Wolfy posted:

Also consider that even if we were sure some of our older overpasses were going to crumble, we wouldn't have the money to fix it. Somehow the right wing has successfully convinced people that infrastructure improvements are associated with lovely union employees and their lovely pensions. There's no support for the massive investment we so desperately need.

The Report posted:

This event appears to have represented the ideal combination of seven different factors (any one of which
taken alone occurs frequently in October) that have only come together once in 361 years to produce a perfect
storm for the destruction of trees and powerlines. The following seven factors resulted in the unprecedented
snowfall and resulting damage:
1. High pressure located in Northern New England, with cold air advection into Southern New England just as
the storm arrived, prevented warmer air from being pulled into the storm from warmer water offshore;
2. Temperatures remained within a few degrees of 32 F during the storm which allowed snow to adhere to
objects without melting and falling to the ground;
3. The long duration of moderate to heavy snow lasting over 12 hours without interruption;
4. Light winds less than 15 mph during the accumulation process;
5. Nearly full foliage on most trees;
6. Saturated soils as a result of T.S. Irene and the remnants of T.S. Lee (which may have delayed the seasonal
dropping of leaves) which resulted in many trees being uprooted;
7. Heavy overgrowth of trees resulting from the absence of a major hurricane for nearly 60 years.
Since the record of storms in Connecticut shows no storms that equal this event in the past 361 years the estimated
return frequency of this event is assumed to be greater than 361 years. Further research using statistical analysis is
recommended to more precisely define the return frequency.

NightGyr posted:

1. How are things like gridlock alerts decided? Or is that every day on the cross Bronx?

NightGyr posted:

2. Do signs actually make a difference, or is it more of a perception issue, like with signs announcing the arrival of the next train or bus?

Volmarias posted:

There's a powered road sign near my home that says "Distracted Driving Awareness Month". The irony is delicious.

Baronjutter posted:

THis is a stupid question but no amount of googlin' or reading 100+ meg traffic handbooks will tell me how thick and how far apart double yellow lines should be. I'm sick at home and unable to just run out and measure some my self. I'm guessing about 5" thick and maybe 1' apart ? Is there a specific standard?

Baronjutter posted:

So .625mm in N scale, uhg that's thin! Looks like I'm going to need a new paint pen. But drat it I will have fully realistic roads!!

**EARTH SHATTERING UPDATE**
My yellow gel pen is .6mm I'm GOLD

Now I just need to figure out which streets need double yellow and which need single yellow. They're pretty much all just downtown 2 lane streets with street parking. I'm guessing single yellow is fine for that?

Cichlidae posted:

We'd find the money pretty quickly if something major broke. As horrible as it sounds, it'll take a major disaster to make people realize we need to fund infrastructure.

Cichlidae posted:

Ours are 4" wide, with a 4" gap, so the same as Canada's. And single yellow line is outlawed in the latest MUTCD, so use double everywhere.

Edit: Unless you have passing zones, a raised island, or a two-way left turn lane.

Baronjutter posted:

Single yellow seems to be what 90% of the street around here have. Either no line, single yellow, or when there's 4+ lanes double yellow. Why are they outlawing them? Single yellow = you can pass if safe double yellow = DON'T TREAD ON ME. How will they show lines you can pass on? Dashed yellow?

Baronjutter posted:

Single yellow seems to be what 90% of the street around here have. Either no line, single yellow, or when there's 4+ lanes double yellow. Why are they outlawing them? Single yellow = you can pass if safe double yellow = DON'T TREAD ON ME. How will they show lines you can pass on? Dashed yellow?

Volmarias posted:

I've got my own question, however! I've noticed the traffic cameras put up around highways, and I'm curious if the police ever ask to watch them, or ask you to watch out for certain cars, or have them hooked up to image recognition software to just auto-scan the license plates or what?

Wolfy posted:

Somehow the right wing has successfully convinced people that infrastructure improvements are associated with lovely union employees and their lovely pensions. There's no support for the massive investment we so desperately need.

Install Gentoo posted:

Aren't most traffic cameras too low res to properly identify license plates even if you did zoom all the way in?

smackfu posted:

Driving on several highways in CT lately (like 84 in Waterbury), I've noticed faint rough thin white lines spaced maybe a foot apart, parallel to the direction of traffic. Seems to be on all lanes too.

Ring a bell? Maybe the result of some kind of survey truck or something?

Choadmaster posted:

Salt doesn't have an environmental impact? I'd expect sand to be better.

Cichlidae posted:

These days, we're trying to come up with safer salt alternatives. I'm not entirely up to date on that field, but I'm sure someone here can lend a hand.

Jasper Tin Neck posted:

Calcium chloride is also very hygroscopic i.e. it's very good at drawing moisture from it's surroundings. So good, in fact, that it can gather enough humidity to dissolve itself. This is very useful in binding dust on gravel roads.

Tots posted:

I'm road tripping right now and am coming up on a 2 to 1 lane merge due to.constriction. Driver just said that traffic will move faster if two lanes are utilized until the merge point. I say the sooner everyone merges the faster the traffic will move. Who's right?

Tots posted:

I'm road tripping right now and am coming up on a 2 to 1 lane merge due to.constriction. Driver just said that traffic will move faster if two lanes are utilized until the merge point. I say the sooner everyone merges the faster the traffic will move. Who's right?

Dominus Vobiscum posted:

The driver is right. Zipper merging is more efficient. If there's no congestion, it doesn't matter. However, if everyone is merging before the merge point and there is congestion, then you run into the problem of wasted space on one lane, people running up to the merge point and then getting stuck or trying to edge into the lineup, and a greater difference in speeds between the two lanes.

KozmoNaut posted:

In proper zipper merging, there isn't one continuous lane. There are two continuous lanes.

KozmoNaut posted:

Zipper merging at the merge point has been proven time and time again to be the fastest way to move traffic when two lanes compress into one.

quote:

Zipper merging works wonderfully if everybody is on board - but in practice, almost nobody ever actually is.

Chaos Motor posted:

This is why local cops generally cannot enforce immigration issues.

Grand Fromage posted:

KozmoNaut posted:

Like I said, based on my own experience, zipper merging works best as long as the ordinary driver to dickhead ratio isn't too skewed. The worst dickheads are the ones who deliberately try to block you from merging. gently caress those assholes.

Chaos Motor posted:

I do that, when I've witnessed the car in question zoom down an empty lane, ignoring dozens of merge openings, only to run up on the cones and try to force their way over into the merge lane by endangering others and using their vehicle as a weapon. So if you're one of those guys who'd rather be first, than merge in an orderly fashion, I'm that rear end in a top hat.