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Dutch Engineer posted:Wait what Hey, it's Connecticut. There's not a lot going on there. I wouldn't be surprised if they spent their time doing dump truck rallies.
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Aug 18, 2015 17:10
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This thing... They just put this roundabout in recently, and due to the overall lack of driver ability or even courtesy in the area, I've learned that this thing is basically the devil. I use this intersection about two or three times a week, going to a friends house. I approach from the west, turning north, which means I enter the left lane, stay on the inside of the roundabout, and take my exit. Simple, right? See that west-entering east-or-south-bound right lane? The motherfucker in that lane WILL cut the left turning lane of the roundabout without looking. Every. Single. loving. Time. It's absolutely infuriating, and its already caused several fender benders, which I have luckily not been involved with, yet. Additionally, capacity at the roundabout isn't any better than the four way stop it replaced, because the majority of people not only yield to traffic in the roundabout, but seemingly are reluctant to enter it IF THERE ARE OTHER CARS IN IT, and come to a complete stop even with no traffic in or approaching the thing. I loving hate Miami drivers.
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Aug 18, 2015 17:26
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They tried building a loving turbo roundabout in Florida of all places? If you really want to introduce roundabouts to an American city don't start with the big stuff like this!
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Aug 18, 2015 17:56
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People will figure it out in time. Besides, you're in Miami: If someone is stopped for half a second too long then lay on your horn. Also, the awkward signals that they had before here (as visible in Google Street View) seem like they were a recipe for t-boning. I can definitely understand why they'd want to update the intersection. Kaal fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Aug 18, 2015 |
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Aug 18, 2015 18:01
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Can't remember what city it was, but near where I live (Tampa Bay area of Florida) they put in a small roundabout. People didn't seem get to the hang of it so they put stop signs on all the entrances. They tore out a 4-way stop to make the drat thing as I recall. Ugh.
sleepy.eyes fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Aug 18, 2015 |
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Aug 18, 2015 18:07
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Why not Yeild signs? Then it works as a roundabout. Do you have Yeild signs in the usa?
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Aug 18, 2015 18:11
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drunkill posted:Why not Yeild signs? Then it works as a roundabout. Do you have Yeild signs in the usa? We do, and it had them originally. The people just must have had a lot of accidents or complained until it was changed to stop signs I guess. sleepy.eyes fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Aug 18, 2015 |
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Aug 18, 2015 18:13
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Carbon dioxide posted:They tried building a loving turbo roundabout in Florida of all places? That doesn't really look like a turbo roundabout to me. The Southern and Western approaches have directional lanes, but there's still plenty of lane movement. The South approach in particular has a rather atrocious entry where you have to wait for two lanes (with three traffic points) to clear before crossing or taking a left. A turbo roundabout - or even just adding raised lane dividers - would be a marked improvement. Kaal fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Aug 18, 2015 |
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Aug 18, 2015 18:17
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Weird. Also, Yield :v 3am posting! They pulled up and replaced some tram tracks on my street this weekend, re-aligned a corner which caused trams to make a lot of noise when turning. I noticed today fr9m about 50 meters away that it was near silent when two trams turned the corner now. Asphelt surface between the tracks too, not concrete, smoother for cars. The rest of the track from the corner to the end of the line (300 meters) is only 25 years old when they duplicated the end of the line and on the other side of the corner about 5 years old, previously ~60 years old.
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Aug 18, 2015 18:21
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drunkill posted:Why not Yeild signs? Then it works as a roundabout. Do you have Yeild signs in the usa? We do  (I hate sub-contractors. They did this SIX TIMES)
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Aug 18, 2015 18:24
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They just kicked off a big project to redo I-40 through Raleigh for a variety of reasons, one of them being:NCDOT posted:The 30-year-old pavement and materials underneath I-40/I-440 are cracking and crumbling from a chemical reaction triggered by a substance used in paving several decades ago. Any idea what this material and reaction is? If it helps, I think (but don't quote me) this stretch is a layer of asphalt over a base of concrete.
