. Unless you have swarms of buses and trucks (which, I'll admit, I've done on occasion), you're not going to have anything resembling realistic road traffic.

Traffic Engineer Simulator 2014. You'll be rich.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2013 14:27

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

mamosodiumku posted:

There is a section where Edwards Mill Rd merges with Wade Ave extension. There is also a lane drop shortly after the merge. I'll guess that lane drop slows down the right most lane. Then that slowness bleeds into the left lane, from people jumping out of the right lane to avoid the merging traffic, until all the lanes are going as slow as the right most lane.

I never drive through there through rush, but even then there are plenty of people that camp in the right lane before merging at the last moment because they're not paying attention to all the signs that say "THIS LANE ENDS".

That said, that ramp is one of my favorites ever.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2013 14:34

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

This may not be answerable, but it's something I've wondered about before. How much of the total strength of a bridge/overpass/whatever goes into supporting itself versus supporting its intended load? Are there any economies of scale to it (ie, increasing strength by 10% increased capacity by 15%)? Although now that I think about it, I may just be asking for (bridge weight)/(capacity)...

# ¿ May 25, 2013 03:29

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

FISHMANPET posted:

So I was wondering if an all electric bus has a different acceleration profile pulling out of a stop than an internal combustion engine powered vehicle.

I can't speak to how it applies to buses, but one of the big differences between electric motors and IC engines is that electric has a more-or-less constant torque output throughout its whole range, whereas an ICE generally has a hump somewhere in its rev range. So with an ICE vehicle, you're changing gears to spend as much time as you can in the hump, but with an electric motor you're always there. For something low-speed like an electric bus I wouldn't be surprised if they ditched a transmission entirely (outside of differentials and stuff if you're not giving each wheel its own motor).

# ¿ May 29, 2013 23:26

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Lead out in cuffs posted:

I think the right-turn-with-bent-left-arm signal is a Canadian oddity, not generally used in other places. I used to use it while riding here, but in the past year or two have switched to just using my straight arm in the direction I'm turning, since it's a lot less ambiguous.

No, that's how it is in the states, too. That diagram posted is of the official signals here. Since if you're sitting in the driver's seat of a car you can't reach out of the passenger's window if you want to turn right.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2013 17:38

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

What do the wear lines on the road tell you about the way people drive here? This, by the way, is one of the most accident-prone spots in the state.

Obviously they know how to take the best line through a chicane for maximum speed onto the straight :black101:

And it looks like a fair number of them don't even bother to stay on the pavement on the way out, although I guess that could be a truck artifact...

Cichlidae posted:

At this corner, there are deep ruts right alongside the road. Why do you think that is?

Trucks trying to take a turn way to narrow for them?

Cichlidae posted:

In urban and rural areas alike, keep a look out for dented guiderails. These are both at high-accident locations that've been completely redone since Google's cameras came through.

While I'm imagining to myself that people are so freaked out by turns they're crashing before they even get there, I'd guess the real reason is people in the interior lane (ie, young men) taking the turn to fast. Or people swerving to avoid those people.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2013 23:04

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

grover posted:

That road is a racetrack - Grand Prize of America Road Course. Was built in the mid 90s for vintage racing as part of the Hilton Head Motoring Festival. They close it to public traffic when they use it, I imagine, just like other multi-use road courses like Le Mans.

e: you can even see the barriers near the entrance: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hutc...1,270,,0,0&z=16

e2: vvv sorry, didn't glean that from your context

Holy hell. I went to school in Savannah and I had no clue :psyduck:

# ¿ Jul 15, 2013 13:35

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Podima posted:

Side note: Any suggestions for how to remove this crap from my tires? Google is telling me sketchy things like mayonnaise and gasoline.

I'm pretty sure gasoline can be a solvent, so that's probably not crazy although you might be able to get the same effect with mineral spirits.

That or just find an empty parking lot to hoon around in :black101:

# ¿ Jul 17, 2013 19:22

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

FISHMANPET posted:

There's a fairly busy intersection right outside my apartment that goes from green bulb both east and west, red east west for a second, then green arrow from east to north and west to south. There's also a sign that says "Left turns yield on green." There's never a red turn arrow, because why would you need them?

A sold green light means a left turn is permitted as long as you yield to oncoming traffic, why do I need a flashing yellow arrow during a green phase to tell me what I already need to know?

My local municipality has been replacing doghouses with them in some intersections, and one of the things they do differently is that if one direction has all green, they give the opposing left turn lane the flashing yellow so they're not held back by a red if there's an opening. It's kind of an edge case, but it might let one or two more cars through than otherwise.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2013 03:28

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

That ties into something I've wondered about before: how much does the local area's ability to produce asphalt and concrete affect the time you can build stuff in?

# ¿ Oct 3, 2013 03:35

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

grover posted:

Concrete mixing plants come on wheels, too!