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Aug 18, 2015 18:27
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Dutch Engineer posted:Wait what Oops, I was thinking 100km/h and divided by 2 (mph -> m/s) instead of 3.6 (kph -> m/s). But yeah, most bridges (and some sign supports) can take a dump truck hit, so long as it doesn't catch fire afterward. dupersaurus posted:They just kicked off a big project to redo I-40 through Raleigh for a variety of reasons, one of them being: Sounds like an alkali-silica reaction. They must've used something alkaline as the tack coat between the asphalt and concrete (or in the asphalt itself).
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Aug 18, 2015 22:28
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Is there a book that's basically Babby's Guide to Traffic Engineering/Urban Design?
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Aug 18, 2015 22:40
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sleepy.eyes posted:We do, and it had them originally. The people just must have had a lot of accidents or complained until it was changed to stop signs I guess. I don"t have data to back it up, but I think stop signs at roundabouts make it worse. Who do I yield to now?
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Aug 18, 2015 23:01
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It was made infinity worse. I was sad that they took out something terrible and replaced it with something awesome, only to gently caress it up later. A roundabout with stop signs in place of yield is a a huge waste of time and money.
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Aug 19, 2015 04:16
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Cicero posted:Is there a book that's basically Babby's Guide to Traffic Engineering/Urban Design? I don't have a recommendation for this, but if you want to know about user interaction with said roads, this book is great. http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194
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Aug 19, 2015 04:49
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Qwijib0 posted:I don't have a recommendation for this, but if you want to know about user interaction with said roads, this book is great. Echoing this, I read/enjoyed this book.
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Aug 19, 2015 05:01
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Apparently a subcontractor paving the Gold Star Bridge in New London (CT) messed up by opening a lane that had just been paved too early. Many drivers ended up with asphalt residue all over their cars, which wouldn't come off after normal washing. The contractor's insurance is going to cover the damages for people who file claims. http://www.theday.com/local/20150818/dot-contractor-will-fix-cars-damaged-by-asphalt-on-gold-star-bridge 
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Aug 19, 2015 09:17
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Avenida posted:Out of curiosity, how much does it cost to replace one of those, signs and all? It depends on the size of the sign or signs, is it a monotube or regular steel structure, has the drill shafts and threads been damaged. Then there is the cost of a temporary sign being installed while the new one is being built and installed.
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Aug 19, 2015 12:14
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Cichlidae posted:Oops, I was thinking 100km/h and divided by 2 (mph -> m/s) instead of 3.6 (kph -> m/s). But yeah, most bridges (and some sign supports) can take a dump truck hit, so long as it doesn't catch fire afterward. If its asphalt over concrete, I would wager that the original road was built as concrete and then got overlayed by asphalt to make it last a little bit more. The failure may be coming from the subgrade or surrounding ground which is causing the concrete to react to it when it rains.
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Aug 19, 2015 12:21
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Carbon dioxide posted:They tried building a loving turbo roundabout in Florida of all places? I've driven through another one when I was in FL: https://www.google.com/maps/place/27%C2%B005%2758.3%22N+82%C2%B023%2703.7%22W/@27.099529,-82.384366,213m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
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Aug 19, 2015 14:45
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Cichlidae posted:Sounds like an alkali-silica reaction. They must've used something alkaline as the tack coat between the asphalt and concrete (or in the asphalt itself). Is this something that wasn't discovered until some time after people started using it, or was it probably just a goof?
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Aug 19, 2015 14:47
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porkfriedrice posted:Apparently a subcontractor paving the Gold Star Bridge in New London (CT) messed up by opening a lane that had just been paved too early. Many drivers ended up with asphalt residue all over their cars, which wouldn't come off after normal washing. The contractor's insurance is going to cover the damages for people who file claims. Somebody tried to get the city I work for to pay for paint on their car because they drove between some of our paint trucks while we were striping the road and got paint splashed up onto their door. Maybe if they didn't go where we told them not to.... (Not that this is the same situation as in your post, btw. Just an interesting, similar anecdote)
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Aug 19, 2015 18:13
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Dusty Baker 2 posted:Somebody tried to get the city I work for to pay for paint on their car because they drove between some of our paint trucks while we were striping the road and got paint splashed up onto their door. Maybe if they didn't go where we told them not to.... In Massachusetts, if you bust a tire or wheel on a pothole that's under city/town jurisdiction, you're entitled to get the city to pay for repairs. It's painful (you have to prove that the town knew about it and did nothing), but it can be done. But if it's on a freeway or state highway, you're SOL for property damage. Personal injury is different, but you'll have to cough up for a fix for your car. This situation is curious. I'm not sure if the state would pick up the tab in Mass in that kind of situation.
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Aug 19, 2015 19:16
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kefkafloyd posted:In Massachusetts, if you bust a tire or wheel on a pothole that's under city/town jurisdiction, you're entitled to get the city to pay for repairs. It's painful (you have to prove that the town knew about it and did nothing), but it can be done. My city picked up the cost of a new window for a guy a few weeks ago when a rock shot out of a mower and shattered one of his windows. That was more clear-cut though and was obviously not his fault.
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Aug 19, 2015 21:31
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 Road fatalities are up 14% year over year! Road injuries are up 30% year over year! Holy poo poo, how did this happen? There are three main reasons I can think of. 1) Traffic volumes are climbing steeply: 3-4% each year for the past couple years. <-- So that probably accounts for 5% of the rise in crashes, tops. 2) Distracted driving is worse than ever, and texting while driving increases your chance of getting in a crash by something like 30x 3) Drivers are getting older and older. There's something like 50,000 baby boomers retiring each day, and they used to be good drivers. Now they suck. Don't listen to anyone who says it's because of lower gas prices; it turns out travel volumes are relatively inelastic as far as gas prices go, and they have a lot more to do with the economy in general. And obviously our cars aren't getting any more dangerous. Roads are in worse condition, sure, but not enough to account for this massive rise...
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Aug 19, 2015 21:44
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Pure anecdote, but I've been having a life-threatening near miss almost every time I'm on the road. 99% of the time it's a loving boomer checking his phone. They're just as addicted to checking facebook on the go as "millenials" but their slow fat fingers and poor reflexes make them even more dangerous. When ever I see people talking on their phones or pawing at something glowing on their lap it's always a boomer. From an urban planning and demographics standpoint this has been a known problem for a long time. Car-centric sprawl may have served the boomers in their adulthood but those areas are nightmares for seniors. It's a huge ticking time bomb, not just for accident rates but simply seniors becoming prisoners in their own homes unless they can afford to move somewhere more walkable (expensive) or go into care (expensive). They won't be able to "age in place" and will be far from the services and support they need as seniors.
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Aug 19, 2015 21:54
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Cichlidae posted:
What about increase in vehicle sizes (more SUVs and big trucks) as an additional factor?
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Aug 19, 2015 22:24
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Baronjutter posted:Pure anecdote, but I've been having a life-threatening near miss almost every time I'm on the road. 99% of the time it's a loving boomer checking his phone. They're just as addicted to checking facebook on the go as "millenials" but their slow fat fingers and poor reflexes make them even more dangerous. When ever I see people talking on their phones or pawing at something glowing on their lap it's always a boomer. In past years, the kids would've been able to stay home and help out their parents, who wouldn't have lived as long. These days, the next generation has to move far away to find a job, and everything's pretty disconnected. The whole paradigm is pretty hosed up (and that's why I'm going to ship myself into the North Atlantic on an ice floe when I get too old). Lead out in cuffs posted:What about increase in vehicle sizes (more SUVs and big trucks) as an additional factor? I could see that being a minor contributor, but the average age of a vehicle on the road is ~11 years, so it wouldn't result in a big year-over-year change. On top of that, the car industry is having a lovely, low-sales year.
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Aug 19, 2015 22:28
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Lead out in cuffs posted:What about increase in vehicle sizes (more SUVs and big trucks) as an additional factor? I don't think we actually have significantly more SUVs and big trucks on the road these days than we've had the past 5 or 10 years. It would explain a jump occurring from the 90s to the 2000s, say, but not from the 2000s or early 2010s to now,
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Aug 19, 2015 22:41
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Baronjutter posted:Pure anecdote, but I've been having a life-threatening near miss almost every time I'm on the road. 99% of the time it's a loving boomer checking his phone. They're just as addicted to checking facebook on the go as "millenials" but their slow fat fingers and poor reflexes make them even more dangerous. When ever I see people talking on their phones or pawing at something glowing on their lap it's always a boomer. What can we do about distracted driving though, short of draconian penalties?