For big jobs:

They recently opened up a big new stretch of highway near me. I'd occasionally drive by the big staging area and I remember seeing what kinda looked like a small concrete plant they built for the project. Handy for big stuff, I'd imagine.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2013 13:47

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Sloober posted:

That bridge is very old and was built when there were no clearance minimums. Overtime this should happen less and less since we have those minimums now. And yep, there's a lot of ignorance about how tall your own vehicle is. It's not something people think about much. For that particular bridge there probably isn't an easy to to fix it since raising railroad grades is a long process since it has to cover such a vast distance to get it to work - very pricy and time consuming. The 11foot8 page also says there's a sewer at an almost minimum depth just under the roadway which would also take a lot of cost to fix, and require either installing a force main/pump to move it or completely redoing the grades of the gravity sewer on one side of it - it's never as simple as just make the span deeper.

Yeah, the part of Durham its at is right in the middle of the old warehouse district -- and the bridge is probably about as old as it -- so good luck getting anything done to it. In that area, the tracks are raise up above street level for a good bit, and stuff built along them would probably get in the way of raising them more (which would also screw up the parts on either end that are at ground level).

To be slightly fair, the bridge can sneak up on you; the first set of signs about the height are right at an intersection and could be easy to miss, and you don't get another warning until you're right at the bridge. I wouldn't be surprised if those videos are mostly of people not familiar with that area, and aren't expecting to have to worry about height.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2013 14:13

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Install Windows posted:

Honestly they should probably just barricade it off to through traffic or something. I don't think it's really that essential to have that crossing right there and if they really need extra capacity they should make a level crossing further up the road from the level crossing thats a block away.

Speaking as someone that drives under this very bridge at least once a week, yeah, no. It's north-bound partner (also one-way) has a level crossing, but this road it a bit lower, and since everything around it is built at that level you can't lift it, and you can't close it because it's a not-insignificant road and there's no place to route around it.

Here's where we're talking about.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2013 19:38

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Kaal posted:

It looks to me like it'd be pretty doable to close the road at Peabody and then extend Wilkerson to Buchanon.

But then you're routing all of the Gregson traffic that's going through down an already-busy Main St (one-lane each direction), down Buchanan (one-lane each way and rough), and then turning a glorified driveway into a real road. All to solve a "problem" that, while it happens more than it should, isn't very common. Seems to tie in nicely to Cichlidae's B/C conundrum.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2013 20:37

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

For emergency services? Yeah you've got those occasional cross-overs, but so that they can see where they need to turn, especially if they weren't given any landmarks to work from?

# ¿ Dec 11, 2013 01:26

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

We had ours in eighth grade, and had to use spaghetti. It was some weird hollow kind that I've never seen since, and by filling those little tubes with wood glue, you could get some fantastic strength out of them. I did a simple through truss. Effective, though build quality was definitely an issue. If I could do it again, I swear, I'd make one hell of a bridge!

I'm getting a Great SA Bridge Construction Contest 2014 vibe here

# ¿ Feb 13, 2014 04:41

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

The local transit authority just got permission to start studying an LRT corridor running from Chapel Hill to Durham. Proposed route includes passing through scenic locations like UNC-CH, Duke, the famous 11'8" bridge, and lots of wetlands. Plus some pretty busy areas. I'm actually a little surprised there aren't a few more stations, but maybe that's just the way of LRT. File this under "who knows if anything will come of it"

# ¿ Feb 27, 2014 17:26

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

It is a bit of an odd beast. It'd definitely be good for getting people in and out of UNC, as it goes through the hospital and sports complex area. But it pretty much runs perpendicular to much of the general flow of traffic, avoids a good chunk of Duke, and stays far away from the research triangle park (which I'd presume is the main source of traffic around here).

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 15:20

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Doesn't look like there's anything to play yet, but here's a city-building game this thread might want to keep an eye on http://blog.cityboundsim.com/the-beginning/

# ¿ Mar 7, 2014 21:24

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

While we're on street painting, something that's always unnecessarily bugged me... on painted turn arrows, they thicken the line perpendicular to the direction of travel (which makes sense), but it's not centered on the arrow. It looks like they paint the line at one width, centered with the arrow, then fill in the curve to make it thicker on the near side. Is that just because it's easier, or is there some perception magic at work?

# ¿ Mar 31, 2014 21:40

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

will_colorado posted:

If you look at the oldest areas of many cities in the western US that are on a grid based layout, those streets are lined up slightly off due N/S/E/W, so that horses and carriage drivers would not have blinding sunrises and sunsets directly in their line of sight.

Not that it makes much difference since the position of the sun at rise and set varies over the course of the year by quite a few degrees above and below directly E/W. Unless your grid is 45 degrees off, there's going to be two points in the year the sun's going to be going straight down it.

dupersaurus fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Apr 1, 2014

# ¿ Apr 1, 2014 21:35

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

smackfu posted:

Yes, it's neat, but I don't quite get how they expect you to use it. It seems like you have to actually look at the screen for the tiny labels as you come up to an intersection or highway.