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Aug 20, 2015 00:28
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James The 1st posted:What can we do about distracted driving though Actually have alternatives to driving.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:34
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I'm pretty sure cell phones have become worse then drunk drivers.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:37
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James The 1st posted:What can we do about distracted driving though, short of draconian penalties? edit: maybe semi-automated. I could totally see an image recognition system like what Google has being used to screen photos of people driving, and likely hits of people talking or texting would then be passed onto human screeners to verify.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:59
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Cichlidae posted:On top of that, the car industry is having a lovely, low-sales year. Not sure where you're getting that, sales seem to be staying strong. A lot of these sales are built on 6+ year long auto loans, so the numbers are likely to go down as those who put off buying during the recession end up in longer-term deals.
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Aug 20, 2015 03:02
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Kakairo posted:Not sure where you're getting that, sales seem to be staying strong. A lot of these sales are built on 6+ year long auto loans, so the numbers are likely to go down as those who put off buying during the recession end up in longer-term deals. Wow, no kidding. I'd been reading about vehicle fleet age going up and I figured that meant sales are down, though I guess one doesn't necessarily imply the other.
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Aug 20, 2015 03:34
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Cars are getting a whole lot easier to keep running for a long time. It's a good thing really, less waste. I bought my car when it was 10 years old and now it's 15, runs great. You couldn't say the same for a same age car 20 years ago really.
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Aug 20, 2015 04:43
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This is true, though I wonder if we will see a bigger changeover in a few years as autonomous tech matures. My car (2014 Mazda3) has the basics--radar cruise control, proximity sensors, laser-based auto-braking--and it's hard to go back. I had to commute in a rental for a few days, and despite it being a brand new midrange model it felt like being thrown back 20 years. I predict that those simpler autonomous features will become common options in about five years (right now, you can usually only get them on the higher trim levels), which could spur another boom as drivers experience a taste of "the future".
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Aug 20, 2015 15:47
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So Cichlidae still likes to unfuck hosed intersections, right? So check this out: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9482157,-93.2384116,18z Pretty standard SPUI with the highway going overhead the intersection below. A few problems here. First, there's a lot of pedestrian traffic here, and a SPUI is pretty bad for that. There's also a fair amount of bike traffic here. Most of it is probably people crossing Lake St on the west side as there's a bike trail there, but I've seen quite a few bikers going east or west down Lake St. This is the only SPUI I've ever seen, so I don't know if it's standard or not, but the lights are really confusing. Going west on Lake St I'm never sure where I'm supposed to stop at the first set of lights (the ones on the Hiawatha Ave bridge). And then there's a second set against the light rail viaduct, I feel like I've been trapped between those more than once driving. So I'm not sure if there's any way to accommodate all that turning traffic and make it more friendly for non-driving uses. So a crazy idea I and others have had is to just close all the ramps connecting Lake and Hiawatha. So then I start looking at where that turning movement would happen instead. Going south on Hiawatha, you can access the east side of Lake by turning at 26th and going down Minnehaha. Going north on Hiawatha to access east Lake, get off at 32nd and go to Minnehaha again. Getting to the west side is a little harder though. At 32nd, east of Hiawatha is industrial, while west of Hiawatha is residential, so there are no good streets to use to go from 32nd to Lake. Cedar is the closest commercial street to the west, but I'm not sure how you'd keep drivers from cutting through on one of the 5 cross streets they'd come to before Cedar. Also, 32nd is a designated bike route, so increasing car traffic there might not be the best idea. Coming south on Hiawatha, you could get off at 26th or 28th, but again no great way to get to Lake. If you take 28th, you'd either go down 21st, which is another designated bikeway, which connects to our Midtown Greenway. Or you'd take it to Cedar and cross the actual Midtown Greenway. Since the greenway is a premium dedicated ROW for cycling, increasing conflicts with cars is bad. If you take 26th to Cedar, I guess that works well enough. So a lot of competing interests here, but everyone, pedestrians, bikers, transit riders, and even drivers agree, this intersection sucks.
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Aug 20, 2015 18:49
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Something inspiring for the office walls.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:23
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