The one time Waze has done that for me, the voice says that it's calculated a new route due to traffic, and gives you a button on the screen to push to switch to it.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2014 16:09

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Nintendo Kid posted:

I don't understand why they're going to the trouble of installing a net instead of putting up a simple but strong inward curving fence you can't climb over.

So that they don't obstruct the view from the bridge? It is a scenic overview for the tourists.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 02:49

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cichlidae posted:

Some more diagrams. Tell me how I did!

The only graphic design tips I get from my boss are "your arrows look like cocks."

I wonder if having different colors for incoming and outgoing traffic would add clarity. Instead of red and blue for the different sizes (which my gut says isn't necessary since the two cars are so much bigger), say red for entering and blue for leaving.

I don't feel strongly about this, but you might want to play with the numbers some; maybe perhaps add a third size There's a notion that for a group of more than three or four members you have to count to see how many there are, but we're able to immediately recognize smaller groups. There's a lot of groups of >5 blue cars that could be cut down with an intermediate 5,000 yellow car, leaving a bigger red car for the real significant inputs and outputs.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2014 22:55

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Nintendo Kid posted:

Why they are making it a roundabout instead of changing it in to a simple right angle intersection possibly with a traffic light first? I've seen a lot of those acute-angle-intersection-with-cutoff-leg style intersections changed to have the whole intersecting road bend over to form a three way intersection:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0136247,-74.8598436,431m/data=!3m1!1e3

They've already got a nice center piece! Like, so nice and prepared it makes me wonder if that's always been the plan.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2014 20:29

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Kaal posted:

If you say so. Whenever I've seen a bridge beam being carried, it's been on the back of a trailer, preferably with a trailer pilot that steers the trailer wheels. Slapping a set of wheels onto the back of the beam and dragging it behind the truck seems a lot riskier.

edit: That being said, it seems like it's a pretty common way to do it.

In this case it looks like the constraint is the bulge on the bottom. If you stuck it on a normal flatbed trailer (assuming they make normal flatbed trailers that long), it might end up being too tall for clearance restrictions.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 16:16

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I am not an expert, but I think I'd be more concerned about a state actor doing that than terrorists. For all the bluster we give them, I think the TURRISTS are more about the body count than actual panic. Russia could get great pleasure by the geopolitical consequences of screwing with our economy like that (or through public utility disabling), but terrorists seem to mostly be about the grand and bloody symbolic gesture of putting that semtex in the middle of a crowd at the Super Bowl.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 23:02

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

It's also the time of year when they start switching to winter gas which is cheaper to produce than summer gas.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2014 19:45

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

RadioPassive posted:

I thought it was the other way around?

My understanding's been that lower temps mean you can get away with a more volatile (ie, more likely to up and evaporate on you) mixture, which requires less refining.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 20:12

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

D.N. Nation posted:

Apologies if this one's already been mentioned. Got a question about this section of I-85 in North Carolina between Charlotte and Greensboro: https://goo.gl/maps/I4srD. Say you're going north on 85 around this area. There's not really much going on, until all of a sudden the northbound lanes cross under the southbound lanes, so that northbound is on the left and southbound is on the right. The two are then separated by woods. This goes on for a couple of miles, and there's even a rest stop with a memorial between the northbound and southbound lanes, accessible by both. The lanes then move back together, cross, and everything is normal again.

Any ideas why it's configured this way?

I've always assumed, with that memorial at the rest stop they wanted it to be accessible to both directions, and having the them crossover was cheaper than having it on one side, and giving the other side some big exit/overpass.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2014 01:08

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

kefkafloyd posted:

Would this make Mass the second state (after SC, I believe) to adopt the flashing yellow left?

Man I would KILL to get repainted lines on Route 3, 495, and most of 128. It seems the state never restripes roads unless it repaves them, which is nonsense.

We've had them in NC for a few years now. In fact, I just saw a new variation where it's just three lights: the flashing arrow and no green.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 19:23

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Nintendo Kid posted:

I have seen a good deal of flashing yellow used down here in southwest Virginia, though I still don't see what benefit it has over 5 light setups where end of protected left turns to just a green.

The 5-light setup doesn't allow you to give a permissive left while holding back thru-traffic on the same direction. Maybe not a huge deal. But I've seen them installed on two-left-lane intersections, which is great since those never used to get permissive lefts.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 14:37

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

On the other hand, it's a lot easier to regulate and clean up one big pollution source rather than thousands of little ones.

How long does it take for efficiency improvements to trickle down to the population at large? People buying new cars now are getting the deal, but it's all of the used not-so-efficient cars that hold the share, right?

# ¿ Mar 12, 2015 09:41

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:14

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Nintendo Kid posted:

Many of the red areas on there are straight up rural fringes with minimal population dude.

Like especially in NJ, where I am familiar, the red goes quite deeply into areas with next to no people, and where much of the population makes no commute to a major city. They tend to be farmers or to work locally.

Practically all that red around DC west and north of the Potomac is grade-a suburban sprawl.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2015 15:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about being a Traffic Engineer!

«‹›2 »